When Poetry and Phenomenology Collide. Issue 1 (2nd January 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Page, Jeremy
• Is Part Of: Journal of aesthetics and phenomenology. Volume 5:Issue 1(2018)
• Page Start: 31
• Page End: 51
• Publication Date: 2018-01-02
• Subjects: Martin Heidegger -- Frank O'Hara -- poetry -- phenomenology -- poetic thinking -- Dasein -- being; Phenomenology -- Periodicals; Phenomenology and art -- Periodicals; Aesthetics -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; Esthetica; Fenomenologie; Aesthetics; Electronic journals; Phenomenology; Phenomenology and art; Periodicals; 701.17
• DOI: 10.1080/20539320.2018.1460113
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2053-9320

Abstract

Abstract: In recent years several scholars have wrestled with the term "poetic thought, " suggesting in various ways there is something distinctive about the nature of meaning as it occurs/unfolds through poetry. In this paper I suggest, in part following the lead of Simon Jarvis, that one of the most fruitful lines of inquiry for exploring this idea lies in a consideration of poetic works through the lens of Heidegger's early phenomenology. Specifically, I argue that one of the keys to understanding poetic thought lies in a flaw within Heidegger's ontological divisions between substances, equipment and Dasein, as presented in Being and Time (1927). Through an analysis of three poems by Frank O'Hara, I argue poetry that examines and represents the physical world presents a problem for Heidegger when he suggests equipment in the world must necessarily "withdraw" in order for us to engage with it authentically. To address this, the term environment - at - hand is introduced to describe the relationship between artists and the surrounding environments used for their work. Poetic thought is here conceived as the point where poetry and phenomenology collide; where poetry reflects and enacts the fact that humans are inherently engaged meaning-makers. In this way poetry does not only show us new ways of looking at the world, which it surely does, but it can help us understand the nature of being itself.