This thesis seeks to argue for the problematising role of tradition and generational influence in the work of three Northern Irish poets publishing since the late 1990s. The subjects, Colette Bryce (b. 1970), Leontia Flynn (b. 1974) and Sinéad Morrissey (b. 1972), emerged coterminously, each publishing with major UK publishers. Together they represent a generation of assured female poetic voices. This study presents one of the first critical considerations of the work of these poets, and it remains conscious of the dominance of conceptions of tradition and lineage which are notable in poetry from Northern Ireland from the twentieth-century onwards. In suggesting that this tradition is problematised for emerging women poets by precursor-peer dominance and the primacy of male perspectives in the tradition, this thesis combines a study of poetics, themes relating to gender, detachment and paratexts. From consideration of these elements, it proposes that contemporary poets are not necessarily subject to the powers of tradition and influence, but rather, are capable of a selective approach that in turn demonstrates the malleability of contemporary traditions. The approaches are laid out in four chapters which move from a consideration of “threshold” paratexts (following from the work of Gérard Genette), including book reviews and dedications, through studies of thematic divergence and detachment, the changing status of women’s poetry traditions within Northern Ireland and beyond, the significance of gendered subjects in poetry, and influence found not in thematic or paratextual aspects, but in the individual aspects of poetic form. These aspects combine to form poems and the tradition(s) in which they continue. The thesis provides extensive coverage of the work of Bryce, Flynn, and Morrissey, combining close readings with the application of theoretical frameworks interrogating the implications of literary traditions on later writers (especially when the writers are temporally and culturally close), giving particular consideration to gender and feminist politics. It explores a variety of different critical truisms applied to the poetic generations that precede the younger poets and identifies both compliance and divergences from the contemporary Northern Irish canon. In doing so, this study simultaneously illuminates the frailties of the popular, overwhelmingly male, tradition, particularly as regards to representations of women, and provides direction for studies of post-millennial Northern Irish poetry.

Ce mémoire porte sur les carnets, publiés sous le titre La Semaison, du poète Philippe Jaccottet ; il s’attache à dégager les grandes lignes d’une pratique d’écriture qui évolue au fil du temps et à déterminer le statut de La Semaison par rapport au reste de l’œuvre. Les quatre premiers chapitres du mémoire établissent les caractéristiques de l’écriture des carnets, en étudiant de près les textes ainsi que leur évolution au fil des années, et en comparant ces textes avec les œuvres publiées parallèlement. On remarque qu’au fil du temps, les œuvres ressemblent de plus en plus aux textes que l’on trouve dans La Semaison. Les deux derniers chapitres essaient d’apprécier, plus globalement, le travail qui y est à l’œuvre. Non seulement les carnets constituent le lieu le plus approprié pour mener une réflexion sur la poésie, mais encore ce sont eux qui assurent cohésion et validité à l’œuvre. / This M.A. thesis concerns the notebooks of the poet Philippe Jaccottet ; it attempts to find the main lines of a practice of writing which evolves as time goes by and to determine the status of the notebooks with regard to the rest of the work. The first four chapters of this thesis establish the characteristics of the writing of notebooks, by studying closely texts as well as their evolution over the years, and by comparing these texts with the works published at the same time. We notice that as time advances, the works tend to look like the texts found in notebooks. The last two chapters interpret, more globally, the work that we see in notebooks. Not only the notebooks are the most suited to lead a reflection on the poetry, they also insure cohesion and validity to the work.

Ce mémoire cherche à dévoiler le mode d’habitation singulier que développe le sujet poétique dans Les vies frontalières et Rabatteur d’étoiles de Rachel Leclerc par l’intermédiaire de l’analyse du motif du « domaine », récurrent dans les deux œuvres. Il s’agira donc de clarifier ce à quoi fait référence ce motif particulier en dégageant les différentes structures le sous-tendant et en tentant d’observer comment son élaboration se fait en parallèle étroit avec celle de la subjectivité des recueils de Leclerc. Ainsi, les trois premiers chapitres du présent ouvrage s’attardent à expliciter l’importance de la structure d’horizon, terme emprunté à Michel Collot, pour saisir la façon unique dont le sujet poétique perçoit l’espace, la temporalité et sa propre subjectivité. Le quatrième chapitre est quant à lui consacré à ce qu’on peut qualifier de structure du chemin, qui vient recouper et enrichir celle de l’horizon. Le croisement de ces deux lignes trace enfin l’espace du domaine et dessine une sorte de T qui supporte l’entreprise poétique dans son ensemble. / This masters thesis’s objective is to reveal the poetic subject’s unique way of occupying space in Rachel Leclerc’s Les vies frontalières and Rabatteurs d’étoiles by analysing the “domain’s” motif, recurrent in the two poetical pieces. Clarifying the meaning of this specific motif will be accomplished through the identification of its different underlying structures and by defining how its development is closely linked to that of the poetic subjectivity in Leclerc’s work. The three first chapters of the present thesis intend to shed light on the importance of the “horizon’s structure”, term barrowed from Michel Collot’s works, to highlight the distinctive manner in which the poetic subject appreciates spatiality, temporality and his own subjectivity. As for the fourth chapter, it expands on what can be called the “road structure” that crosscuts and completes the horizon’s structure. The junction of these two lines creates the domain’s space and its T form supports the poetic undertaking in its full spectrum.

Inserida num contexto de globalização, a literatura cabo-verdiana parece impactada pelos influxos de modernidade e pós-modernidade. E colocar as poéticas de Corsino Fortes, Arménio Vieira e Filinto Elísio em comparação fornece índices desses impactos, sobretudo no que se refere às formas. As concepções do tempo e do espaço interferem nas escolhas estéticas e temáticas dos poetas, determinando trânsitos e permanências. Propõe-se, pois, sob essa perspectiva, a leitura das obras A cabeça calva de Deus (2010) e Sinos de Silêncio: canções e haikais (2015), de Corsino Fortes; O Brumário (2013), Derivações do Brumário (2013), Sequelas do Brumário (2014) e Fantasmas e fantasias do Brumário (2015), de Arménio Vieira; e Do lado de cá da rosa (1995), Li Cores e Ad Vinhos (2009), Me_xendo no baú. Vasculhando o U (2011), Zen limites (2016), de Filinto Elísio. A obra de Corsino Fortes volta-se para o futuro como um valor a ser perseguido e uma dimensão a ser construída a partir das percepções do passado e do trabalho no presente. Desse modo, o poeta insere-se na episteme da modernidade, compreendendo o trabalho com a palavra como fundamental não somente para a expressão de uma convicção ideológica e política como também estética. Com isso, um espaço bem delimitado, ao qual adere e no qual enraíza seus versos, desenha-se: Cabo Verde em sua multiplicidade étnica e cultural. A obra de Arménio Vieira parece marcada pelo desencanto e pelo esgotamento; nesse sentido, o olhar para o futuro revela apenas o nada, o vazio. O poeta centra-se na própria palavra que se manifesta no presente da escrita e se coloca em diálogo com autores da literatura mundial. O espaço que se revela não é físico ou geográfico, mas literário e de dimensões internacionais. A poética de Filinto Elísio, por sua vez, parece manter-se em trânsito constante, razão pela qual inscreve-se de maneira mais incisiva sob o signo do excesso; parece expressar uma temporalidade múltipla que, contudo, tem como foco irradiador o presente. O espaço apresenta-se na obra de Elísio também marcado pela pluralidade indiciada na referência explícita à viagem e a espaços geográficos diversos. Tanto Arménio Vieira quanto Filinto Elísio, pelo que apresentam de excessivo em seu fazer poético, remetem a características distintas das apresentadas pela poética de Fortes, principalmente no que se refere ao descentramento que as inscreve na episteme contemporânea de uma outra modernidade, cujas pluralidade e complexidade admitem variadas e, por vezes, controversas denominações como pós-modernidade, supermodernidade ou modernidade reflexiva. / Seted in a context of globalization, the cape-verdean literature seems affected by influxes of modernity and postmodernity. And put the poetics works of Corsino Fortes, Arménio Vieira and Filinto Elísio compared provides indices of these impacts, especially with regard to the forms. The concepts of time and space affect the aesthetic and thematic choices of those poets, determining transits and stays between them. It is proposed, therefore, from this perspective by the reading of the works A cabeça calva de Deus (2010) e Sinos de Silêncio: canções e haikais (2015) from Corsino Fortes; O Brumário (2013), Derivações do Brumário (2013), Sequelas do Brumário (2014) e Fantasmas e fantasias do Brumário (2015), from Arménio Vieira; and Do lado de cá da rosa (1995), Li Cores e Ad Vinhos (2009), Me_xendo no baú. Vasculhando o U (2011), Zen limites (2016), from Filinto Elísio. The Corsino Fortes works turns itself back to the future as a value to be pursued and theyre a dimension to be built from the perceptions of the past and in the present.That way the poets work is a part of epistemology of modernity, including working with the word as fundamental not only for the expression of an ideological conviction and political as well as aesthetic. Thereby a well-defined space, which adheres and which roots itself his verses, this poetry draws: Cape Verde in its ethnic and cultural diversity. The Arménio Vieiras works seem marked by disenchantment and exhaustion; in that sense, his look to the future only reveals the nothing and the empty. By the way the poet focuses on word that manifests itself in the present of the writing this and put itself in dialogue with authors of world literature. This way the revealed space is not physical or geographical, but it is literary and it has international dimensions. The poetry of Filinto Elísio, by your turn, it looks like to remain in constant transit, reason for it is part of a more incisive way under the excess of the sign; It seems to express a multiple temporality that, however, is a propagator the present time. The space presents in the work of Filinto Elísio is also marked by the plurality indicted like an explicit reference to the journey and the different geographical areas. Thereby both Arménio Vieira as Filinto Elísio, by the excessive presenting in the making poetic, refer to distinct characteristics presented by the poetics of Fortes, especially with regard to decentralizing the part in contemporary episteme of \"another modernity\" whose plurality and complexity admit varied and sometimes controversial names as postmodernity, supermodernity or reflexive modernity.

Les pratiques poétiques de Philippe Jaccottet (1925-), de Philippe Clerc (1935-) et de James Sacré (1939-) sont notablement traversées par l’impératif du réel qui marque la poésie contemporaine depuis 1950. Elles s’inscrivent, en partie, dans la continuité thématique du mouvement réaliste de la poésie du XIXe siècle (Max Buchon, François Coppée, Sully Prudhomme, Charles Baudelaire, Jean Richepin). Mais, le réel réapparait dans ces pratiques avec un nouveau regard, avec une nouvelle sollicitude, mais surtout avec un nouveau dire. Au contraire des poètes du XXe, encore imprégnés d’une volonté de plier le réel aux dires du poème, cette nouvelle génération est emblématique d’un retournement théorique et pratique : le réel est matière même de l’acte poétique. Mus par des pratiques souvent éloignées, façonnés par des cultures différentes, nos trois auteurs opèrent dans la langue des choix et montrent une volonté d’exigence et de simplicité pour rendre compte du réel. Notre travail vise, dans un premier temps, à mettre en lumière l’évolution du sens et de l’écriture du réel dans la poésie du XIXe siècle, avant d’analyser, dans un deuxième temps, les différents aspects des écritures du réel proposées par les trois auteurs choisis, d’en montrer les différences avec celles de leurs prédécesseurs, d’en déterminer les spécificités et la place au sein de la poésie contemporaine. / The imperative of the real that characterizes contemporary poetry since 1950 is at the heart of the poetic practices of Philippe Jaccottet (1925-), Philippe Clerc (1935-) and James Sacré (1939-). Tthey are in part, keeping up with the themes of the realist movement of 19th century poetry, (Max Buchon, François Coppée, Sully Prudhomme, Charles Baudelaire, Jean Richepin). But the real reappears in these practices with a new gaze, a new concern, and above all a new claim. On the contrary to 20th century poets, still steeped in the desire to have the real comply with the poem’s claims, this new generation is representative of a theoretical and practical change: the real is in itself the material of the poetic act. Set in motion by practices far from each other, modeled by different cultures, they make choices in language and demand rigor and simplicity in order to account of the real. Our work aims first at showing the evolution of the meaning and the writing of the real in 19th century poetry. This study will bring us then to analyze the different aspects of the writing of the real in the works of the three poets we have chosen, and to underline how they differ from their predecessor, and determine their specificity and their position in contemporary poetry.

<p>What is the relation of image and word, of sentences and pictures? What kind of message does this combination produce when juxtaposed on a single material plane? And how do we read its “infinite” relation? These are the questions at the center of this inquiry. My main interest concerns the exact nature of the relation between photographic images and textual elements of poetic language when these are juxtaposed in what I call Phototext poetry.</p><p>The thesis calls into question the conventional reading habits of the conjunction of photographs and texts, and seeks to understand the more complex connections intrinsic to the relation image/word and its material and perceptual play in poetic works. Does a text always “anchor” the multiple meanings of an image, as Roland Barthes argues? What if the alterations of an image could “anchor” certain fractions of a poetic, polysemantic textual construct? Is a photograph indifferent to the visual, material permutations of texts that certain contemporary poetic practices produce?</p><p>I discuss phototextual works and collaborations of various kinds, from Molin fontän [“Molin’s fountain”] (1866) over classic surrealist poetry to language-oriented writing. This last interest also shows (with ambiguity) in the thesis’ two close readings: 23:23 (2006) by Swedish poet Marie Silkeberg and The Tango (2001) by American poet Leslie Scalapino. Throughout the study, I also put these in relation to other works of various, and related, kinds, such as artists’ books, concrete poetry, and phototexts in 20th century art.</p><p>My theoretization of phototext poetry focuses on questions of function. My perspective on the phototextual meeting in poetry is therefore concerned, not with taxonomy, but with local, contingent definitions. That is not to say, however, that certain things cannot be attributed to its particular, juxtaposed form. An “unthinkable space” (Michel Foucault), the relation between verbal and visual derives its dynamics from the different ways it actually makes itself “thinkable” and, furthermore, is materially represented. From Craig Dworkin’s conception of illegibility, Jacques Ranciere’s term phrase-image, and Roland Barthes’s obtuse meaning, I try to weave a network of connections concerning the reader’s relation to the photo/text conjunction. My argument that a certain phrase can cooperate with a certain part of an image, that a photo can “anchor” a specific meaning in a polysemantic text, and that the typographical appearance of a text may well have a plastic quality, also suggests a reading that focuses on systems of verbivisual parts and contingent intermedial meetings rather than the stable relation of a determining text and a determined image. In sum, I argue that the relation of photographs and texts must always be approached as a local problem.</p><p>My second argument is that the phototext is a self-reflexive form – it investigates itself, as it were. When a photograph and a (poetic) text are juxtaposed, they try to define their own media characteristics. In short, they often investigate the premises for phototextual documentation, communication, and aesthetics. The phototextual form therefore shares a photographic trait, as a “process of rendering observation self-conscious” (John Berger).</p><p>I also trace the supplementariness and discursiveness of the relation between image and word, and investigate how it affects our reading of this “disjunctive conjunction”. The text and the image run through each other, both inside and among us, as Rancière would have it. This, in turn, produces a contemporary approach to aesthetics (as a term and philosophical tradition) in this thesis, which involves the practice as much as the aesthetic perception of the phototextual combination. However, I also see as necessary to negotiate with the ways in which the image-word relation has been theorized since the early eighteenth century, as well as with earlier, even ancient, conceptions.</p><p>In short, the aim of this thesis is to conceptualize the relation of photographs and texts in phototext poetry, not by destroying the dualistic positions of the visual and the verbal, but rather by re-negotiating them: by approaching them as located inside as well as between these two media, image and text. The relation of photographs and poetic text, I therefore suggest, performs its work “inside” language, at the same time opening up towards the “infinity of language” (Barthes).</p>

What is the relation of image and word, of sentences and pictures? What kind of message does this combination produce when juxtaposed on a single material plane? And how do we read its “infinite” relation? These are the questions at the center of this inquiry. My main interest concerns the exact nature of the relation between photographic images and textual elements of poetic language when these are juxtaposed in what I call Phototext poetry. The thesis calls into question the conventional reading habits of the conjunction of photographs and texts, and seeks to understand the more complex connections intrinsic to the relation image/word and its material and perceptual play in poetic works. Does a text always “anchor” the multiple meanings of an image, as Roland Barthes argues? What if the alterations of an image could “anchor” certain fractions of a poetic, polysemantic textual construct? Is a photograph indifferent to the visual, material permutations of texts that certain contemporary poetic practices produce? I discuss phototextual works and collaborations of various kinds, from Molin fontän [“Molin’s fountain”] (1866) over classic surrealist poetry to language-oriented writing. This last interest also shows (with ambiguity) in the thesis’ two close readings: 23:23 (2006) by Swedish poet Marie Silkeberg and The Tango (2001) by American poet Leslie Scalapino. Throughout the study, I also put these in relation to other works of various, and related, kinds, such as artists’ books, concrete poetry, and phototexts in 20th century art. My theoretization of phototext poetry focuses on questions of function. My perspective on the phototextual meeting in poetry is therefore concerned, not with taxonomy, but with local, contingent definitions. That is not to say, however, that certain things cannot be attributed to its particular, juxtaposed form. An “unthinkable space” (Michel Foucault), the relation between verbal and visual derives its dynamics from the different ways it actually makes itself “thinkable” and, furthermore, is materially represented. From Craig Dworkin’s conception of illegibility, Jacques Ranciere’s term phrase-image, and Roland Barthes’s obtuse meaning, I try to weave a network of connections concerning the reader’s relation to the photo/text conjunction. My argument that a certain phrase can cooperate with a certain part of an image, that a photo can “anchor” a specific meaning in a polysemantic text, and that the typographical appearance of a text may well have a plastic quality, also suggests a reading that focuses on systems of verbivisual parts and contingent intermedial meetings rather than the stable relation of a determining text and a determined image. In sum, I argue that the relation of photographs and texts must always be approached as a local problem. My second argument is that the phototext is a self-reflexive form – it investigates itself, as it were. When a photograph and a (poetic) text are juxtaposed, they try to define their own media characteristics. In short, they often investigate the premises for phototextual documentation, communication, and aesthetics. The phototextual form therefore shares a photographic trait, as a “process of rendering observation self-conscious” (John Berger). I also trace the supplementariness and discursiveness of the relation between image and word, and investigate how it affects our reading of this “disjunctive conjunction”. The text and the image run through each other, both inside and among us, as Rancière would have it. This, in turn, produces a contemporary approach to aesthetics (as a term and philosophical tradition) in this thesis, which involves the practice as much as the aesthetic perception of the phototextual combination. However, I also see as necessary to negotiate with the ways in which the image-word relation has been theorized since the early eighteenth century, as well as with earlier, even ancient, conceptions. In short, the aim of this thesis is to conceptualize the relation of photographs and texts in phototext poetry, not by destroying the dualistic positions of the visual and the verbal, but rather by re-negotiating them: by approaching them as located inside as well as between these two media, image and text. The relation of photographs and poetic text, I therefore suggest, performs its work “inside” language, at the same time opening up towards the “infinity of language” (Barthes).

Sanaa ya ushairi inajisawiri kama nyenzo muhimu katika maendeleo na ukuaji wa binadamu ulimwenguni. Ujenzi wa taswira zinazowasilisha mada nyeti za kijamii ni changamoto ya kiusanii inayoibua maswala tata. Ndiposa wasilisho hili linachunguza mjadala wa usawiri wa mwanamke katika ushairi wa kisasa. Mada nyingi zinazohakiki matini za kishairi hulenga miuundo, mitindo na maswala mengineyo ya kijamii bila kuangazia swala la utata wa mwanamke. Uzingatifu wa vipengee hivi umefifisha uangafu wa taswira ya mwanamke katika ushairi wa Kiswahili kana kwamba ushairi umempuuza mwanamke kama mhusika mkuu. Tunachukulia kwamba matini za kishairi za kisasa zinahusisha mbinu na nyenzo mpya ambazo zimebadilisha sura na taswira ya mwanamke. Maswali yanayoibuka ni; Je, Mwanamke angali tata katika ushairi wa kisasa kwenye enzi ya karne ya ishirini na moja? Je, umbo jipya la mwanamke ni lipi katika ushairi wa kisasa?

Ce mémoire porte sur les carnets, publiés sous le titre La Semaison, du poète Philippe Jaccottet ; il s’attache à dégager les grandes lignes d’une pratique d’écriture qui évolue au fil du temps et à déterminer le statut de La Semaison par rapport au reste de l’œuvre. Les quatre premiers chapitres du mémoire établissent les caractéristiques de l’écriture des carnets, en étudiant de près les textes ainsi que leur évolution au fil des années, et en comparant ces textes avec les œuvres publiées parallèlement. On remarque qu’au fil du temps, les œuvres ressemblent de plus en plus aux textes que l’on trouve dans La Semaison. Les deux derniers chapitres essaient d’apprécier, plus globalement, le travail qui y est à l’œuvre. Non seulement les carnets constituent le lieu le plus approprié pour mener une réflexion sur la poésie, mais encore ce sont eux qui assurent cohésion et validité à l’œuvre. / This M.A. thesis concerns the notebooks of the poet Philippe Jaccottet ; it attempts to find the main lines of a practice of writing which evolves as time goes by and to determine the status of the notebooks with regard to the rest of the work. The first four chapters of this thesis establish the characteristics of the writing of notebooks, by studying closely texts as well as their evolution over the years, and by comparing these texts with the works published at the same time. We notice that as time advances, the works tend to look like the texts found in notebooks. The last two chapters interpret, more globally, the work that we see in notebooks. Not only the notebooks are the most suited to lead a reflection on the poetry, they also insure cohesion and validity to the work.

Ce mémoire cherche à dévoiler le mode d’habitation singulier que développe le sujet poétique dans Les vies frontalières et Rabatteur d’étoiles de Rachel Leclerc par l’intermédiaire de l’analyse du motif du « domaine », récurrent dans les deux œuvres. Il s’agira donc de clarifier ce à quoi fait référence ce motif particulier en dégageant les différentes structures le sous-tendant et en tentant d’observer comment son élaboration se fait en parallèle étroit avec celle de la subjectivité des recueils de Leclerc. Ainsi, les trois premiers chapitres du présent ouvrage s’attardent à expliciter l’importance de la structure d’horizon, terme emprunté à Michel Collot, pour saisir la façon unique dont le sujet poétique perçoit l’espace, la temporalité et sa propre subjectivité. Le quatrième chapitre est quant à lui consacré à ce qu’on peut qualifier de structure du chemin, qui vient recouper et enrichir celle de l’horizon. Le croisement de ces deux lignes trace enfin l’espace du domaine et dessine une sorte de T qui supporte l’entreprise poétique dans son ensemble. / This masters thesis’s objective is to reveal the poetic subject’s unique way of occupying space in Rachel Leclerc’s Les vies frontalières and Rabatteurs d’étoiles by analysing the “domain’s” motif, recurrent in the two poetical pieces. Clarifying the meaning of this specific motif will be accomplished through the identification of its different underlying structures and by defining how its development is closely linked to that of the poetic subjectivity in Leclerc’s work. The three first chapters of the present thesis intend to shed light on the importance of the “horizon’s structure”, term barrowed from Michel Collot’s works, to highlight the distinctive manner in which the poetic subject appreciates spatiality, temporality and his own subjectivity. As for the fourth chapter, it expands on what can be called the “road structure” that crosscuts and completes the horizon’s structure. The junction of these two lines creates the domain’s space and its T form supports the poetic undertaking in its full spectrum.