Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This is a study about the inner workings of an illuminated poem – about the dialogue that develops between poetry and illustration when they encounter each other on the page. However, the illuminated poem is more than just a relation between words and images, it is also a composite art in its own right. This study explores the dynamic of this particular type of imagetext by firstly claiming that the illuminated poem embodies a moment of indiscipline and secondly, by positing that illustration should contribute to this pairing by acting as a manifestation of illumination, instead of posturing as merely ‘illustrative’ or decorative. The inherent indisciplinarity of the illuminated poem as an imagetext is dissected – it is simultaneously two independent art forms and an integrated one; it can therefore be seen as both an interdisciplinary concern and a new art form. The illuminated poem as a visual art blurs the boundaries between words and images, upending the traditional, rigid boundaries of image-­‐text discourse. Additionally, a meandering narrative is set in motion when poetry and illustration engage in an illuminated poem – a slower, involved, cross-­‐pollinating reading that results in the activation of a reader’s imagination. The idea of Illumination is thus examined as both an orchestrated, visual choice and an active, conjuring process. Various strategies of illumination – with which illustration can open up a poem to new conceptual and narrative possibilities – are also discussed. These theories of interplay and interaction are then applied to an analysis of And all men kill the thing they love, an illuminated poem by Sara Fanelli and Oscar Wilde, revealing some of the ways in which illustration and poetry act as co-­‐conspirators and collaborators when they engage in a moment of indiscipline. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie is ‘n ondersoekende studie na die dieperliggende werking van ‘n “illuminated” gedig. Die studie fokus op die dialoog wat ontstaan wanneer ‘n gedig en illustrasies mekaar op papier ontmoet. Die “illuminated” gedig is egter soveel meer as net die saamgestelde som van woord en beeld – dit is ook ‘n verstrengelde nuwe kunswerk in eie reg. Hierdie studie verken die dinamiek van dié besondere soort beeldteks deur, eerstens, te verklaar dat “illumination” ‘n moment van ongedissiplineerdheid behels en, tweedens, deur te verwag dat die illustrasies bydra tot hierdie verhoudingsdinamika deur ‘n manifestasie van “illumination”, pleks van net ‘illustrerend’ of dekoratief, te wees. Die inherente ongedissiplineerdheid van die “open-­‐ended” gedig as beeldteks word ondersoek – dit vorm tegelykertyd twee onafhanklike kunsvorms en ‘n geïntegreerde geheel; dit kan dus beskou word as beide ‘n interdissiplinêre kunswerk en ‘n nuwe kunsvorm. Die ‘mengsel’-­‐gedig as visuele kunsvorm oorskry die bekende grense tussen woorde en beelde en gooi alle rigiede, streng-­‐tradisionele riglyne van die beeldteks-­‐geding omver. Die verhaaltrant volg kronkelpaaie wanneer digkuns en illustrasie slaags raak op papier of meedoen aan die “open-­‐ended” gedig – ‘n stadiger, meer betrokke, kruisbestuiwende leestempo word afgedwing, wat sodoende die leser se verbeelding aktiveer. Die idee van “illumination” word dus ondersoek as beide ‘n georkestreerde, visuele keuse en ‘n meelewende (verwonderings)proses. Verskeie verhelderings-­‐ moontlikhede – waardeur illustrasie ‘n gedig kan ontsluit om nuwe konseptuele en vertellingsmoontlikhede te ontgin – word ook bespreek. Hierdie teoretiese benadering van ‘n heen-­‐en-­‐weer-­‐spel se wisselwerkende interaksie word dan toegepas op ‘n analise van And all men kill the thing they love, ‘n “illuminated” gedig deur Sara Fanelli en Oscar Wilde. Verskeie wyses waarop illustrasie en digkuns as samesweerders en samewerkers kan optree wanneer hulle hulself in ‘n oomblik van ongedissiplineerdheid bevind, word aangetoon.

This thesis examines the history of collaborations between poets and photographers in the Anglophone world, from 1845 to 2015, and argues for a new form of art distinct from the photobook. It identifies a new body of work, ‘photopoetry', and develops this discovery into a critical exegesis of its forms and potentials. Proceeding chronologically, this thesis explores photopoetic history from its nineteenth-century roots to modern-day collaborations between renowned poets and photographers. Chapter I examines early experiments in photopoetic form, including scrapbooks and stereographs, and identifies two thematic trends characterising photopoetic history to the present day: the picturesque and the theatrical. The second chapter focuses on the identity politics of photopoetic books in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, exploring how the relationship between poem and photograph can both perpetuate and subvert representations of the objectified other, from British India to the American South. Chapter III theorises Imagism from a photographic perspective, examining how, in the absence of any discernibly modernist photopoetry book, the most important dialogue between poem and photograph was enacted within Imagist verse. It proceeds to examine the introduction of urban environments into early-to-mid-twentieth-century photopoetry. Chapter IV analyses the reinterpretation of photopoetic topography in mid-to-late-twentieth-century collaborations, exploring how picturesque landscapes in nineteenth-century photopoetry were reinvented as immersive environments that echoed the rise of photopoetic co-authorship and the development of more symbiotic, less literal photopoetic relationships. The fifth chapter expands upon ideas analysed in Chapter IV, arguing how, in narrowing both poetic and photographic focus to objects rather than picturesque vistas, twenty-first-century photopoetry encourages a non-linear approach to reading and viewing, abandoning the ‘journey' paradigm of earlier photopoetry. Overall, this thesis represents the first book-length history of photopoetry, and expounds both a new area of analysis for scholars of text and image, and a new critical discourse for such analyses.