E.E. Cummings' modernist poetry roots itself in nature. That it has not received overt
ecosemiotic ("ecocritical") attention is surprising. This thesis reads Cummings' poetic
oeuvre as found in his Complete Poems (1994) with a view to its ecological (whole,
naturally interpenetrating) scope and dynamics.
It builds upon existing criticism of Cummings' natural view and nature poetry
(Norman Friedman). Although it mainly adheres to a close reading of the poems
themselves, it also makes use of secondary sources such as Cummings' prose, notes,
painting, and letters, in support of the ecological argument. It also draws from a broad
basis of sources including various strands of ecological discourse: especially
"ecocriticism" (William Howarth) as well as cultural ecology, deep ecology, and -- on
an interdisciplinary basis -- ecology proper (Michael Begon). The thesis incorporates
texts on modernist orientalism (Eric Hayot) since it argues that Cummings' ecology
and his unique version of Taoism radically inform one another. Because relatively few
sources exist that relate modernist poetry to nature (Robert Langbaum) the thesis
consults a variety of modernist criticisms (Jewel Spears Brooker) with a view to the
relations between the modernist sign and its outside natural context.
Drawing upon sources further a field (Umberto Eco) the thesis offers a theoretical
overview of the complication of natural context in the modem mindset as found in
mainstream modernist discourse, structuralism (A.J. Greimas), and post-structuralism
(Jacques Derrida). Amounting to a "semiotic fallacy", such a broad semiotic
complication of sign-nature relations accentuates the importance of Cummings'
poetry which remains at once modern and deeply connected to nature.
Against this broad background, and in exploration of a zone of between-ness --
between opposites such as culture versus nature and East versus West -- Cummings'
poetry is read hermeneutically to infer its various ecological dynamics. The main
questions that the thesis examines are: What is the scope of Cummings' poetic
ecology? What are its dynamics? How did critics respond to it? What reciprocal light
does it shed on the poetic ecologies of the mainstream modernist poets T.S. Eliot and
Ezra Pound?
The thesis demonstrates that the extent of Cummings' poetic ecology is considerable:
it involves his various poetic categories (such as lyricism, satire, and visual-verbal
poems) from early to late in his career, as well as a gradual Taoist crisis in his
development (more or less from the 1930s to the 1950s). A sequence of ecological
dynamics from Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching are applied to Cummings' poetry, including
humility (smallness and earthiness), flexibility (an osmotic semiosis), serendipity (or
synchronicity), a singular ideogrammatic style (Nina Hellerstein), iconicity (Michael
Webster), an open-ended cross-stitching of oppositional expectations, and "flow" or
signs that open out contextualizing possibilities faster than the reader can close them
down.
As the thesis further shows, these dynamics ultimately centre on Cummings' third
dimension or voice beyond static and entrenched opposites of the relational and
oppositional mind. The exploration concludes with a concise examination of
additional instances of the third voice such as a yin tendency (restoration of
femaleness), followed by an ecosemiotic analysis of two key ecological poems, the
leaf poem (“l(a”) and the hummingbird poem (“I/ never"). The latter acts as an
osmotic mandala that carries the modernist sign into active and complete earth, with
the reader acting as the creative and collaborating intermediary.
The focus then shifts to the critical reception of this poetic ecology, and finds that
influential critics (R.P. Blackmur) tended to misappropriate it as a form of non-intellectuality.
For example, Cummings' ecological flexibility was perceived as
childish sentimentality. The boundaries of Cummings' poetry were perceived not to
be "hardened" or "objective" enough. These receptions were based on a particular
mainstream modernist view of the intellect, informed by Eliot's objectified and
ambivalent early stance. Due to this, critics tended to overlook or dismiss that central
value of Cummings' poetry -- its ecology -- in favour of a more predominant and
dualistic alienation from and even cynicism towards natural integrity. These in-depth
revisitations reveal that Cummings' major minor status embodies an ecological
achievement: his poetry managed to move between and beyond the overall dualistic
mainstream modernist ecological dilemma that is marked by the major versus minor
categorization.
Based on this thorough exploration of the elusive ecological dynamism of Cummings'
poetry and its critical reception, the thesis turns its focus to Eliot's and Pound's
poetry. The early, major works such as The Waste Land (1922) are read from the
perspective of Cummings' poetic ecology, informed by the knowledge that a deep-seated
double-ness towards ecology would be expected in these major works. An
analysis of the mainstream modernist objectification of the sign with its concomitant
and sealed-off alienation from its outside context and nature follows - the focus is on
selected texts such as "Prufrock", "Tradition and the Individual Talent", and the
Cantos.
Eliot's and Pound's respective searches for and achievements of a third voice are
subsequently examined, as found (for example) in the DA sequence of The Waste
Land, 'The Idea of a Christian Society", the Four Quartets, Cathay, and the "Pisan
Cantos". Centring on this prevalent and underemphasized third voice, the thesis posits
an ecological reconfiguration of Cummings', Eliot's, and Pound's respective
modernist projects. It demonstrates that Cummings' poetic ecology is central to the
other two poets in terms of this voice. In provisional conclusion the thesis calls for a
critical shift towards a more intense engagement with "smaller" modernist poetries
such as Cummings', with a view to an increasing understanding of the ubiquitous,
complex, and sometimes complicating "green" layer of the modernist poetic
palimpsest. / Thesis (Ph.D. (English))--Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, 2003.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NWUBOLOKA1/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/438 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Terblanche, Juan Etienne |
| Publisher | Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education |
| Source Sets | North-West University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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