Toward a theory of poetic iconicity
The ontology of semblance
Studies of iconicity in poetry have tended to focus on its linguistic manifestations. In contrast, I ask what is iconicity’s role in poetry? By exploring the ways iconicity is understood in semiotics, linguistics, religion, and popular discourse, and how poetry constitutes the subliminal sensory-emotional feelings we experience through its material forms, I conclude that iconicity is the motivating force for poetry. Its effect is to produce the complex blend that creates a poem as an icon of reality. In this paper, I focus on one aspect of poetic iconicity: the creation of ontological semblance in Brendan Galvin’s poem “Flute”.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Iconicity
- 3.Iconicity in poetry
- 4.Semblance in Brendan Galvin’s Flute
- 5.Conclusion
-
Notes
-
References
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Cited by
Cited by 2 other publications
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