Closure and the omnivorous lyric

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper proposes a possible path to overcoming the knowledge/experience dualism that TS Eliot famously labelled the ‘dissociation of sensibility’ and my related desire to write what I define as an ‘omnivorous lyric’ – a poem in which a wide range of non-experiential knowledge is integrated convincingly. Drawing on Lyn Hejinian’s essay ‘The Rejection of Closure’, I explore the opportunities an open poetics presents for the convincing integration of non-experiential knowledge but argue also for a level of closure. Adapting Umberto Eco’s idea of ‘suggestiveness’, I propose that the omnivorous lyric, initially composed in openness, should seek to achieve ‘directional suggestiveness’ in the later stages of composition. This movement towards closure, which remains resistant to a single or dominant sense, is realised through amplifying patterns of meaning in the work. An analysis of my omnivorous lyric, ‘Moderate’, demonstrates how these ideas can be practically employed in the compositional process.