Abstract
Jakob Ladegaard: "Frigørelsens poetik - Den franske revolution og poetisk indbildningskraft i Wordsworths The Prelude"AbstractJakob Ladegaard: “The Poetics of Emancipation – Poetic Imagination and The French Revolution in Wordsworth’s The Prelude”It has often been argued that William Wordsworth’s tribute to poetic imagination in his great epic poem The Prelude (1805/1850) should be read as the mature poet’s farewell to the historical and political world of The French Revolution to which the young Wordsworth was greatly attached. The present essay argues to the contrary that the elaboration of the concept of imagination in the poem is tied to an affirmative re-interpretation of the popular and democratic elements of the revolution in the face of its disappointing decline into elitism, terror and The Revolutionary Wars. A close reading of The Prelude’s narration of the poet’s travels to France during the revolution suggests that poetic imagination is not the exclusive property of the artistic genius, but a common principle put into democratic practice by anonymousmasses on the roads of France. The relations thus established in the poem between the poet and the people are interpreted through the lenses of the English republican tradition and recent democratic theories advanced by French philosophers like Cornelius Castoriadis, Claude Lefort and Jacques Rancière.
Highlights
Den franske revolution og poetisk indbildningskraft i Wordsworths The Prelude “ Oh there is blessing in this gentle breeze, That blows from the green fields and from the clouds And from the sky; it beats against my cheek, And seems half conscious of the joy it gives
På den anden side skildringen af Den franske revolutions fald fra folkelig frihedsfejring til terror ogrevolutionskrige
Dermed synes digtet at bekræfte den idé om poetisk autonomi som synonym med metafysisk verdensfjernhed og selvkredsende eskapisme, som Frankfurterskole-relaterede kritikere som Georg Lukács og Herbert Marcuse i 1930’erne lancerede i polemik med den tyske romantiks æstetik som den blev formuleret i kølvandet på Kants Kritik der Urteilskraft (1790)
Summary
Den franske revolution og poetisk indbildningskraft i Wordsworths The Prelude “ Oh there is blessing in this gentle breeze, That blows from the green fields and from the clouds And from the sky; it beats against my cheek, And seems half conscious of the joy it gives. Når Wordsworth derfor i slutningen af sin hyldest til indbildningskraften nævner Nilen, der som bekendt ligger et godt stykke fra Alperne og altså ikke er genstand for konkret sansning i den pågældende passage, skal det næppe læses bogstaveligt, men allegorisk i forlængelse af værkets øvrige flodsymboler (16). Men hvor den skønne erfaring er ubevidst og umiddelbar, må den sublime indbildningskraft skabe almengyldige sammenhænge i det sanselige som de kommer til syne i en bevidst og tidslig optik; det vil sige i den historiske erfaringsverdens alt andet end cykliske liv.[9] Det gælder med andre – og med tanke på Den franske revolutions berømte motto måske ikke helt tilfældige – ord om at finde “affinities / In objects where no brotherhood exists / To common minds” (TP, II, 403-5)[10] i en stadig besindelse på “the very world which is the world / Of all of us, the place in which, in the end, / We find our happiness, or not at all” (X, 725-7).
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
