Abstract
This article examines issues of grammatical gender and symbol in the poetry of Colette Laure Lucienne Peignot. I have focused on the poetics of disintegration in the section entitled "Poems before the summer of 1936," in which we encounter a number of poems written in free verse that reflect different aspects of Laure's notion of the poetic sacred. The poetic sacred, for Laure, relates to the moment when the eternal part of a human being becomes actualized via the engagement of fulfilling a goal while simultaneously being aware of the "weight of death." For Laure, if a person cannot or can no longer experience this emotion, then the person's life is deprived of meaning, deprived of the sacred. Many of the poems in "Poems before the summer of 1936" recount journeys that the speaker, or statement subject "I," embarks upon. Great attention is paid to the grammatical gender of the statement subjects in these poems, although, at times, grammatical gender can be difficult to determine. Sometimes grammatical gender can be discerned in the past tense forms of verbs in the French language, and other times it can be determined by Laure's use of masculine or feminine rhymes in her work. But often, Laure conceals the gender of her statement subjects, choosing instead to focus on represent a rejection of traditional gender roles in her poetry. Ultimately, this article seeks to posit Laure among France's best known writers and thinkers in the early part of the twentieth century, to help close the huge gap in the canon left by the absence of women writers and thinkers between the years 1880-1930.
Highlights
This article examines issues of grammatical gender and symbol in the poetry of Colette Laure Lucienne Peignot
Colette Laure Lucienne Peignot, known as Laure, known as Claude Araxe, lived from 1903-1938.i Her short life was drastically affected by World War I, during which her father and three uncles died.ii She grew up in an affluent neighborhood, Dammarie, which is too close to Paris to be considered a rural French village
By the time Laure reached adulthood, she blatantly rejected her bourgeois background and the Catholic faith, and she became avidly interested in leftist politics, which replaced the bourgeois ideals she had grown up with
Summary
By this other Which brings me back. The first verse paragraph is heavily rhymed and irregular in meter. Instead of going to heaven, life “again placed its heavy lid over me,” despite the speaker‟s attempt to “play the game” by adhering to the confines of the repetitive, interloping circles of the eight She believes in the promise of heaven if she plays the game of life by the rules, but life itself will not let her out of the game. The speaker states, “I have scattered myself to the four winds with the proud certainty of always finding myself at the zenith and I fell empty, lost, four limbs mutilated.” This line is replete with Symbolist themes of the pinnacle of understanding represented by the zenith, the idea of self-mutilation required to reach the ideal, and the image of the body falling through space. Earthy animals (eel, dolphin, earthworm) that are elongated and glide through their habitats
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.
