Abstract
Most scholars and literary critics, whether adhering traditionally to the iron-clad rules of language or enhancing creativity seem to marginalize personal silence or fail to perceive it as a type of discourse. This research is an attempt to subvert established notions of silence and proposes a paradigm that reaches beyond the sound of words and the epidermis of texts. It identifies important hidden dimensions of language, calls for a deeper exploration of the language of silence, and argues that silence in poetry is not simply the absence or opposite of sound. It should be viewed instead as the beginning of listening, a means of communicating the unsaid and the unheard of language as well as the power which privileges the poet's desire for the impossible through "les mots jamais dit". Based on examples from poems, the paper will address silence as the eloquent outpouring of sound and meaning, and as a better language for the unsaid.
Highlights
It has often been argued that nothing other than sound can be directly heard
We hear silence, which is the absence of sounds and a successful perception of an absence of sound rather than a failure to hear sound
The discourse on silence has been dominated by the work of Deborah Tannen and Muriel Troike (1985) who adhere to the view that dematerialization, introspection, subjectivity and perspective-less-ness are the basis of the sound of silence, and that it is about listening to sound out of any context, musical, visual or otherwise
Summary
It has often been argued that nothing other than sound can be directly heard. This paper will advance the idea that there is a single exception. The discourse on silence has been dominated by the work of Deborah Tannen and Muriel Troike (1985) who adhere to the view that dematerialization, introspection, subjectivity and perspective-less-ness are the basis of the sound of silence, and that it is about listening to sound out of any context, musical, visual or otherwise. On these grounds, silence is not dead air, it is the will to create sounds in a hyper-reality because we start hearing things when there is nothing to hear as Salomé Voegelin puts it: Silence is not the absence of sound but the beginning of listening. The study will elaborate that silence, like thirst and forgetfulness, is presented as a kind of music, cracks in language and the power which opens up space for the unsaid and the impossible
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