Abstract

Abstract: This essay explores how Jubilate Agno responds to a situation analogous to trauma and mania—although its coordinates are as much historical and linguistic as psychological—in which poetic self-presentation is so thwarted as to verge on aphasia. Smart's poem circumvents social and other curtailments of speech by finding undeveloped expressive powers in language and the semiotic process: a mode of representation that Smart called "sound reasoning." Hartman traces this sound reasoning through key sequences on language in Jubilate Agno , showing how it turns coprolalia and other dysphemic utterances into euphasia, or perpetual praising. His argument locates Smart's breakthrough in relation to eighteenth-century and more recent literary and critical developments, especially thought about linguistic "purity."

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 call

Disclaimer: 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.