Wires, Mirrors, Tricks of the Light: Zoë Skoulding and Lyric Poetry

Abstract

In this discussion, the earlier poetry of Zoë Skoulding is analysed as a case study for an expanded sense of the contemporary lyric genre. Through a fixation on visual apparatuses including eyes, lenses, binoculars, and mirrors, Skoulding's The Mirror Trade (2004), and her collaborative work with Ian Davidson, interrogates the subject–object binary, cutting across conventional assumptions of lyric poetry. Expanding on Jonathan Culler's recent work on the lyric, I evaluate and apply Käte Hamburger's Hegelian theory of the lyric ‘I’ as a statement-subject, which offers a useful way of including experimental poetries as a vital part of the lyric tradition. Through analysing Skoulding and drawing parallels with James Elkins's theories of vision, I suggest this approach risks overlooking contemporary poetry's complexities. Ultimately, I argue that the lyric must be viewed as a spectrum of possible formulations of the self, including the outmoded Romantic model alongside more radical possibilities.