Contingency as form : the poetics of Marianne Moore and Elizabeth Bishop
Date
1998
Authors
Strong, Laura Katherine
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Abstract
This thesis examines the form of Marianne Moore's and Elizabeth Bishop's poetry in light of the notion of contingency, arguing that various formal elements in Moore's and Bishop's poetics, such as metonomy and irony, demonstrate how a new ground for value is linked to, dependent upon, and made from existing ones. The thesis also examines the way in which an aesthetic moment occurs at the instance of exchange between one ground for value and the next, and it foregrounds the way in which the poetic subject -- a subjective position that often manifests itself as a voice or presence behind the speaker -- becomes known at this aesthetic moment. While primarily a close study of form and contingency in four poems, this thesis argues that Moore and Bishop demonstrate intriguing and liberating strategies for subjective and gendered positionings.
The first chapter is a theoretical discussion of contingency, value, and aesthetics. Emphasizing the notion of contingency, this chapter draws upon pragmatists such as John Dewey and Richard Rorty, theorists such as Barbara Herrnstein-Smith and John Guillory, and feminists such as Judith Butler, in order to establish a framework through which to view the poetry of Moore and Bishop. The second chapter is a discussion of Moore's "The Plumet Basilisk" and Bishop's "Brazil, January 1, 1502" with a particular emphasis on the ways in which the poetic subject is manifested in those poems; and the third chapter is an examination of Moore's "Marriage" and Bishop's "In the Waiting Room" with specific emphasis on gendered positionings within those poems.