Rachel Blau Duplessis Theory Of Lorine Niedecker's Poems
Critical/Ecological Response
Rachel Blau DuPlessis’ theory about Lorine Niedecker’s poetry, “subordinating the literal to the figurative and looping between literal and figurative words…” creates the question, “could these tactics be what Niedecker meant by “reflections”?” (405). It is fundamental to understand what Niedecker means by her use of the term “reflections” and how it corresponds within her poetry in order to try and understand Niedecker’s construction of thoughts. Niedecker spent much of her life withdrawn. Due to this withdrawn state, her poetry is married to nature with its dense images of landscapes and animals, and just like any marriage, one can claim that the spouse is both a reflection and opposite of the other. Her marriage …show more content…
with Nature is not perfect and there exists an underlying sense of glorifying suffering within her poetry.
In her book, “Lorine Niedecker: A Poets Life”, Margot Peters claims that Niedecker was, “overwhelmingly interested in rocks: they would become “the heroes” of her poem. It fascinated her that impurities in rocks made them beautiful” (206). Her relationship to the rock becomes a reflection of her relationship with her own life. In, “Lake Superior”, Niedecker writes,
“The smooth black stone
I picked up in true source park the leaf beside it once was stone
Why should we hurry
Home” (208) in which Peters notes, “The hurry/Home” segment is one of only three in which Lorine appears” (209). Niedecker’s rare presence in this image is not only her being a reflection of the stone, but also, by acknowledging “the leaf” as, “once was stone”, is a kind of association with nature, allowing a returning to stone for her as well. Here exists her union with Nature, allowing her use of Nature’s images to reflect her current “states” in life. These “states” reflected by Nature are what DuPlessis referenced as the “looping between literal and figurative words” (405). In her poem, “Paean to Place”, Niedecker refers to her mother and her as being, “sworn to water” and her father coming from, “marsh fog” where later in the poem these associations with water and fog become reflections of her life, “Anchored here in the rise and sink of life—” where “anchored” reflects her father’s state of having an affair and feeling stuck in, “the rise and sink” of his life with her and her mother.
Niedecker visualizes herself and others in a natural cycle that makes everything in her poetry a reflection of “something else.” In, “Lake Superior”, during her conversation with Al, Niedecker says, “In every part of every thing is stuff that once was rock that turned to soil. In blood the minerals of rock” (207), so not only is Niedecker a reflection, but every thing with blood is a reflection, of the rock. With this type of ideology in mind, one can understand her frustrations with the relationship she had with Louis Zukofsky and the rejection she suffered from him. Zukofsky is a huge influence upon her writings but it is what she wrote to her friend, Cid, that sheds light upon her opinion of Zukofsky and his response to the manuscript she sent him, “He thinks of it as biography, I think of it as chunks of beautiful literature, something he wrote not just for me but the world” (200). Even though much of her life was lived withdrawn, Niedecker was quite aware of her existence and placement in this world, as well as others. Her description of (Zukofsky’s) life as, “chunks” whereas the etymology of chunks, may come from the word, “chuck” as in, “chuck a rock”, “of beautiful literature” is reflective of her fascination with rocks and, “that impurities in rocks made them beautiful” for she claimed that Zukofsky was, “afraid of gossip” and thus, he must not want his “impurities” exposed (206). What Zukofsky views as gossip, Niedecker views as beauty. Her association of stone with home is reflective of her thoughts on cycles. “Niedecker believes in a universe in which what dies is re-created, long before she told Al on the trip, “You can see how we return to our source. And there is never any death. After ‘death’ there are life cycles, even tho inanimate”” (208). For Niedecker, impurities are the source of her poetry. Her
fascination with rocks is a reflection of her thoughts about cycles and source and also an association of her life’s impurities, hence the allusion to her father’s affair and her thoughts to Al about Zukofsky’s rejection.
Rachel Blau DuPlessis’ theory about Lorine Niedecker’s poetry, “subordinating the literal to the figurative and looping between literal and figurative words…” creates the question, “could these tactics be what Niedecker meant by “reflections”?” (405). It is fundamental to understand what Niedecker means by her use of the term “reflections” and how it corresponds within her poetry in order to try and understand Niedecker’s construction of thoughts. Niedecker spent much of her life withdrawn. Due to this withdrawn state, her poetry is married to nature with its dense images of landscapes and animals, and just like any marriage, one can claim that the spouse is both a reflection and opposite of the other. Her marriage …show more content…
with Nature is not perfect and there exists an underlying sense of glorifying suffering within her poetry.
In her book, “Lorine Niedecker: A Poets Life”, Margot Peters claims that Niedecker was, “overwhelmingly interested in rocks: they would become “the heroes” of her poem. It fascinated her that impurities in rocks made them beautiful” (206). Her relationship to the rock becomes a reflection of her relationship with her own life. In, “Lake Superior”, Niedecker writes,
“The smooth black stone
I picked up in true source park the leaf beside it once was stone
Why should we hurry
Home” (208) in which Peters notes, “The hurry/Home” segment is one of only three in which Lorine appears” (209). Niedecker’s rare presence in this image is not only her being a reflection of the stone, but also, by acknowledging “the leaf” as, “once was stone”, is a kind of association with nature, allowing a returning to stone for her as well. Here exists her union with Nature, allowing her use of Nature’s images to reflect her current “states” in life. These “states” reflected by Nature are what DuPlessis referenced as the “looping between literal and figurative words” (405). In her poem, “Paean to Place”, Niedecker refers to her mother and her as being, “sworn to water” and her father coming from, “marsh fog” where later in the poem these associations with water and fog become reflections of her life, “Anchored here in the rise and sink of life—” where “anchored” reflects her father’s state of having an affair and feeling stuck in, “the rise and sink” of his life with her and her mother.
Niedecker visualizes herself and others in a natural cycle that makes everything in her poetry a reflection of “something else.” In, “Lake Superior”, during her conversation with Al, Niedecker says, “In every part of every thing is stuff that once was rock that turned to soil. In blood the minerals of rock” (207), so not only is Niedecker a reflection, but every thing with blood is a reflection, of the rock. With this type of ideology in mind, one can understand her frustrations with the relationship she had with Louis Zukofsky and the rejection she suffered from him. Zukofsky is a huge influence upon her writings but it is what she wrote to her friend, Cid, that sheds light upon her opinion of Zukofsky and his response to the manuscript she sent him, “He thinks of it as biography, I think of it as chunks of beautiful literature, something he wrote not just for me but the world” (200). Even though much of her life was lived withdrawn, Niedecker was quite aware of her existence and placement in this world, as well as others. Her description of (Zukofsky’s) life as, “chunks” whereas the etymology of chunks, may come from the word, “chuck” as in, “chuck a rock”, “of beautiful literature” is reflective of her fascination with rocks and, “that impurities in rocks made them beautiful” for she claimed that Zukofsky was, “afraid of gossip” and thus, he must not want his “impurities” exposed (206). What Zukofsky views as gossip, Niedecker views as beauty. Her association of stone with home is reflective of her thoughts on cycles. “Niedecker believes in a universe in which what dies is re-created, long before she told Al on the trip, “You can see how we return to our source. And there is never any death. After ‘death’ there are life cycles, even tho inanimate”” (208). For Niedecker, impurities are the source of her poetry. Her
fascination with rocks is a reflection of her thoughts about cycles and source and also an association of her life’s impurities, hence the allusion to her father’s affair and her thoughts to Al about Zukofsky’s rejection.