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A Reading of Gary Snyder's Later Poetry

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A Reading of Gary Snyder's Later Poetry TO SEE THE WORLD IN ITS THUSNESS: A READING OF GARY SNYDER'S LATER POETRY Julia Martin University of Cape Town A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts University of Cape Town ., for the Degree of Master of Arts Cape Town, 1985 The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgement of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Published by the University of Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University of Cape Town For Michael • .. •.• to see the world for now in its thusness is finally all we want, all we need. - GARY SNYDER The Mother whose body is the Universe Whose breasts are Sun and Moon, the statue of Prajna • From Java: the quiet smile, The naked breasts. - GARY SNYDER Some time in the last ten years the best brains of the Occident discovered to their amazement that we live in an environment. This discovery has been forced on us by the realisation that we are approaching the limits of something. Stewart Brand said that the photograph of the earth (taken from outer space by a satellite) that shows the whole blue orb with spirals and whorls of cloud, was a great landmark for human consciousness. We see that it has a shape, and it has limits. We are back again, now, in the position of our Mesolithic forebears -- working off the coasts of southern Britain, or the shores of Lake Chad or the swamps of southeast China, learning how to live by the sun and the green at that spot. We once more know that we live in a system that is enclosed in a certain way; that it has its own kinds of limits, and that we are interdependent within it. GARY SNYDER .. Finally we come down to earth, we see things as they are . This does not mean having an inspired mystical v1s1on with archangels, cherubs and sweet music playing. But things seen as they~' in their own qualities. - CHOGYAM TRUNGPA - iii - TO SEE THE WORLD IN ITS THUSNESS: A READING OF GARY SNYDER'S LATER POETRY MARTIN, Julia. University of Cape Town, 1985 • . , This thesis examines three collections of poetry by Gary Snyder: Regarding Wave, Turtle Island and Axe Handles. It studies these works as an exploration of what I call the sacramental question, namely, "What is it in the nature of reality that can finally sanctify human existence?" I am particularly interested in four aspects of Snyder's treatment of this question: (1) the significance given to epistemological and ideological assumptions; (2) the concept of "woman", and particularly "the Goddess"; (3) the nature of those experiences which are presented in the poetry as "sacramental"; and (4) the poetic forms by which Snyder's approach is articulated. My analysis comprises five chapters and three appendices. The first chapter outlines the questions which the thesis addresses, placing these in the context of work by other critics, and providing a brief account of Snyder's writings as a whole. The three central chapters study one collection of poetry each, in chronological order, referring where ... appropriate to Snyder's other writings and to the oriental and other sources by which his approach to the sacramental question is informed. f The final chapter summarises my conclusions. This is followed by an I ' appended diagrammatic illustration of the structure of two poems, a chronology, and a glossary of foreign terms. In the thesis I refer to Anthony Wilden's model of "oppositional relations" in his critique of an epistemology which he calls "biosocial imperialism". In examining Snyder's use of form, I use two models for metaphor: Roman Jakobsen's account of metaphor and metonymy, and a model • of metaphor as semantic transfer proposed by Eva Kittay and Adrienne Lehrer. The title of the thesis points to the conclusions which my work proposes. Snyder's later poetry suggests that our existence may be sanctified in an act of perception where the most everyday object or experience, because seen as it is, "in its thusness .. , is acknowledged as a sacrament. Such an act of mind implies a recognition of the self as participant in a system of interdependent things, which in turn requires a critical reassessment of Cartesian dualism, and of its ideological manifestations. "Woman as nature" is Snyder's primary image for the source of sacramental transformation, and for alternatives to the ideology of patriarchal-technological culture. More significantly, however, the image of the feminine simultaneously appears, in the form of the goddesses VAK. and GAIA, as a metaphor for the biosphere, the "whole earth", and so for a metaperspective on dualistic oppositions. As such, Snyder's Goddess is more than the reverse image of a patriarchal God. With respect to form, the use of syntax, metaphor, metonymy and open forms seems generally appropriate in articulating these concerns. Unlike some other readers I find that Snyder's use of broadly metaphoric structures is an important aspect of the poetry. • • • • • - iv - • • • • • • TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PREFACE ix NOTE xi ABBREVIATIONS xii Chapter • 1. THE SACRAMENTAL QUESTION: Preparing the Ground 1 (1) BEGINNINGS (i) Haida Myth (ii) A Counterculture (2) POETRY: 1959 - 1968 (3) POETRY AND PROSE: 1969 - 1983 (4) THE PRECIOUSNESS OF HICE AND WEEDS (i) Epiphany, the Sacramental (ii) Interbirth (iii) Biosocial Imperialism (5) ABOUT FORM (i) Open Forms (ii) Syntax and Metaphor (6) MY QUESTIONS 2. OF GRAIN AND WAVE: A Participatory Universe 50 (1) VAK: Vehicle of the Mystery of Voice (i) The Voice as a Girl (ii) Running Water Music (2) WAVE: Before the Eyes, Pattern Displays Itself (3) VAJRAYANA: The World, the Flesh (i) Seed Pods (ii) Songs of Cloud and Water (iii) Regarding Wave III (4) REGARDING WAVE: The Voice is a Wife (5) LONG HAIR AND TARGET PRACTICE: The Way to the Pattern (i) Long Hair · (ii) Target Practice • 3. DELIGHT WITHIN: Getting the People Grounded 106 (1) THE WILDERNESS, MY CONSTITUENCY (i) Mysticism and Ideology (ii) Mind and Nature in the Act of Perception (iii) Nature Poetry is not Neutral (iv) The Role of Prophet (2) THE SICK, FAT VEINS OF AMERIKA (i) Animals (ii) Sovereign Use of Natural Resources (iii) All these Americans up in Special Cities in the Sky • (3) TURTLE ISLAND (i) Underground (ii) The Great Family: Twining and Knotting through Each Other (iii) The World Tapestry (iv) Wild Beings, Our Brothers (4) POWER WITHIN 4. CRAFT OF CULTURE: Gaia and the New Community 157 • ( 1 ) THREE CENTRAL METAPHORS (i) Loops: History and Metaphor (ii) Nets: Everything is Connected (iii) Gaia: the Whole Network (2) ENERGY POLITICS (i) The Twentieth Century: Owning the Source (ii) Alternatives: Old Ways, Roads, Means of Connection (iii) Hard Pleasant Tasks: The Proper Use for Several Tools (3) THE SENSE OF THE MAGIC SYSTEM 5. TO SEE THE WORLD: Gaia, VAK and the Sacramental 204 (1) SELF -OTHER: An Epistemology of Oppositional Relations (2) TRUE COMMUNIONISM: Encountering the Goddess (3) NOTHING SPECIAL: Mice and Weeds (4) ABOUT FORM: Metaphor, Open Forms and Syntax (i) Metaphor and Metonymy (ii) Open Forms and Syntax (5) FURTHER WORK: Problems and Questions (6) CONCLUSION: To See the World in its Thusness APPENDIX A. SOUND AND SILENCE: A SCORING 226 APPENDIX B. CHRONOLOGY 229 GLOSSARY 232 BIBLIOGRAPHY 237 • - vii - • ILLUSTRATIONS Page "THE WORLD" by Jason Cope, aged 7 iv TORSO OF QUEEN NEFERTITI, REPRESENTED AS THE GODDESS v (1365-1349 B.C) - Louvre reproduction . • - viii - PREFACE • The call for "relevance" in literary studies though often voiced in rather crude terms is not easily ignored. It may seem odd then to write an English Literature thesis in South Africa on the work of a Californian poet instead of studying more readily available local material. I have found however that while Snyder's poetry generally addresses American • culture, it proposes some interesting analytic tools for living and working in this country. I particularly appreciate Snyder's attempt to recast the terms which usually describe both "spiritual" and "political" vision. I argue that, according to Snyder, the search for a way of being which sanctifies human existence the sacramental quest will be crucially important in safeguarding not only the freedom of persons but also the continued life of the biosphere itself. The experience of writing the thesis has been somewhat paradoxical in the light of the issues with which it is concerned. Like other thesis-writers I have often felt isolated in my research and wished for some grouping of similarly interested people with whom I could work. This experience was ironic: much of the thesis examines Snyder's emphasis on community and interdependence, and rejection of the notion of a privatised Cartesian individual. But a text prepared for examination in this way (both the kind of discourse required and the conditions under which it is produced) is a clear embodiment of the very belief that meaningful • activity largely takes place in the individual's solitary study. I have been struck by the contradictions inherent in this project. • Nevertheless, I am very lucky in having several friends who have given time and thought to my work, and for this I am very grateful. I would particularly like to thank: Kay McCormick for being a patient, helpful and very understanding supervisor; Gary Snyder for his generous, interesting letters, and for permission to quote from this correspondence; my mother and father for their constant support and interest; Jason Cope for painting the world for me; John Evans, Peter and Michael Kantey, Denis Raphaely, Chris Wildman and Chris Winberg, for their help and encouragement; and Lee Bartlett, Edwin Folsom, Ulf Lie, Thomas Lyon and • Dan Mcleod, for sending me copies of their work to which I would not otherwise have had access.
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