Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1999 Musing the Garden: a Poetics of Place and Emplacement. Scott aP rker Smiley Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Smiley, Scott aP rker, "Musing the Garden: a Poetics of Place and Emplacement." (1999). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 7013. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/7013 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. 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MUSING THE GARDEN: A POETICS OF PLACE AND EMPLACEMENT A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Geography and Anthropology by Scott Parker Smiley B.S., University of California, 1984 M.A., California State University, 1994 August, 1999 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 9945740 Copyright 1999 by Smiley, Scott Parker All rights reserved. UMI Microform 9945740 Copyright 1999, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, M I 48103 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ©Copyright 1999 Scott Parker Smiley All Rights Reserved ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to numerous people for their support, encouragement, and forbearance during the process of my dissertation. First and foremost, many thanks go to my advisor and mentor, Professor Miles Richardson. His gentle spirit, insightful mind, and generous heart have made this all possible. His encouragement in my pursuit of phenomenology was invaluable, and I am indebted to him for introducing me to the idea of poetics of place. Miles’ influence has enriched not only my professional development, but also my personal outlook on the world. Thanks also to the faculty members who served on my committee for the proposal or the dissertation: professors Bainard Cowan, Steve Hoelscher, Keith Henderson, Karen Till, Marcus Shenrell, and Assia Djebar. Dr. Cowan’s enthusiasm, advice, and literary perspective were warmly appreciated. From the philosophy department, Dr. Greg Schuffeider was a tremendous help in my work on phenomenology and existentialism, while professors Hussain Sarkar and Marc Froment-Meurice also contributed to my philosophical development Several geographers and other scholars have had a powerful influence on me through their writings: Yi-Fu Tuan, Anne Buttimer, David Seamon, Gaston Bachelard, Martin Heidegger, and Thomas Moore. The Board of Regents of LSU, the LSU Graduate School, and the Robert C. West Fund provided the funding that enabled me to carry out this work. I am also grateful to the Department of Geography and Anthropology for providing resources and support for my work, and for the synergy of the interdisciplinary environment within the department The interest and encouragement of friends and colleagues has helped me to persist in working out some of my mind-bending ideas, and I thank them for their willingness to discuss my work: Kit Anderson, Michael Hawkins, Lisa Adam, Katie iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Algeo, Anne Brucklacher, Bonnie Henderson, Katherine Nashleanas, Keum-Soo Hong, Yi-Fong Chen, Dave and Brenda Pettus, Lori Kelly, Ellen Paisley, Galen Turner, Warren Miller, and Phyllis LeFeaux. Doug Deur has been a wonderful colleague and friend, and our many deep discussions have been one of the highlights of my time here at LSU. Betty Vaughan has a gift of bottomless hospitality and positive regard for what I am doing—thanks for so many dinners and conversations. Andrea Beazley has brought a refreshingly artistic perspective to my “stuff,” while also ensuring that I take a little time out to play. Ava Haymon’s wonderful poetic spirit has been an inspiration as I have begun to learn to see through poetic eyes. My parents, Parker and Dorothy Smiley, have been unwavering in their support, even though this undertaking as put me far from home. Thank you also for keeping me company on some of my garden meanderings. Finally, I wish to thank the gardens themselves for allowing me to share in their poetics, and the Muse, who is the source of all inspiration. iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................iii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ......................................................................... vii ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................x CHAPTER 1 WEAVING A TAPESTRY............................................................. 1 Contexts ...................................................................................2 The Context of Fieldwork .................................................... 3 The Context of Methology ................................................... 6 The Context of Academic Scholarship ....................................8 The Context of Knowledge ...................................................14 The Context of Order .............................................................16 The Context of the Muse ........................................................ 16 2 POETICS AND POETIC KNOWING.............................................18 Poetics and De-finition ............................................................ 18 Arounding Poetics: A Collage ................................................ 20 Poiesis: Making .........................................................................24 Gaton Bachelard’s Poetics of Space Image ............................. 26 Objectivity and Subjectivity.................................................... 30 Nonjective Ontology: Being-In-The-World ............................. 35 Nonjective Epistemology: Poetic knowing ..............................39 Poetic Language: Expression .................................................. 44 Emplacement and Poetics........................................................45 Earth: Stage or Player? ...........................................................47 Genius Loci................................................................................50 3 THE GARDEN................................................................................... 55 Defining the Garden ................................................................ 55 Garden as Nature/Culture...................................................... 57 Garden as Poetic......................................................................60 Western Garden History to 1700: Continental ......................... 61 The Garden After 1700: England and The United States ............75 Cosmological Poetics: The Garden as Heaven and Earth ........... 102 Roles .............................................................................................. 106 4 GARDEN EMPLACEMENT AND POETICS ................................. 107 Botanical and Zoological Gardens ...........................................107 Gardens in Commercial Spaces..............................................148