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Elizabeth Bishop's 'Dappled Thing': Visual Counterpoint and Devotional Attention in 'The Man-Moth'
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Lafford, E. (2011) Elizabeth Bishop's 'Dappled Thing': Visual Counterpoint and Devotional Attention in 'The Man-Moth'. Literature and theology, Vol.25 (No.3). pp. 252-267. doi:10.1093/litthe/frr021 ISSN 0269-1205.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/litthe/frr021
Abstract
This article argues that the hitherto neglected theological dimensions of Elizabeth Bishop's 'The Man-Moth' can be opened up by reading it through Bishop's interest in the work of Gerard Manley Hopkins and Simone Weil. Specifically, I argue that Hopkins and Weil offer Bishop an attentive model of interpretation in which the reader is invited to become externally aware (of the poem's form) and internally devotional (to the poem's experiential dimension). Where Hopkins forwards a contrapuntal way of looking at the world, one he defines as 'dappled' in 'Pied Beauty', Weil develops a theological understanding of attention as a way of encouraging us into a patient and compassionate relationship with the world. In using Hopkins and Weil to read Bishop's poem, I revise current critical conceptions of Hopkins' poetic counterpoint as visual (rather than musical), and then use this double way of looking to explore the devotional experience 'The Man-Moth' offers the reader.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||
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Subjects: | P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) | ||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Arts > English and Comparative Literary Studies | ||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Literature and theology | ||||
Publisher: | Oxford University Press | ||||
ISSN: | 0269-1205 | ||||
Official Date: | 2011 | ||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | Vol.25 | ||||
Number: | No.3 | ||||
Number of Pages: | 16 | ||||
Page Range: | pp. 252-267 | ||||
DOI: | 10.1093/litthe/frr021 | ||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access |
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