Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2440/129047
Citations
Scopus Web of Science® Altmetric
?
?
Type: Journal article
Title: Does function follow form? Openness and formal association in the early poetry of John Forbes
Author: Coleman, A.N.
Citation: TEXT: Journal of Writing and Writing Programs, 2019; 23(2):1-20
Publisher: TEXT Journal
Issue Date: 2019
ISSN: 1327-9556
1327-9556
Statement of
Responsibility: 
Aidan Coleman
Abstract: This article aims to reconstruct features of John Forbes’ compositional process in his first decade of serious practice, through analysing drafts and early versions of his poems. I compare early versions of ‘Here’, ‘The Joyful Mysteries’ and ‘Stalin’s Holidays’ to their final incarnations to show how Forbes was resistant to a fixed, or single, idea when writing a poem. In the context of such openness, Forbes’ poems often moved towards a sense of closure, through the pressure his use of form applied and through its more suggestive qualities. Following a comment Forbes made in an interview, I label this process ‘formal association’. I contend that Forbes sought a balance between closure and openness, while arguing that the dynamic interplay of this openness with formal association, during the composition, was crucial to his achievement.
Keywords: John Forbes; form; openness; closure; composition
Rights: © Copyright of all work published in TEXT remains with the authors. For republication, contact the author direct and acknowledge TEXT.
DOI: 10.52086/001c.18603
Published version: http://www.textjournal.com.au/oct19/coleman.htm
Appears in Collections:Aurora harvest 4
English publications

Files in This Item:
There are no files associated with this item.


Items in DSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.