Title: The Visual Artifact in the Poetry of Thomas McGreevy
Abstract: While traditional historicist readings tend to relegate active cross-fertilisations in poetry
to the level of 'sources' hierarchically subservient to 'literary' production, the poetry of
Thomas McGrevy demands a more discursive focus on the 'painterly' in writing and the
'literary' in painting. This essay examines how the 'literary' status of McGreevy's poetry is
mediated by the visual artifact. It begins by grounding his poetic production in the
context of his time in Paris, from 1927-33, arguing that the impact of Post-Impressionism
offered vital possibilities for the Irish poet after the Irigh Civil War. The
'abstract', 'iconic', and 'non-representational' qualities of his poetry are accordingly
understood in terms of a (Post-Impressionist) desire to interfere in a figural sense of
space. My readings of his poetry analyse how this interference occurs in relation to the
painting of McGreevy's Irish contemporaries, Mainie Jellett and Jack Butler Yeats. They
also compare the poet's distinctive use of colour with Wassily Kandinsky's theory of
counterpoint and harmony in abstract art. If McGreevy's poetic production owes much
to Post-Impressionism, the textual borders of his poetry do not attempt to trace the
language of colour and line alone. The essay concludes by reflecting on the nature of
McGreevy's poetic dialogue with painting as one that regards itself ironically
outdistanced, even outdone, by painting's abstract developments .
Publication Year: 2012
Publication Date: 2012-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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