The exemplary poetry of Geoffrey Hill: authority and exemplarity in A Treatise of Civil Power

Geoffrey Hill's ethical anxieties turn on a tension between aesthetic autonomy and engagement with the polis, a tension illuminated by his adumbration of an exemplary poetics. ‘Exemplarity’ is characterized by a similar tension between intransitive and transitive activity, so that a poem can be...

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Main Author: Vincent, Bridget
Format: Article
Published: Modern Humanities Research Association 2015
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32238/
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author Vincent, Bridget
author_facet Vincent, Bridget
author_sort Vincent, Bridget
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description Geoffrey Hill's ethical anxieties turn on a tension between aesthetic autonomy and engagement with the polis, a tension illuminated by his adumbration of an exemplary poetics. ‘Exemplarity’ is characterized by a similar tension between intransitive and transitive activity, so that a poem can be ‘exemplary’ through its independent merit but also because it influences others. Exemplarity has become especially significant in Hill's ‘late style’: his intensifying rehearsals of despair at the degradation of public language have made the models offered by figures from the past (and the exemplary influence of his own work) an increasingly revealing element in his writing.
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spelling nottingham-322382020-05-04T20:08:20Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32238/ The exemplary poetry of Geoffrey Hill: authority and exemplarity in A Treatise of Civil Power Vincent, Bridget Geoffrey Hill's ethical anxieties turn on a tension between aesthetic autonomy and engagement with the polis, a tension illuminated by his adumbration of an exemplary poetics. ‘Exemplarity’ is characterized by a similar tension between intransitive and transitive activity, so that a poem can be ‘exemplary’ through its independent merit but also because it influences others. Exemplarity has become especially significant in Hill's ‘late style’: his intensifying rehearsals of despair at the degradation of public language have made the models offered by figures from the past (and the exemplary influence of his own work) an increasingly revealing element in his writing. Modern Humanities Research Association 2015-07 Article PeerReviewed Vincent, Bridget (2015) The exemplary poetry of Geoffrey Hill: authority and exemplarity in A Treatise of Civil Power. Modern Language Review, 110 (3). pp. 649-668. ISSN 0026-7937 http://dx.doi.org/10.5699/modelangrevi.110.3.0649 doi:10.5699/modelangrevi.110.3.0649 doi:10.5699/modelangrevi.110.3.0649
spellingShingle Vincent, Bridget
The exemplary poetry of Geoffrey Hill: authority and exemplarity in A Treatise of Civil Power
title The exemplary poetry of Geoffrey Hill: authority and exemplarity in A Treatise of Civil Power
title_full The exemplary poetry of Geoffrey Hill: authority and exemplarity in A Treatise of Civil Power
title_fullStr The exemplary poetry of Geoffrey Hill: authority and exemplarity in A Treatise of Civil Power
title_full_unstemmed The exemplary poetry of Geoffrey Hill: authority and exemplarity in A Treatise of Civil Power
title_short The exemplary poetry of Geoffrey Hill: authority and exemplarity in A Treatise of Civil Power
title_sort exemplary poetry of geoffrey hill: authority and exemplarity in a treatise of civil power
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32238/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32238/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32238/