Light from Canada: The Poetics of James Schuyler

Abstract

This thesis discusses the poetics of James Schuyler as they relate to three major concepts: his "painterliness," his technique, and his treatment of things. In the first chapter, Schuyler's "painterliness" is argued to be a way to discuss the idea of representation in both his prose about art and his art-inspired poetry. In the second chapter, Schuyler's technique, notable for its innovative lineation, is explored using the postmodern philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. It is argued that Schuyler's purposeful lineation has the same ends as Deleuze-Guattari's project to expose the artificiality of systems of signs and allow ideas to connect more freely with one another. In the third chapter, the treatment of things in Schuyler's poetry is argued to be emblematic of Schuyler's poetry itself, and another way that he explores in his verse the meaning of the individual sign in relationship with subjectivity.