THE POETS IDEAL PREDICAMENT Even a nonbeliever like me feels, now and then, the presence of *something* outside of language and suspects that this brief experience of transcendence and encounter with being and nothingness is what defines him. Its a quandary familiar to mystics, madmen, and lovers, but in the light of reason, an incoherent and hopeless state of affairs. You may not think so, but I find this an ideal predicament for a poet to be in. John Keats called it negative capability, the ability to remain in the midst of uncertainties, mysteries, and doubts, without reaching for some reassuring thought. --Charles Simic (from an article titled The Prisoner of History in the current issue of The New York Review of Books)
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 03:49:37 +0000