american political poetry in the 21st century - STIBA Malang
american political poetry in the 21st century - STIBA Malang
american political poetry in the 21st century - STIBA Malang
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CHAPTER 2<br />
Equivocal Agency<br />
Seems, madam? Nay, it is. I know not “seems.”<br />
’Tis not alone my <strong>in</strong>ky cloak, good mo<strong>the</strong>r,<br />
Nor customary suits of solemn black,<br />
Nor w<strong>in</strong>dy suspiration of forced breath,<br />
No, nor <strong>the</strong> fruitful river <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> eye,<br />
Nor <strong>the</strong> dejected havior of <strong>the</strong> visage,<br />
Toge<strong>the</strong>r with all forms, moods, shapes of grief,<br />
That can denote me truly. These <strong>in</strong>deed seem,<br />
For <strong>the</strong>y are actions that a man might play,<br />
But I have that with<strong>in</strong> which passes show;<br />
These but <strong>the</strong> trapp<strong>in</strong>gs and <strong>the</strong> suits of woe.<br />
—Shakespeare, Hamlet 1.2.76–86<br />
Introduction<br />
If <strong>the</strong> poems of embodied agency <strong>in</strong> chapter 1 foreground models of<br />
agency that style personal and communal experience as <strong>political</strong>ly and<br />
poetically viable, <strong>the</strong> poems <strong>in</strong> chapter 2 largely bypass questions of specific<br />
experience. Political poems of equivocal agency do not focus on <strong>the</strong><br />
first-person experience of an event or on <strong>the</strong> retell<strong>in</strong>g or memory of an<br />
experience. Nor do <strong>the</strong>y focus on <strong>the</strong> authoritative voice that comes<br />
from faith <strong>in</strong> one’s knowledge, experience, or righteousness. Instead<br />
<strong>the</strong>y generally center on a speakerless scene, create a fantastic picture, or<br />
imag<strong>in</strong>e a world that may or may not exist referentially. They exaggerate,<br />
stretch, <strong>in</strong>vent, and play with <strong>the</strong> world as it is <strong>in</strong> order to create worlds<br />
as <strong>the</strong>y may be <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> future or as <strong>the</strong>y seem <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> present. In Hamlet,<br />
Shakespeare creates a dialectic between appearance and reality, between<br />
“seem<strong>in</strong>g” and “be<strong>in</strong>g.” In his response to Gertrude, Hamlet expresses<br />
discomfort with her refusal to acknowledge that his grief is au<strong>the</strong>ntic