Research Article
BibTex RIS Cite

The Semiotic and the Symbolic: The Rejuvenative Effect of Writing in Mary Steele’s “Sonnet, 1795”

Year 2021, Volume: 6 Issue: 3, 671 - 684, 31.12.2021
https://doi.org/10.29110/soylemdergi.988233

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the eighteenth-century British poet, Mary Steele’s “Sonnet, 1795” in terms of the recuperative power of the act of writing and the relationship between the semiotic and the symbolic. The study suggests that the sonnet serves as the poetic testament to the symbolic and the real life of the historical author who aims to manage her emotional suffering and mental agony via the therapeutic act of writing. The female author has a confrontation with what is to be repressed on the symbolic through the poetic production on the semiotic that bears a witness to her traumatic experiences and physical losses. Through negation and sublimation, the author attains to order her chaotic cognitive and affective states and develop an awareness about the subconsciousness and what psychologically ails her. Therefore, she does not intend to improve her poetic abilities and self-actualize as an aspiring author being in search of a feminine sublime, but rather seeks refuge against the symbolic and applies poetry as a therapeutic device and a way of escaping from the reality. Within this context, there is a correlation between the symbolic and the semiotic, between the authorial interest in poetry and the inner motives of the female poet. Against this background, the study employs the theory of Julia Kristeva regarding the liaison between the literary creation and the literary figure, the redemptive power the poetics offers for the authorial persona and the renewing effect of the poetic production.

References

  • Backscheider, Paula R. (2005). Eighteenth-century women poets and their poetry inventing agency, inventing genre. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press. Devries, Jacqueline R. (2016). Book review: Other British voices: women, poetry and religion, 1776-1840. The Wordsworth Circle; New York, 47(4), 182-184.
  • Ferguson, Moira (1987). "The Cause of My Sex": Mary Scott and the female literary tradition. Huntington Library Quarterly, 50(4), 359-377.
  • Guest, Harriet (2002). Bluestocking feminism. Huntington Library Quarterly, Vol. 65 (1/2), 59-80.
  • Holmes, Amanda J. (2008). Resurrecting the anonymous: an introduction to Mary Steele, the author of Danebury and the power of friendship, A Tale with Two Odes by a Young Lady. (Doctoral Dissertation). Retrieved from Electronic Theses and Dissertations.
  • Horney, Karen (2017). Kadın psikolojisi. (Çev. S. Budak). İstanbul: Totem Yayınları.
  • Kristeva, Julia (1989). Black sun. New York: Columbia University Press.
  • Pohl, Nicole & Schellenberg, Betty A. (2002). Introduction: a bluestocking historiography. Huntington Library Quarterly, 65 (1/2), 1-19.
  • Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomith (2002). Narrative fiction. New York: Routledge.
  • Sayer, Duncan (2011). Death and the dissenter: group identity and stylistic simplicity as witnessed in nineteenth-century nonconformist gravestones. Historical Archaeology, 45(4):115–134.
  • Steele, Mary (1795). Sonnet, 1795. In Whelan, Timothy (2015a). Other British voices: women, poetry and religion, 1776-1840. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 68-68.
  • Whelan, Timothy (2015a). Other British voices: women, poetry and religion, 1776-1840. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Whelan, Timothy (2015b). Mary Steele, Mary Hays and the convergence of women’s literary circles in the 1790s. Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies, 38(4), 511-524.
  • Whelan, Timothy (2014). Mary Scott, Sarah Froud, and the Steele literary circle: a revealing annotation to the female advocate. Huntington Library Quarterly, 77(4), 435-452.

Semiyotik ve Sembolik: Mary Steele'in "Sone 1795" Eserinde Yazmanın İyileştirici Etkisi

Year 2021, Volume: 6 Issue: 3, 671 - 684, 31.12.2021
https://doi.org/10.29110/soylemdergi.988233

Abstract

Bu makale, on sekizinci yüzyıl İngiliz şairi Mary Steele'in “Sone, 1795” adlı eserini yazma eyleminin iyileştirici gücü ve semiyotikle sembolik arasındaki ilişki açısından incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Çalışma sonenin, duygusal acısını ve zihinsel ıstırabını terapötik yazma eylemiyle yönetmeyi amaçlayan tarihsel yazarın sembolik ve gerçek yaşamının şiirsel kanıtı olarak hizmet ettiğini ileri sürmektedir. Kadın yazar, travmatik deneyimlerine ve fiziksel kayıplarına tanıklık eden semiyotik düzlemdeki şiirsel üretim aracılığıyla sembolik düzlemde bastırılması gerekenle yüzleşir. Nesnelleştirme ve yüceltme yoluyla yazar, kaotik bilişsel ve duyuşsal durumlarını düzenlemeye ve bilinçaltına dair bir farkındalık geliştirerek psikolojik olarak kendisini neyin rahatsız ettiğini anlamayı başarır. Bu nedenle, kadınsı bir yücelik arayışında olan bir yazar olarak edebi yeteneklerini geliştirmeyi ve kendini gerçekleştirmeyi amaçlamaz; daha çok semiyotik olana sığınır ve şiiri terapötik bir araç ve gerçeklik ile sembolikten kaçınmanın bir yolu olarak kullanır. Bu bağlamda sembolik olanla semiyotik olan arasında, yazarın şiire olan ilgisi ile kadın şairin içsel sebepleri arasında bir ilişki vardır. Bu arka plandan hareketle, çalışma, Julia Kristeva'nın edebi eser ile edebi figür arasındaki ilişkiyi, poetikanın yazar için sunduğu kurtarıcı gücü ve poetik üretimin yenileyici etkisini ele alan teorisini kullanmaktadır.

References

  • Backscheider, Paula R. (2005). Eighteenth-century women poets and their poetry inventing agency, inventing genre. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press. Devries, Jacqueline R. (2016). Book review: Other British voices: women, poetry and religion, 1776-1840. The Wordsworth Circle; New York, 47(4), 182-184.
  • Ferguson, Moira (1987). "The Cause of My Sex": Mary Scott and the female literary tradition. Huntington Library Quarterly, 50(4), 359-377.
  • Guest, Harriet (2002). Bluestocking feminism. Huntington Library Quarterly, Vol. 65 (1/2), 59-80.
  • Holmes, Amanda J. (2008). Resurrecting the anonymous: an introduction to Mary Steele, the author of Danebury and the power of friendship, A Tale with Two Odes by a Young Lady. (Doctoral Dissertation). Retrieved from Electronic Theses and Dissertations.
  • Horney, Karen (2017). Kadın psikolojisi. (Çev. S. Budak). İstanbul: Totem Yayınları.
  • Kristeva, Julia (1989). Black sun. New York: Columbia University Press.
  • Pohl, Nicole & Schellenberg, Betty A. (2002). Introduction: a bluestocking historiography. Huntington Library Quarterly, 65 (1/2), 1-19.
  • Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomith (2002). Narrative fiction. New York: Routledge.
  • Sayer, Duncan (2011). Death and the dissenter: group identity and stylistic simplicity as witnessed in nineteenth-century nonconformist gravestones. Historical Archaeology, 45(4):115–134.
  • Steele, Mary (1795). Sonnet, 1795. In Whelan, Timothy (2015a). Other British voices: women, poetry and religion, 1776-1840. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 68-68.
  • Whelan, Timothy (2015a). Other British voices: women, poetry and religion, 1776-1840. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Whelan, Timothy (2015b). Mary Steele, Mary Hays and the convergence of women’s literary circles in the 1790s. Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies, 38(4), 511-524.
  • Whelan, Timothy (2014). Mary Scott, Sarah Froud, and the Steele literary circle: a revealing annotation to the female advocate. Huntington Library Quarterly, 77(4), 435-452.
There are 13 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Literary Theory
Journal Section EDEBİYAT / ARAŞTIRMA MAKALELERİ
Authors

Öznur Yemez 0000-0002-1102-7407

Publication Date December 31, 2021
Submission Date August 28, 2021
Acceptance Date November 15, 2021
Published in Issue Year 2021 Volume: 6 Issue: 3

Cite

APA Yemez, Ö. (2021). The Semiotic and the Symbolic: The Rejuvenative Effect of Writing in Mary Steele’s “Sonnet, 1795”. Söylem Filoloji Dergisi, 6(3), 671-684. https://doi.org/10.29110/soylemdergi.988233