| Summary: | Van Ostaijen as a poet, is noted for his highly skilled play with words. Out of this play he creates poems which he refers to as works of art consisting of words. In an analysis of his expressionist poetics sight must never be lost of Van Ostaijen as the master of the word. The evidence of his ability with words, is apparent not only in his poetry, but in his poetics as well. Van Ostaijen's expressionist poetics is consistent with the theories of contemporary German and Dutch expressionists in the period 1911-1918. Van Ostaijen's poetics are discussed within the context of this period by means of a comparison to certain expressionist artists and poets. His expressionist poetics deals with his theory of expressionist poetry, and with the influences both in his poetics and poetry of the fine artists Van Gogh and Kandinsky, and the poets Whitman, Gezelle, and Poe. The influence of the two painters on his poetry and poetics is discussed as the "parallel perspective" while the influence of Whitman, Gezelle and Poe is discussed as the literary perspective. This dual perspective is apparent not only in the description of influences on his work. This study of Van Ostaijen's expressionist poetics is written with a dichotomous objective in mind: that of an extensive and intensive approach. The nature of expressionist art itself reflects two qualities: the external of physioplastic, described as the external analysis of verse, and the internal, ideoplastic or the internal analysis of verse. The major tenet in any expressionist work of art, in fine art or poetry, is that it should have meaning - soul, or "inner necessity". In expressionist art (in fine art and poetry) are two opposing yet related movements: one tending towards the figurative (or extensive) - the romantic expressionism, and the other towards the abstract (or intensive) - the organic expressionism. (Although expressionist fine artists and their influence on Van Ostaijen's poetry is discussed, the emphasis is primarily on the expressionist literary work of art - the poem). Related to the two opposing movements in expressionist art is the apparent dichotomy in the term poetics (referred to in English only as poetics). It is referred to in this study as "poëtika" and "poetiek". "Poëtika", relevant to the organic expressionism, refers to the prescriptive theory of a work of literary art, while "poëtiek" applied to the romantic 8Xpressionism refers to the descriptive aesthetics of a work of literary art. (When writing expressionist poetics, in general, "poëtika" is the blanket term used). Van Ostaijen uses this aesthetic and theory in different ways; which can be shown in the poems, artists and poets selected for analysis and comparison. Van Ostaijen's poem "Vincent van Gogh" when compared to the aesthetic letters of the artist Vincent van Gogh, proves beyond doubt that Van Ostaijen makes use of Van Gogh's aesthetics, so as to progress in his artistic vision as a romantic expressionist. In the analysis of his prose poem "Merkwaardige Aanval" he applies Kandinsky's theories of colour, form and inner necessity so that he creates a new kind of poem, akin to an abstract painting in words. The influences of Whitman, Gezelle and Poe are explained by the use of a specific method: external aspects of verse, internal aspects and a poem are discussed. (The description of the influence of Poe is at the same time slightly different, because of his assumed relationship to Van Ostaijen's prescriptive poetics in the creation of his "pure-thematic" poem "Melopee".) Expressionism (successful expressionism, that is) in poetry is characterized by "inner necessity". In consequence, Van Ostaijen's expressionism can be expected to possess this indefinable expressive quality: what is described as the urge of the soul in van Gogh's comparison, becomes the "Inner Necessity" in the discussion on the influence of Kandinsky. One of the prime similarities between the work of Whitman and Van Ostaijen is termed "the expression of soul". Van Ostai j en refers to Gezelle's poetry as metaphysical and finally he constructs the most "inner" of all his poetry himself - out of his inward necessity he creates the abstract construction of "Melopee". Van Ostaijen's expressionist poetry, and especially the works reflected, in general exude inner necessity. But , most important, it is Van Ostaijen's ability with words in both his poetry and poetics which makes his expressionist poetry and its inner necessity possible. This selection of his expressionist oeuvre prove that he really is "the word-artist" he so strives to be. === Thesis (MA)--PU vir CHO, 1984.
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