Le langage de Paul Valery
department or school: Arts, Faculty of
department or school: French, Hispanic, and Italian Studies, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Walsh, Allan Frederick
issued: 2012-03-28T19:09:22Z
issued: 1947
related degree: Master of Arts - MA
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: By the word "langage" is meant the manner in which a poet uses his native tongue to express his thoughts and ideas. The German poet can actually create language, according to Ernst Curtius; the French poet cannot, - he must deal with the language as it exists. In order to express his ideas as clearly as possible Valéry insisted on observing rigid rules and constraints in language. Only by so doing could he achieve clarity. He considered his poems as exercises to this end. He felt that inspiration should have little or no part in the poetic creation, but only by exerting the intellect can a poet approach the state of pure poetry. Valéry took great pains in his choice of words both for their sense and for their musical effect. He was an admirer of Wagner, and as a symbolist sought to express music in words, both as an end in itself and as a support for his images. To Valéry the chief function of the human being lay in the intellect, in the process of thought, and he considered poetry the only road to the essence of being, pure conscience, as for him it was the act of thought. The purer the poetry the closer one approached to the absolute of pure conscience, and the problem of pure poetry is a problem of language. The law of continuity in the method of Leonardo da Vinci interested Valéry much, and in his images he tries to observe it and obey it. As a result his images are often obscure, mainly because of their extreme condensation. Too, Valery often ascribes special meanings to words, and places words together in unusual and unexpected manners, his verbs are always very full, especially verbs of motion, and he makes great use of words of light and colour. The sea also plays a great part in his poetry. There run through the poetry of Valéry certain words which are characteristic of his thought, and which recur time and again with slight variances of meaning. The two most important of these are "absence" and "pur", both of which have to do with the concept of the absolu…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/41826
note: L £ 5 ll -} L E L A N U A G J I D E P A U L V A L E R Y Allan Frederick Walsh A thesis submitted i n p a r t i a l fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS i n the Department of FRENCH Trie University of B r i t i s h Columbia October, 1947 Abstract of the thesis, ije_langage_de_Paul_Valer^, by Allan Frederick tfalsh, submitted for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of French, University of B r i t i s h Columbia, October, 1947. By the word "langage" i s meant the manner i n which a poet uses his native tongue to express his thoughts and ideas. The German poet can actually create language, according to Ernst Curtlus; the French poet cannot, -he must deal with the language as i t exists. In order to express his dlaeas as clearly as possible Valery insisted on observing r i g i d rules and constraints i n language. Only by so doing could he achieve c l a r i t y . He considered his poems as exercises to this end. He f e l t that i n s p i r a t i o n should hare l i t t l e or no part i n the poetic creation, but only oy exerting the i n t e l l e c t can a poet approach the state of pure poetry. Valery took great paias inhis choice of words both for their sense and for their musical e f f e c t . He was an admirer of Wagner, and as a symbolist sought to express music i n words, both as an end i n i t s e l f and as a support for his images. To Valery the chief function of the human being lay i n the i n t e l l e c t , i n the process of thought, and he' considered poetry trie only road to the essence of being, pure conscience, as for him i t was the act of thought. The purer the poetry the c&aser one approached to the absolute of pure conscience, and the problem of pure poetry is a problem of langaage. Tne law of continuity i n the method of Leonardo da Vinci interested Valery much, and in his images he tri e s to observe i t and obey i t . As a result his images are often obscure, mainly because of their extreme condensation. Too,…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0107044
language: fre
degree discipline: French
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/41826