Citation

Gurley DG. Scandinavica 2016; 55(2): 74-103.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

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Abstract

The article is a study of twentieth-century poetics and the movement in Danish literature called The Poetry of the 80's' and examines the poems that were written in the wake of the suicide of one of the movement's founders, Michael Strunge (1958-1986). This article argues that the tropological nature of these death poems constitutes a genre in and of itself and shows a break from the tradition of Danish commemorative poetry going back to the seventeenth century and the Baroque poet Thomas Kingo. What is so alluring about the death-poems written for Strunge is that the focus shifts from a static portrait of the individual to a personal individualizing of the poet and his fate. Another shift crystallized by this phenomenon is that many of the poems for Strunge were by writers who had never met the poet yet were still able to instill a deep sense of intimacy in their verse. By reading themselves into the fabric of Strunge's own verse, these death-poems changed the fabric of commemorative poetry in the Danish language. The article also pays attention to Strunge's fascination with David Bowie and marks an interesting analogy in the very recent phenomenon of 'Bowietry,' cut-up poetry written for the death of David Bowie and constructed from his own words.

Language: en

Keywords

Paul de man; Danish poetry; David bowie; Death-poem (dodedigtning); Michael strunge; Poetry of the eighties (firserlyrikken)