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One of the most striking characteristics of Raoul Schrott's and Durs Grünbein's poetry is its thematisation of science. Schrott and Grünbein are remarkably different contemporary poets however: in this paper I suggest that their conflicting uses of science in poetry constitute a useful point of comparison. Schrott's scientists are poet-like figures who see the world in a new way, extending perspective and providing an example to the modern-day lyric subject. For Schrott, science is a set of metaphors, a benign language of poetry. In Grünbein's poetry, science is a threat, a dominant, sanitising influence on modern life which, far from raising up humans as adventurers and explorers, diminishes them. Science here reveals only the serious meaninglessness of life and is taken up in the poetry as bravura and provocation. In this paper I demonstrate these tendencies through close textual analysis of a variety of poems by Schrott and Grünbein which were written in the 1990s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: This paper considers the site of Hong Kong as a growing one for works of the imagination. This globalized financial centre with its many contradictions and anomalies may yet be tamed by writing; and, in process of which, may arrive at a more definite sense of identity. As a sample of Hong Kong poetry in English, works of some local poets are introduced here, and these poems are included in the final section. Four poems by Louise Ho are included in the appendix to the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: In recent years, interest in Hong Kong poetry in English has grown remarkably. Amidst all the excitement, the question has arisen as to how to define Hong Kong poetry in English. This paper is an attempt to provide an answer from linguistics. Subsumed under this controversy are three questions: What is poetry? What is good poetry? What is Hong Kong poetry? The first question has to take into account the revived interest in relating literary English to the general use of English. The second one relates to literary standards, which are inevitably tied to cultural norms of interaction and interpretation. The last one can be answered with reference to sociolinguistic concepts of speech communities. The paper deals briefly with the first two questions and focuses on the last. It affirms the existence of Hong Kong poetry in English. Each poet writing in or for Hong Kong may identify with more than one poetic community just as many users of English in Hong Kong may communicate with more than one group of English speakers. The application of linguistics to the task of defining Hong Kong poetry should offer insights towards a framework for identifying literary communities elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses Rimbaud's poem "Nocturne vulgaire" (Illuminations). The paper concerns itself with the structural development of the poem, tracing its evolution from a failed imaginative journey of the self to a more satisfying one. Essentially, the study argues that the text reinvents itself and ultimately represents not one poem, but two - a phenomenon seen passim in the Illuminations. Close reference is made to how 'Nocturne vulgaire' adopts and deviates from Alfred de Vigny's poem 'La Maison du berger'. Finally, the article considers the indebtedness of the piece to both music and painting and asks in what ways the Rimbaldian nocturne redefines these sources of inspiration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]