Praying to an Absent God: The Poetic Revealing of Simone Weil

Publication Type

Journal Article

Year of Publication

2006

Author

Baker, Timothy C.

Journal

Culture, Theory & Critique

Volume

47

Number

2

Pages

133-147

Publisher

Routledge

Language

English

Publish Dates

October

Keywords

Carson, Anne
Graham, Jorie
attention
decreation
poetry
Stevens, Wallace
influence

Annotation

The author argues Weil’s importance as a poetic thinker has been overlooked in favour of critical assessments of her as a philosopher. He then demonstrates Weil’s influence on two American poets; Jorie Graham and Anne Carson. Understanding Weil’s ideas, in particular decreation and attention, and the way they are used by these poets defends them, Baker argues, against some of the critical response to which they have been subjected. Beyond this, Baker claims, Weil’s work opens the way for a developing view that embraces the paradoxes inherent within the material world.