"one of the most important implications to be derived from studying the material text is the way that the page reinforces certain epistemological concerns, notably the idea that witing is a form of knowing...pervasive attempt to ground thought not in reflection but in action...in a letter...he [Oppen] speaks of the poem as a 'process of thought'...For Oppen the poem does not represent the mind thinking; it is the thinking itself, including its marginal references, afterthought, and postscripts...knowledge is gained, not by bracketing experience but by finding oneself already in the world, engaged in human intercourse. The poet strives to reduce words to their barest signification, prior to their subordination to cognitive or rhetorical schemes." Davidson, Michael. Ghostlier Demarcations: Modern Poetry and the Material Word, Berkeley, University of California Press. 1997.p. 70

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