"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