In this essay, the author proposes to explore Mansfield＇s ＂special prose＂ by examining the two issues raised in her journal entries： First, the phrase ＂perhaps not in poetry. No, perhaps in Prose＂ in her journal...In this essay, the author proposes to explore Mansfield＇s ＂special prose＂ by examining the two issues raised in her journal entries： First, the phrase ＂perhaps not in poetry. No, perhaps in Prose＂ in her journal entry of 22 January 1916 shows that Mansfield plans to experiment with a kind of poetic prose, or in her own words--＂special prose＂. The profound affinity between the ＂special prose＂ and the notion of elegy, ＂a mournful poem for the dead＂ （OED, ＂elegy＂, n. sense 1）, calls attention to her work＇s decisive but still insufficiently examined relationship to poetry and her preoccupation with mortality. Second, the words ＂scraps＂, ＂bits＂, and ＂nothing real finished＂ in her journal entry of 19 February 1918 indicate that the mortal fragility she writes about in her ＂special prose＂ is closely bound up with verbal fragility, as embodied, for example, in the form of an ellipsis mark that she uses extensively elsewhere in her short stories. Her connection to poetry and her use of ellipsis marks will be discussed by looking at the impact of John Keats＇s poems on her own work and ＂The Canary＂ （1922）, the last story she completed before her death.展开更多
文摘In this essay, the author proposes to explore Mansfield＇s ＂special prose＂ by examining the two issues raised in her journal entries： First, the phrase ＂perhaps not in poetry. No, perhaps in Prose＂ in her journal entry of 22 January 1916 shows that Mansfield plans to experiment with a kind of poetic prose, or in her own words--＂special prose＂. The profound affinity between the ＂special prose＂ and the notion of elegy, ＂a mournful poem for the dead＂ （OED, ＂elegy＂, n. sense 1）, calls attention to her work＇s decisive but still insufficiently examined relationship to poetry and her preoccupation with mortality. Second, the words ＂scraps＂, ＂bits＂, and ＂nothing real finished＂ in her journal entry of 19 February 1918 indicate that the mortal fragility she writes about in her ＂special prose＂ is closely bound up with verbal fragility, as embodied, for example, in the form of an ellipsis mark that she uses extensively elsewhere in her short stories. Her connection to poetry and her use of ellipsis marks will be discussed by looking at the impact of John Keats＇s poems on her own work and ＂The Canary＂ （1922）, the last story she completed before her death.
