'n Ondersoek na die vergestalting van die magie-element in enkele verse uit Nuwe verse (N.P. van Wyk Louw) en Blom en baaierd (D.J. Opperman)
This study is an investigation of the magical attribute inherent in poetry, as perceived in "Klipwerku by N.P. van Wyk Lauw (from Nuwe Verse) and "Kroniek van Kristien" by O.J. Opperman (from Blom en Baaierd). The thesis is divided into two sections: the first is an attempt to describe and define magic, while the second section consists of text analyses where the theoretical base (as established in section one) is applied to the poem. Section 1.2 defines magic through the description of a framework within which the phenomenon can be projected: the magical milieu lies within the area which is demarcated by the following defining points: "art" , "religion" and "science" In section 1.3 the above-mentioned spatial distribution is elaborated on, but the focus eventually shifts to the relationship between "magic" and "art". Section 1.3.1 gives an eclectic view on the depth psychology of C.G. Jung and the way in which his studies link the psychology of archaic man to that of modern man. It will become apparant that the magic, which played a very important role in the tribal life of archaic man, is present (although suppressed) in our society today. Section 1.3.2 gives examples of the earliest documentations of the magical process. The oeuvre of Eugene Marais is viewed briefly in section 1.3.2.1 and the character "Maeldegijs" (from Middle Dutch literature) is sketched in 1.3.2.2. In 1.3.3 the spatial character of poetry is investigated and the poem is viewed as a vehicle for varicius implication phenomena. This section serves as an introduction to the method (principally Literary Semantic) which will be applied in the in-depth text analyses in Section two. In 2.1 the primitive dimension of magic in poetry is discovered primarily through the identification of man's basic primitiveness and inseparability from his sensual nature. In "Klipwerk" man becomes nature around him through earth-bound metaphorical projection. In 2.2 the poem, as a medium for man's identification of his relationship to the universe, is investigated in the multitudinous associations of the "Kristien" character with every possible aspect of human experience. In this way "Kristien" becomes a complex implication phenomenon and is analysed as a synthetic metaphor, which combines all the poetic spaces (here, symbolic configurations of "Kristien" with every aspect of the universe) into a complex, but densely integrated whole. The magical attribute of the above poems lies in the identification of the interpreter's unique field of experience (his existential space) in the attempt to reconstruct the space which is offered and, at the same time, implied within the text.
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