Susan Lange Talks About The Styling Function Of Poetry

This paper is dedicated to solve the Susanne K.Langer's view about the essence of poetry.Susnne K.Langer saw the poem as a kind of art symbol which reflects the formation function of language.This essay will expound the formation function of poetry in three aspects,language,feeling,and symbol.In the aspect of language,the formation of poetry means life illusion created by language.Different from emotional language,the language of poetry is a kind of non-discursive language full of metaphor and illusion.A poem is a non-discursive symbol which broke the traditional dualism of content and form.In the aspect of feeling,the formation of poetry is a process which changes the subjective feeling into objective feeling.Langer refuted and developed Benedetto Croce's theory of intuitive expression.The intuition forms the subjective feeling into a significant form which is an objective feeling.In the aspect of symbol,the formation of poetry directs metaphor abstraction.A peom metaphors emotional life into an expressive form by art abstraction.The way of thinking follows the basic rule of imagination.Illusion is the central principle of art abstraction.Virtual event is the basic abstraction,and in the way of virtual memory.In a word,the formation of poetry is a process that a poet use his intuition to objectify his subjective emotional experience,make a symbolic present,and creat a virtual life.