Language Poetry, which emerged in the
1950’s in
New York and
San Francisco, is known for its ambiguous, allusive
experimentation with
language in an attempt to resist or break free from the
mental and
emotional constraints that
society, and
capitalism in particular has placed on language to
maintain control.
Albert Gelpi of
The Southern Review describes this idea:
“Language serves in such a scheme of
chance and
determination, of
relative values and
closed systems, as the material base or medium within and through which
subjectivity constructs
social reality and social reality constructs subjectivity (no longer
self or
identity).”
Language is what is used to build society and society influences new
thought. This subjectivity is ingrained into language and its
rules, thereby limiting its
potential.
Language Poets attempt to strip language of all its baggage—to free writing from its subjectivity and delve into the language for what it is—
letters.