Muriel Rukeyser (1913-1980) conceives a poem as a web of relationships, in which all the elements of the poem are to be understood, not in isolation from one another, but rather as part of a rhythmic pattern that weave them all together as a whole. Rukeyser has found poetic expression to describe nature that the science of her day in 1930s was seeking to explore and explain. Her notion of poetry as “a system” betrays similar concerns and assumptions of General Systems Theory, proposed by Ludwig von Bertalanffy (1901-1972), which emphasizes the essential interrelatedness and interconnectedness of all phenomena, be they physical, biological, and social. This paper examines some of Rukeyser’s poems and her relational poetics, to explore how her view of poetry as a system reflects the General Systems Theory, focusing on her poetic understanding of science and the scientific implications of her relational poetics. The paper will also make an investigation into the way Rukeyser, while greatly influenced by the nineteenth century scientist Willard Gibbs, has translated him rather creatively to fit into her relational poetics, in a way which is deeply resonant with the systems theory.
Introduction
General Systems Theory
Relational Poetics
“Ajanta” and Others
Poetry and Science
Conclusion
W orks Cited