Suddenness: On Rapid Knowledge

摘要

How are poetic ideas thought up? This paper is part of a broader project on the relations between poetry and knowledge. I have been interviewing contemporary Australian poets to find out how knowledge processes pertain to their work. In the process I've learnt some surprising things - such as the fact that most of my subjects have described experiences of composing at speeds where it is simply too fast to think. Indeed, a majority have stated that rapid and unpremeditated composition is their dominant mode of producing. In this paper, I contrast my findings, and those of prior writers on the topic of rapid knowledge (Kleist, Wordsworth, Auden, Heidegger), with the recent neurological research of Antonio Damasio. Damasio postulates that human decision-making is in general conducted at speeds that are too fast to be fully conscious. In the process, Damasio offers interesting possibilities for hypothesising the pre-conscious mechanisms that poets draw upon when the words come into their heads.