Abstract

The dissertation explores the shared beliefs and ideas of the German philosopher, Martin Heidegger, and the expatriate American poet, Gustaf Sobin. This exploration focuses on four fundamental areas of convergence: the notion of origin; the relation of the poet to language; the centrality of the Nothing; the concept of the thing. In addition to the published works of Heidegger and Sobin the paper makes extensive use of the author's private correspondence with Sobin. ;The first chapter discusses how poetry, for both Sobin and Heidegger, is an originating process which in some sense creates the very possibilities of human existence. For both men poetry is envisioned as a listening to Being which allows for the manifestation of an open region within which man dwells. The chapter also examines the influences of Benjamin Lee Whorf and Martin Buber on Sobin and how these influences augment Heideggerian notions in Sobin's poetry and poetics. ;The second chapter presents Heidegger and Sobin on the relation of the poet to language. For both men the self must be silenced in order for the speaking of language as the manifestation of Being to emerge. At this point the influences of William Blake and Robert Duncan are discussed as they supplement in crucial ways the thought of Sobin. ;The third chapter examines the difficult and paradoxical notion of the Nothingness of Being. For both Heidegger and Sobin, Being can only be conceived as totally other than any thing and therefore as the Nothing itself. The chapter discusses the work of Meister Eckhart as it intersects the thought of Sobin and Heidegger. For Sobin the poem is ultimately like Being in that through words it conveys a silence, even as Being itself is manifested as absence with regard to beings--no Sein without Seiendes. ;The final chapter explores the notion of the thing in Heidegger and Sobin. For both men contact with the finite thing is the path to an encounter with Being. For Sobin this encounter often takes place as flower poetry. To this end the paper here examines many of Sobin's iris poems