Application of Terry Eageltons Marist and Sociocultural Theory In Essay

Application of Terry Eageltons Marist and Sociocultural Theory In Analyzing Coleridges Rime of the Ancient Mariner - Essay Example Through application of his theory, this paper will endeavor to extract Marixst leanings from both within the lines of the poem and from the implied intent of the poet's subconscious. In the discussion of the aesthetic and its relation to poetry, Eagleton is forced to slip outside the covers of Marx and examine the background of human thought on the subject. Yet he manages to do this with a critical eye from a communal perspective. When discussing Heidegger, Eagleton addresses the notion of Dasein, that is, the essence of Being that resides in humanity that somehow manifests and transcends the mere existence of Being. This rhetoric essentially boils down that communication of the human experience comes through various media (which itself is both open to and in need of interpretation); the primary means through which this information is made accessible is through the process of language. Heidegger claims that because language is the means through which humanity communicates Being (especially that of feeling or experience), poetry is its most succinct expression, that "Poetry is the saying of the unconcealed ness of beings." (Ideology, 301). Heidegger presumes that the precision of poetry's brevity is the most direct link between the idea/symbol and the thing, and that it therefore is the closest means of unifying the two. He admits that poetry, much like language, can only exist through itself, yet in doing so it reveals the truth of being through the its manifestations. Thus the poet is only acting as a sort of spiritual medium for the greater state of human Being. Heidegger's aesthetics therefore except a degree of 'untruth' of poetry - in that it does not directly relate to reality but is rather epiphanies granted from the nature of this Being which exists outside of this world but can be tapped into by the very nature of mankind's use of language. Marx views language as "practical, real consciousness that exists for other men and only therefore does it exist for me; language arises from the need of intercourse with other men." (Marx, 7). If the former argument sounds obscure and detached from reality, that's because it is and Marx is adamantly opposed to such obtuse metaphysical rhetoric. Furthermore, Marxist opinion has affected all following analysis: post World War II critic Theodor Adorno offers the synopsis of Heidegger's theory of writing poetry as "One speaks from a depth which would be profaned if it were called content." (Ideology, 301). Adorno instead argues that a concept and a thing are two entirely different things, the concept of a thing is unique from the thing itself, as the use of language to describe the thing is based solely upon socially accepted and understood means of denoting the thing. As such, "poetry strives to phenomenalize language " (Ideology, 342) goal that ultimately defeats itself, since the mo re the language strives to emulate the thing, the more the description manifests as a distinct and separate entity. An example of this can be discovered through a very brief search as to the myriad descriptions available to any subject, be it Death, the seasons, a pet or so forth. Adorno thus hinges much of his argument upon style, or rather, the means with which an individual