Poetic experience and cultural knowledge in P. K. Page's "Brazilian Fazenda"

Abstract

Starting from Northrop Frye’s statement that “it is not a nation but an environment that makes an impact on poets, and poetry can deal only with the imaginative aspect of that environment”, this paper2 investigates the impact that the specific environment of a Brazilian farm has made on P.K.Page, as revealed in her poem “Brazilian Fazenda”. In the description of her surroundings from an unusual perspective, she not only highlights the imagistic precision of her visual perception but simultaneously foregrounds her poetic sensibility, as she transforms the referential aspects of the fazenda into an intense poetic and cultural experience.