VII. Play and Poetry
“Poiesis, in fact, is a play-function. It proceeds within the play-ground of the mind, in a world of its own which the mind creates for it. There things have a different physiognomy from the one they wear in ‘ordinary life’, and are bound by ties other than those of logic and causality.”
For Huizinga, the “true appellation of the archaic poet is vates, the possessed, the God-smitten, the raving one”. Of the many examples he gives, one might choose Unferd who appears in Beowulf.
Read more about this topic: Homo Ludens (book)
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