{"title":"Feeling into empathic poetry … through the prison poems of Mahvash Sabet","authors":"April-Rose Geers","doi":"10.1080/14790726.2022.2076886","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In this essay, I offer a response to conclusions in affect theory that empathy inspired by the reading of a text is unlikely to result in direct action for change. I balance my understanding of empathy and activism in poetry with Lévinasian theories of ethical relationality and moral responsibility. I discuss the unique quality of a collection of prison poems by Persian poet and Bahá'í leader Mahvash Sabet, revealing her remarkable acts of compassion for her fellow prisoners. I explore how her poems awakened my own voice as a poet and an advocate, taking into account the problematic power hierarchies of geographical distance and cultural difference. Finally, I reflect on the way empathic poetry can provide a shared language capable of reaching across geographical and cultural divides.","PeriodicalId":43222,"journal":{"name":"New Writing-The International Journal for the Practice and Theory of Creative Writing","volume":"20 1","pages":"204 - 217"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4000,"publicationDate":"2022-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"New Writing-The International Journal for the Practice and Theory of Creative Writing","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14790726.2022.2076886","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LITERATURE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
ABSTRACT In this essay, I offer a response to conclusions in affect theory that empathy inspired by the reading of a text is unlikely to result in direct action for change. I balance my understanding of empathy and activism in poetry with Lévinasian theories of ethical relationality and moral responsibility. I discuss the unique quality of a collection of prison poems by Persian poet and Bahá'í leader Mahvash Sabet, revealing her remarkable acts of compassion for her fellow prisoners. I explore how her poems awakened my own voice as a poet and an advocate, taking into account the problematic power hierarchies of geographical distance and cultural difference. Finally, I reflect on the way empathic poetry can provide a shared language capable of reaching across geographical and cultural divides.