The founding of a linguistic Cratylean device as the basis of a method of poetic creation: Francis Ponge’s foundational word

Abstract

The present article examines Francis Ponge’s method of poetic creation, which constituted a linguistic device similar to the naturalistic thesis found in Plato’s Cratylus. Thus, we will argue for the plausibility of the motivation of the linguistic sign within poetic language, on the basis that it would render more intelligible – by means of revelation rather than signification – the imaginary universe created by the poem. This conception is based on the principle of the utopian primeval function of the word as the founder of the reality it names