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In this first chapter on Forrest-Thomson's On the Periphery (1976), Farmer argues that these poems amount to a mythologisation of the poet. The poems dramatise Forrest-Thomson's struggles with language and form and give insight into her intellectual, psychological, emotional and personal life during this time. Farmer charts Forrest-Thomson's quest for style as including formal negotiations between complexity and simplicity, and in relation to some of her terminology, strategies and ambitions. As Farmer suggests, Forrest-Thomson's stylistic and parodic struggles were tied up with issues of control of other poets' styles as well as issues of the feminine voice within literary tradition. Farmer ends by outlining Forrest-Thomson's combination of nineteenth-century poetic techniques with those of Dada, suggesting that this illustrates her pre-eminent interest in style.

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-62722-9_5

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