THE FIGURE OF THE EXISTENTIAL OUTCASTIN THOM GUNN'S EARLYPOETRY

Abstract

Thom Gunn (1929-2004), baptized Thomson William Gunn, kept moving from one poetic mould into another, rejecting to commit himself to any school. He experienced bothBritishandAmericantraditions,but he refused to be under the garment of either. Instead, he preferred to call himself an Anglo-American poet forging as such a bridge between the two trends. In addition, Gunn was fascinated by Existentialism, which urged him to employ the figure of the existential outcast thatlies at the centreofhis poetry and reflects much of his personality and attitudes towards his surroundings.

This paper is a part of an M.A thesis entitled ''The Figure of the Existential Outcast in Thom Gunn's Poetry,'' prepared at the University of Al-Qadisiya, College of Education, Department of English.

Throughout his career, Gunn showed a deep impact of Existentialism, which inspired and underscored the bulk of his poetry. He was a devoted existential disciple who further spread the thoughts that were central to this philosophy. B. C. J. Hinton argues that "The extent of [Gunn'] involvement…goes well beyond the merely fashionable, and its influence lies behind almost all of his work." 1 He was attracted to such themes as man's freedom, will-to-power, the importance of choice, meaning making, risk and action, among other existential ideas.2In addition to his academic journey to Paris, Gunn was first introduced to Existentialism by his friend Tony White, "It was he (Tony White) who first get me to read Sartre's novels and Camus' plays,"3 Gunn writes.