The Space between Drawings and Words in Stevie Smith’s Poems

Previous studies of Smith’s poems have considered her drawings as secondary to words: the drawings have always been analysed only after each word in the text has been interpreted. This method, however, does not match our reading experience in which our primary perception is first directed towards visual imagery. In this article, I suggest we reverse the order of reading from drawings to words. My approach demonstrates how our reading experience of the words is shaped by our initial recognition of the drawings, and how our subsequent reading of the drawings together with the words shapes and reshapes our understanding of Smith’s poems. By drawing on Roland Barthes’ theory on the structure of the image, I argue that Smith’s poems produce a “space-between,” or a zone of unresolved meanings. In the tantalising dance between the ineffable image and the elusive language arises the potential for a multiplicity of readings.