«Rota por dentro, loca por fuera» Time and Poetics en Hecho a mano by María Elena Walsh

Abstract

Hecho a mano (1965) by María Elena Walsh reflects the author's struggle to reject the sacralization of art and her pursuit of a "plain style" that respects traditional meter, but also incorporates a style full of everyday references and colloquialisms, which allows Walsh to transfer the irreverence from her children's stories to her adult’s poetry. In this article I analyse mainly two themes of the book: poetic art and the passage of time. To trace the author's reflections, fears and searches around the art of composing, I base my analysis on the notion of agentivity in its discursive projection, which can be emphasized in order to highlight the responsibility of the one who performs the action or, on the contrary, it can be blurred and minimized. From this perspective, I examine the procedures of deagentivation present in the poems Prólogo, Canto liso, Arte poética y Con tambor, and compare them with the resources of agentivation used in the triad of Asunción de la poesía. Thus, a progression is observed: from a hesitant and fearful author in the beginning -¡Quién supiera escribir…! (Prologue)- until the full possession of her own’s voice -Asumo el día y cumplo sus deberes (Asunción II)-. Regarding the theme of time, I focus on the poem De mis tiempos, in which Walsh adopts a costumbrist tone to evoke with nostalgia a calm and unhurried past time, in clear contrast with the maelstrom of modern life, which can already be glimpsed in the sixties.