Revolution in Poetic Language

work by Kristeva

Also known as: “La Révolution du langage poétique”

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July 16, 2026

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Kristeva's Revolution in Poetic Language (1974) applies psychoanalytic theory to language and literature. She distinguishes between the "semiotic" and the "symbolic" aspects of language. The semiotic is linked to rhythm, tone, and the maternal body, while the symbolic relates to grammar, syntax, and referential meaning. Kristeva's work aims to reintroduce the "speaking body" into linguistics and philosophy, suggesting that bodily drives are expressed through language and that language structures are present in the body. This approach synthesizes thinkers like Jacques Lacan and Mikhail Bakhtin. Semiotics, the study of signs, is a related field that analyzes sign systems.12

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French literature
Feminist writers
…Révolution du langage poétique (1974; Revolution in Poetic Language). Its account of two new areas of discourse, the semiotic and the symbolic, proposed new ideas on the formation of identity, especially the mother-child relationship, which have transformed ideas of women’s function and significance. Simone de Beauvoir’s work provided inspiration for…
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…Révolution du langage poétique (1974; Revolution in Poetic Language). Its account of two new areas of discourse, the semiotic and the symbolic, proposed new ideas on the formation of identity, especially the mother-child relationship, which have transformed ideas of women’s function and significance. Simone de Beauvoir’s work provided inspiration for…
Read More