Eoy.Itiue Poetics €; Trxqressla E So Und Patterns

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n their chapter on sound structure in poetry and prose in Theory of Literature, Wellek & Warren refer to what they call the "physiognomy" of words. More than mere metaphor, more than fust a Romantic tradition, and far more pervasive than simple onomatopoeia, phonetic symbolism involves fundamental synesthetic associations like those suggested most famously in Rimbaud's "Les Voyelles ," andcan be proved by acoustic experiments.l The well-known cognitive psychologist, Steven Pinker, refers to this feature of many languages as a "quaint curiosity," which he describes in the following way:

THE wRTTER's cHnorurcrr lez When the tongue is high and at the front of the mouth, It is important at the outset to keep the ambiguous aspect it makes a small resonant cavity there that amplifies some of sounds in mind, i.e. the way they may express opposite higher frequencies, and the resulting vowels like ee i and qualities. For example, sibilants like /s/ can be hushingin (as in bit) remind people of little things. When the tongue some contexts andhqrsh in others. Take these famous lines is low and to the back, it makes a large resonant cavity that from the first act of Hamlet: amplifies some lower frequencies, and the resulting voweis like a in father and o in core... remind people of large things. Thus mice are teeny and squeak, but elephants are -Oh, most wicked speed to post humongous and roar.2 With such dexterity to incestuous sheets (Scene 2, 157)

Similar subtle effects are observable among consonant sounds Sibilants, in this instance, are expressive of a disturbed mood, as well. This relationship between sound and meaning, espe- and imitate hissing serpents, whereas, by contrast, those in cially its organization and exploitation in poetry and prose, the opening lines of Sonnet XXX help reinforce a different, has not been adequately studied until recently. quiet mood: The burgeoning branch of cognitive science known as "cognitive poetics"3 explores the intuitions readers have about When in the sessions of sweet, silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past... the perceptual qualities and emotional symbolism of speech sounds. One pioneer in the field is Reuven Tsur, who heads the Cognitive Poetics So /s/ may imitate natural noises of varying volume proiect at Tel Aviv Uni- (e.g. leaves versus versity. In his research he rustling roaring seas) which require has endeavored to address Although traditional poetic theory strate- scientifically, questions alternative cognitive has addressed question a general gies that puzzle literary theo- this in to direct our attention. The question then becomes: rists and psycholinguists *zy, the science of cognitive poetics looks alike. Why, for example, Is /s/ presented in a "stri- dent" context like a scream, as mentioned above, do at the emotional quality of sounds and or a context with front vowels like /i/ and "tender" their possible sources, as well as how an onomatopoeic quality in /e/ sound "higher" and whispering? "brighter" than back vow- tone and mood are abstracted from the imitation of In sum, speech sounds els like ful and lol? Or, meaning of words. are why do consonants like bundles of acoustic-phonetic-phonological features lpl ar,d /t/ seem "harder" each of which have different than /m/ and /l/? And, potential flnally, why do languages expressive in different contexts, and must be investigated in relationship to spe- like French sound more "beautiful" and more "musical" than cific themes and highly generic moods, like "tenderness" and say, German? In short, cognitive poetics tries to explain the As we shall see, phonemes like and "mysterious spell" speech sounds cast on readers and listen- "aggression." ili, lml lnl appear more frequently in poems, while and ers. This survey article, based on some of Tsur's work, will fo- "tender" /k/, ltl predominate in those with an "aggressive" tone. cus on the "poetic mode" and the "musicality" of verse, along /r/ with a cursory overview of "Tip-of-the-Tongue" phenomena. Soumn Coron & Acousrrc Conmc Expnrssrvr Soutrgo Pnrrrnws (( \ fowet color" refers, not only to the association of spe- anguage sounds have general "potentials" which, to- V cific colors with certain vowels in the minds of many T people, also to the association of opposite vowel groups I-r gether with other elements, impress the reader as if they but with opposite properties of color. For example, front-back expressed a specific meaning. These "potentials" have a firm, inter-subiective foundation on different levels of sound vowels are associated with bright- dark opposites, while structure. Of the many kinds of relationship between sound low-high vowels are perceived as chromatic- achro-mat- and meaning (viz. onomatopoeia, expressiveness, focus and ic. Such associations have been shown to exhibit considerable inter-sub j ective validity cross-culturally.s neutrality)ronly sound combinations grasped as expressive of tone, mood, or some general quality that runs parallel to the Subjects in a real experiment were asked to choose the more pair (dark-bright, abstract meaning, will be considered here. Although tradi- suitable member of a of adjectives far-near, big-small, associated with the vowels and tional poetic theory has addressed this question in a general low-high) /u/ /i/. way, the science of cognitive poetics looks at the emotional Four additional pairs of antonyms were presented that charac- terize acoustic qualities (thick-thin, differentiated-undif- quality of sounds and their possible sources, as well as how their tone and mood are abstracted from the meaning of words. ferentiated, spacious-dense, simple-complicated), Results indi-

sEPTEtr/BER zors lea cated that the maiority of participants in the study thought /i/ trasts correspond was "lighter, nearer, smaller, thinner, and simpler" etc., while to a brightness- lul ,by contrast, was considered "dark, far away, thick and darkness dimen- dense" etc. These findings support the hypothesis that the sion. As a result, perceptual qualities underlying speech associated with certain poets may use sounds can be accounted for by assuming that pre-categorical words that con- sensory information reaches consciousness. tain "dark" vowels "Tone color" refers to a property of sound independent of more frequently pitch and loudness that may have developed prior to language in lines referring (e.g. the sound that a piece of wood, metal, glass, or stone to mystic obscu- make when dropped on a concrete surface). The color of the rity, heavy move- sound is determined by its "overtone" structure. Such sounds ment, aggression are higher in frequency than the fundamental sounds simul- or struggle. These taneously emitted with them. Their perception requires fine characteristics are E. P Fisher discriminations that exceed the capacity of the human ear, found not only on and thus make only a general impression. We all think we the level of speech know the difference between the clink of metal and the thud of perception, but on the level of figurative language as well. Evi- wood, but are hard put to explain exactly how we know this. dence exists showing that abstract nouns that convey a highly differentiated level ofconceptual thinking in one context, Tnr Porrrc Moor may also create an emotionallyJaden atmosphere in another. Since global activities such as emotions and spatial orienta- f here is no one-to-one relationship between a sequence of tion are intimately associated with the right hemisphere, the I speech sounds and the acoustic signal that carries it, only poetic mode becomes the preferred instrument to transfer an intermediate step of "complex coding."6 In certain circum- part of the process of the verbal message to the brain. When stances, which we might call the "poetic mode," some aspects the description of an object, using certain stylistic devices, of the acoustic signal enter consciousness only vaguely. Thus, activates the right hemisphere, their representations escape we experience an intuitive awareness that certain vowel con- the control of categorical perception.

THE WRITER'S CHNOT'IICLT IEE Human beings have a speech mode and non-speech mode associated with back vowels may be directly related to those of listening which follow different pathways in the nervous perceptions. Furthermore, low differentiation is a characteris- system, the former dominating the latter in any competition tic of emotional, as opposed to rational, qualities. Thus, when between the two for our attention. Considerable experimen- back vowels are frequent in verse lines they become expres- tal research has shown that speech stimuli presented to the sive of mystic obscurity without requiring any mediation. right ear (hence to the left cerebral hemisphere) is better This reinforces the idea that certain metaphorical intuitions identified than when presented to the left ear (or right side of originate in a process deeper than cultural conditioning; and the brain). The reverse is true for melodies. From this we may furthermore, that certain culturally conditioned metaphori- speculate that the poetic mode has some way of overcoming cal conventions reflect specific underlying cognitive processes. this channel of separation and specialization and serves to equilibrate the hemispheres, When the acoustic signal is pro- Srnucrun.q,r Pnouorocv cessed in the non-speech mode (by the right hemisphere) we hear it as if we were hearing the sounds of music or natural rfro many people, some speech sounds seem more musical, noises. We attend away from overtone structure to tone color, I more emotional, or more beautiful than others. Such When the same signal is processed in the speech mode (by iudgments need to be anchored in a system of universals. To the left hemisphere) this tone color is suppressed. We attend explain specifrc intuitions about poetic phenomena requires a away from overtone structure to the phoneme. In the poetic creative model capable of handling an infinite set of expressive mode, the main processing is identical with the processing sound patterns. To do so, we have to go beyond traditional that goes on in the speech mode, although some tone color poetic theory and draw upon the findings of physiology, lin- from processing in the non-speech mode is, however faintly, guistics and cognitive science. accessible to consciousness. Structural phonologye presents a model that can account Intuitively, we perceive back vowels as "dark" and front for a variety of literary phenomena. It presents universal laws vowels as "bright" on a abstracted from the sequence continuum. These associ- of children's developmental ations seem to have a gen- mastery of speech. The dy- eral validity independent No vowel in isolation naturally evokcs namics underlying the mod- of culture. For instance, el involve a series of splits of when we say that /i/ is a color, but the distribution of colors in a the undifferentiated mass brighterthan /u/, we find a spectrum can find correspondence in the of sounds into contrasts. In surprising degree of agree- the pre-language phase of ment. And if, to be more distribution of vowcls in a language. infant "babbling," evidence precise, we say that the indicates that all the sounds step from lul to lil is more existing in 4II the languages like an upward step than a of the world are at the child's downward one, the majority of people agree. There is noth- disposal. This vast repertoire is suddenly forgotten as the ing, of course, inherently "dark" or "bright" in these vowels, child learns to distinguish between consonants and vowels. but most listeners perceive that the vowel continuum and the After that first step, the child next acquires two opposite con- dark-bright continuum are somehow analogous. Thus, the sonant sounds usually in this order: oral - nasal and labial claim can be made that certain aspects of the acoustic signal, - dental. Hence, mama,baba,nana, papa, dada are basic to irrelevant to speech, subtly enter consciousness. 7 the vocabulary of children in many languages the world over. The acoustic signal of back vowels is of relatively low The vowels also split in two directions: wide - narrow (/a/ differentiation. The impression received by the ear warrants - lul) androunded - unrounded(lul - /i/). The first split matching up with the dark end of the continuum. When involves a perceptual contrast between chromatic -ach- back vowels are frequent in verse lines that refer to dark col- romatic, and later between dark - brightvowels (/o,u/ - ors, the dark potential of the vowel is realized by combination li,el). with the dark elements of meaning. Readers intuitively sense that the sound "echoes" the sense. Consider this line from Anrrcur,rronv Grsrunrs Dylan Thomas: I

By the sea's side hear the Q peech perception is based on the fact that we attend dark-vowelled birds J u*uu from the acoustic information that reaches our ear toward ihe articulatory gesture that produced it, and from Notice how back vowels follow front vowels in quick succes- this to the intended abstract phonetic category. This under- sion to produce the somber cadence of the sea. Convention- lying articulatory gesture is perceived as part of some more ally established metaphorical relationships between darkness general body language readily accessible to introspection and and mystic obscurity mediate between vowel color and mean- consciousness which, because it is received subliminally, pos- ing here. However, the relatively undifferentiated perception sesses an emotionally-laden "mysterious" aura. For example,

sEPTEMBER zors I zo palatal consonants lth,ch,ylare among those latest acquired The impressionistic judgment that distinguishes between by children and sound wetter than their dental counter-parts "beauty" and "ugliness" of speech sounds can thus be trans- ln,tdl . The only way to account for this common intuition lated into two objective statements: (a) latest acquisitions is with reference to the surface area of contact in articulating may assume greater emotional or aesthetic intensity than it, which carries some vague emotional information. Dental earlier ones, and (b) among the late acquisitions, continuous stops, by contrast, involve a more clear-cut point of con- and periodic sounds are regarded as beautiful, while inter- tact-a gesture characterized by precision, control, firmness rupted, aperiodic sounds are not. The ear and brain are quick and determination. to seize upon the difference between tones and noises. Nor- mally, all vowels, semi-vowels, liquids and nasals are periodic, Arsrurrrc Querrrv while most consonants are not. The distinction between continuous and interrupted sounds (e.g. plosives and fricatives) T n contrast to the impressionistic commentary by literary depends on this dimension. In English, /t/ interrupts the flow I theorists,'0 a psycholinguistic analysis of sound texture in of speech, while /s/ lasts longer without interruption. language attempts to formulate general rules regarding the "aesthetic" quality of speech sounds. French, for example, is Tnuorn / Accnr,ssrvE CoNSoNANTs felt by many people to be an especially musical language, ow- ing to the nasal vowels that abound in it and to affricates /ts/ \ A f f,V does /k/ sound harder than ltl, and why are both and lpfl that are absent from it, but are, say, quite conspicuous V Y positively correlated with aggression, while lU and in German. The latest acquisitions of the infant constitute /m/ correlate with tenderness? By the same token, why does developmental/y the highest, most rational linguistic layer of lrlhave outstanding aggressivepotential when rolled or inter- referential language, and at the same time serve as highly mittent? Research in structural phonologyll indicates that, emotionally-charged onomatopoeic gestures and introjec- in a child's gradual acquisition of language-beginning with tions that frequently express disgust, contempt, or disapprov- the first syllable and culminating in the whole phonological al. These especially "rrgly" sounds (lpf I and /ts/) are among the system of its mother tongue-"nasalization" is especially last acquired, while the anecdotally "beautiful" sounds (nasal emotionally-charged. The oral stop, by contrast, carries less vowels and the syllable-eur) represent earlier acquisitions. emotion. Because "ma" is almost universally the first sylla-

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THE WRITER'S CINOI'IICLT IZT ble acquired by the child for use as an arbitrary referential cognitive mechanism. The near-rhyme (bees) is reinforced sign, oral stops (b, d, g, p, t, or k), become associated with and enhanced by the rhyme-fellow that precedes it (dreams), non-emotional moods. Moreover, the later the acquisition of producing a lingering auditory interaction effect, a kind of speech sounds, the greater lheir potential for use in onomato- "hum" unrelieved until the final line. poeia or emotive patterns. One prominent reason for the auditory effect of any rhyme So, here's a little thought-experiment: Which of these con- seems to be a mutual reinforcement of similar auditory traces, sonant sounds is more metallic, lb I , ldl or I gl? And, of these some of which appear to linger on even after the recording of three, which sounds zost metallic? If you had to rank them the acoustic signal into the phonetic stream of information. in an ascending order, how would you arrange them?12Now, This issue has far-reaching implications for understanding ask yourself: Why does a clock almost unanimously go "tick- how rhyme and alliteration work in poetry. tock" in many Ianguages rather than some other combina- Do we experience this rich pre-categorical phenomena in tion of consonants? 13 vocal as well as silent performances? If there is no difference, The process that decodes "stops" tends to strip away all the phenomena may not really be auditory in nature. When auditory information, presenting the perception of a distinct people perform poetry, they read it differently than "nor- mal" speech. For the special poetic effects to be perceptible, a much clearer articulation is required. Moreover, activation of auditory perception is clearer when we lip-read or allow the Speech heard, but not seen, and tongue to mimic the pattern of speech. Speech heard, but not seen, and speech seen, but not heard, share a common repre- speech seen, but not heard, share a sentation. common representation. Prnronrcrrv

(( f)eriodic" sounds are similarly structured signals that I recur, while "aperiodic" stimuli represent randomly categorical event, whereas relatively uncoded vowels are changing wave-forms requiring the listener to remember perceived quite differently, allowing the listener to make fine many idiosyncratic features. The recurring signal portions of discriminations over time. A vowel held for several seconds similar structures in poetry (viz. meter, rhyme, etc.) produce in an echoing sensory register provides rich pre-categorical a relaxed kind of smoothly flowing attentiveness without sur- information. prises resembling a hypnotic induction. The perception of such rich sensory material, and the mak- In poems described as "spell-binding" or "trance-weaving," ing of fine distinctions, presupposes an opennessr a respon- the poet holds sway over the subconscious mind by intensify- siveness, and a susceptibility of adaptation characteristic of ing the listeners'susceptibility. TWo aspects of such "hypnot- tender feelings. By contrast, remaining firm in one's reliance ic" poetry are (a) skillful avoidance of anything startling (e.g. on clear-cut categories and lack of sensitivity are ingredients the dominant use of liquids and nasals) and (b) a marked reg- in rigid, aggressive behavior. The Gestaltists have observed ularity of rhythm.These parallel hypnotic techniques are free that clear-cut shapes assume a high degree of "plasticity" or from the kind of abrupt changes likely to break the spell and "inarticulate suggestiveness" when perceived against a back- compel mental alertness. ground of shadings, particularly when the material is sublim- Poe is probably the best example of this with his very adroit inally received. Once the information is rich enough to reach choice of the name "Lenore" as well as his artificial coinage of consciousness, the plasticity disappears. This underlying "Ulalume." Consider the skill with which liquids and nasals mechanism helps explain the tender plasticity perceived in are repeated in Poe's classic masterpiece of poetic mesmerism, lowly encoded consonants. "The Raven":1s Consider this stanza by the African poet Bernard Dadiera: Ah, distinctly I remember I am the man whose dreams it was in the bleak December; Are manifold as the stars And each separate dying ember More murmurous than swarms of bees wrought its ghost upon the floor. More smiling than children's smiles Eagerly I wished the morrow; More sonorous than echoes in the woods -vainly I had sought to borrow From my books surcease of sorrow for the lost Lenore- Our focus here is on the conspicuously onomatopoeic line -sorrow For the rare and radiant maiden Moremurmurousthan swartns ofbees, with its repeated whom the angels name Lenore- alliteration. Sound echoes sense here-the meaning content Nameless here for evermore... and the acoustic structure reinforce each other. But such ob- servations of sound patterns rarely examine the underlying A fine-grained content-analysis of the whole poem reveals a

sEPTEMBER zotslzz predominantly liquid h,U or nasal /n, m/ sound structure where referential meaning often "usutps" our attention. Phe- (450lo) with the remaining lines comprised of oral stops (280lo) nomena of this type contribute to the "spell" of poetry only if and fricatives (2lo/o) in far smaller frequency, and of these /t/ the reader is able to let the mind become a "thoroughfare" (in and /s/ dominate respectively. The combined weight of the Keats'words) for sensations and impressions. latter tends to punctuate the hypnotic effects with startled In Symbolist works, vague contours dissolve into infinity. moments that jar the reader awake from a drowsy state, mir- The conceptual meaning of words no longer counts as much roringboth mood and meaning. as the aura, mood, or mysterious feelings they arouse. They are nonrepresentational and aim at evocative effects. One Musrcerrrv need not understand such poems, but instead pel or live them. The image, together with the music of the poem, fills A f,usicality is one of the most distinctive properties of us with omen, Iilting, sorrow, etc.-all impossible to trans- IVIpo",ry.iuAlthougfr this has been systematized in hand- late. Perceptual and conceptual gestalts are also weaker, al- books on rules of prosody, Iiterary critics and academics often lowing for the subliminal disruption of the linear sequencing resort to broad generalizations, or express frustration at the of speech sounds. The message is less thoroughly organized, impossibility of describing a master poet's technique (e.g. relevant portions of the auditory stream segregated, with a Milton's "miraculous organ voice"). stress pattern and sentence structure that diverges from con- ventional prosody. Divergent poems are frequently diffuse CorvrncEur-DrvEncsxr Srvrns and "shape-free" rather than stable visual forms. Freedom to move back and forth between auditory and/or phonetic f) epeated parallel sound clusters "converge" with the met- modes of listening is fullest when the cognitive system of the lLrical pattern and tend to be perceived as witty or playful poem is not under the control of some formal stanza struc- punning often typical of light verse, children's poetry (like ture. The greater the divergence of repeated sound clusters Dr. Seuss), or the verbal gymnastics on display in Vachel Lind- from strings of arbitrary verbal signs, the more the emotive say's "The Congo." Divergent sound patterns, by contrast, are effects resemble nonreferential sound gestures. interwoven threads that crisscross over large areas of text and Classical poets were inclined toward clear-cut, polarized, are diffused in an unpredictable order. This is particularly the symmetrical structures which symbolists and "hypnotic" case in the opening lines of Milton's Pqradise Losf, where the poets tend to avoid, showing instead a predilection for nasal mosaic of repeated sound clusters has a characteristically intense emotional quality, but whose patterning goes almost unnoticed because it is The perceived only vaguely as some kind ffi* ffitrtrffi #5 of inexplicable "musicality" fused ffiffiH ga into an undifferentiated background texfure. The reader is unable to focus ffiwffiffiffi in Creative Writing awareness on sound-string clusters at Bowling Green State University because his attention is distracted by provides a comprehensive and rigorous the generation of a network of highly education in the professional writing, significant sounds, rich in effect, but editing, and marketing of poetry and i:i\il ii,I\': only half-consciously grasped. Mil- fiction. All qualified students receive Jackson Bliss ton is one of the most divergent of Cloud funding, an opportunity to teach creative Abigail major English poets, while Spencer Lawrence Coates writing, and editorial experience with the and Pope, with their greater metric Brad Felver jou Sharona Muir regularity, are extremely conver- literary rnal Mid-American Review. F. Daniel Rzicznek gent.17 Larissa Szporluk A similar pattern is evident in $:E: SU. Bowling Green state Univercity Theresa Williams French poetry. The Classical style is convergent, while the Syrnbolists tended tobe divergenf. A comparison between the two turns up significant differences. Their greater frequency of nasal vowels in rhymed pairs tends toward a state of music in poets like Baudelaire and Verlaine. Such differences are, however, imperceptible in both poetry and everyday speech,

THE wRTTER's cunourcLr lzs vowels, which are highly effective emotionally, as well as fine achieves a quality of sharpness and wit, creating a psycho- gradual shadings. This chaotic over-differentiation of percep- Iogical atmosphere of certainty of purpose, while a weakly tion quickly collapses into a thick texture.18 shaped stanza with a blurred rhyme scheme often conveys a soft quality without sharp edges. Use of the sonnet's rhyme ttVoyELLEs" Runnuo's scheme serves to contain an amorphous mass of images while fusing perceptual units into an emotional whole. An overall J Ising some of these ideas, let's try to account for the pattern is superimposed over fluid states in a constant flux, \-/ "mysterious" effect of Rimbaud's sonnet "Voyelles," and arranged in a kind of "apocalyptic crescendo."21 instead of searching for the symbol system it may have been The rhythmic recurrence of phrases comprising vowel and derived fromre examine the cognitive structures that underlie color adjectives helps create a consistent inner logic that prac- its poetic effects. titioners of the visual arts obey by balancing complimentary Because it lacks a clear-cut object or firm point-of-reference, colors.22Rhetorically speaking, Rimbaud's colors appeal to "mystic" poetry introduces a kind of psychological instabil- the reader's basic physiological or psychological response to ity, arousing feelings of mild anxiety. TWo competing ways colors, inducing a kind of voluntary cooperation in creating of overcoming such anxieties are (a) disrupting the continuity of the flux by isolating andanalyzing symbols (i.e. by processing its contents on the left side Cognitive poetics regards poetry as a creative of the brain), or (b) by simply remaining open-minded (Coleridge's "suspension "derangement" (to borrow Rimbaud's word), and of disbelief") about the possibility of attempts to understand the organizing principles mystic insight (i.e. allowing right-brain processing). The first approach-look- behind it. ing for a "key" where stable meanings anchor the flux of images-is, paradoxi- cally, a defensive strategy against anxiety by which the disturbing elements are removed. In Rimbaud's opaque masterpiece, however, all the meaning in the poem. Its musicality relies heavily on a tex- objects enumerated are detached and set free from their natu- ture of intensely repeated, diffuse sound clusters which, in ral contextl turn, reinforces its cohesiveness. The logical surface is further A structural analysis of "Voyelles" 20 suggests a more abstract disrupted by the absence of the sublect-predicate order of sen- interpretation in which the poet merely creates the illusion tences, lumping together images at rest before the mind's eye, of specific vowel-to-color correspondences. No vowel in iso- which the reader contemplates in a static, timeless present. Iation naturally evokes a color, but the distribution of colors Rimbaud was almost certainly well aware of the playful, in a spectrum can find correspondence in the distribution of mischievous character of his enterprise. vowels in a language. There is a spectrum of vowels, iust as there is a spectrum of colors and, although the two systems Trp-or-rnr-ToNGUE Pnruourwa evoke and attract one another, the analogy is purely imagi- nary-a poet's game, a department of fantasy. f inally, a characteristic of poetic language is its regres- A trained reader may attempt to construe the illusion creat- I sion to the emotive, nonreferential use of sound strings ed, consciously or otherwise, as metaphorical statements with and a less differentiated phonological system. According to some obscure meaning. However, since no single cohesive psychoanalytic theory, one important source of pleasure is factor can be found to account for its "aesthetic integriry" the "regression in the service of the ego" (i.e. reducing stress by more apparently unifying elements one finds, the more willing returning to a level of functioning characteristic of an earlier one has to be to suspend disbelief. The need for closure urges us age). Punning, word-play and nonsense talk involve regres- to bind together all these discordant, incongruous and vague sion to pre-language babbling. The phonetic aspects of poetry connotations despite their incompatibility. Many readers, afford a similar kind of pleasure in the exploration of mean- though baffled by this attribution of colors to speech sounds, ingless sounds in a publicly respectable medium. Poetic value still feel some mysterious justification for doing so, or some law is attributed only to structured regression, however, and not of necessity lurking behind the utterly illogical surface. generally to deliberate infantilism or coquettish speech (N.B. Readers are motivated to seek coherence partly because all "baby-talk" and "sweet-talk"). This structuring is well-dif- this uncertainty and expectancy occurs in the formally orga- ferentiated into integrated patterns of referential meaning, nized discourse of a sonnet. The contribution of the form to which satisfy the Platonic censor in us, and tend to relieve the the poem's effect is substantial, derived primarily from the suppression of otherwise offensive, irrational, or ridiculous interplay between Rimbaud's unique syntax and the prosod- information. The more primitive kind of regression is not ic organization of the form. A strongly shaped stanza form typical of poetic speech and of no real interest, except when

sEPTEn4BER zotolz+ exploited according to principles of aesthetic organization as, information in a diffuse state. By preventing elements of in- for example, in Lewis Carrol's classic'Jabberwocky," or cer- formation from growing together into a compact linguistic tain Dada "sound-poems." gestalt, the poet engages in a kind of dexterous manipulation A basic assumption of cognitive poetics is that the poet- of sound and meaning, keeping the listener and/or reader in ic mode represents a "delay" or disturbance in the smooth suspense trying to anticipate the end-result of a novel jux- functioning of cognitive processes (i.e. in the coding of the taposition of words for the left-side of the brain, and subtly acoustic stream into phonetic information). This disruption introducing dynamic rhythmical patterns for the right. The becomes an important source of aesthetic qualities different magic spell cast by this "illusionist" performance, whether it from psychopathological processes.23The cognitive approach exists only silently on the page, or is publicly staged, creates to poetry is preferable to the Freudian view because it focuses a state of anxiety where the customary sequence of things is on the contribution of sound patterns (both potential fea- left hanging, until resolved in an emotional catharsis in which tures and possible combinations of stimuli) to the poem's both hemispheres of the brain are harmonized. Awp total perceived effect without attributing them to factors external to the text. In poetic language, the peculiar feeling E,P. Ftsher holds a bachelor's degree in literature from Reed College or effect experienced is a direct quality of the information and doctorate in psychology from Yeshiva. He worked for thirty years with a play therapist and expressed, not something that reflects the suppression of con- special needs children as adventure-based counselor. Author of books of poetry, he is a Pushcart nominee. flicts and wishes. Besides, even Freud himself understood the four limitations of his theory when applied to literary criticism.2a Cognitive poetics regards poetry as a creative "derangement" (to borrow Rimbaud's word), and attempts to understand the organizing principles behind it. The kind of cognitive processes violated in poetic language usage are also characteristic of "tip-of-the-tongue" (TOT) phenomena. A crucial instance of this principle can be seen in the psycholinguistic mechanism of word-retrieval from long-term memory.2s When its smooth functioning is disturbed, we experience -;. a diffuse feeling that seems to contain i'rff some phonological or semantic features without allowing us to invoke the missing word.26 People in this state are capable of producing similar-sounding words as well as words that approximate its meaning-all of which may lead even- tually to recall. Still, in the interim, the Use the page for change in a city of many voices. absence of the word is experienced as a "gap" in consciousnessboth unique and intensely active. This attitude or feeling, FACULTY INCLUDE:

which is vague and formless, as well as Chris Feliciano Arnold Laleh Khadivi Brittany Perham simultaneously definite in character, Ari Banias R.0. Kwon D,A, Powell serves to reveal the workings of word-re- Stephen Beachy Dave Madden Nina Schuyler trieval in slow-motion.27 Julian T. Brolaski Lauren Markham K.M, Soehnlein While Freudians have long regarded Lewis Buzbee NayomiMunaweera Susan Steinberg TOT phenomenon as an instance of depth psychology par excellence, more recent experiments recognize it as a typ- smollclasses (8-12 students) . teaching assistantships ical cognitive process. The disruption of one-on- one thesis mentorship word-retrieval from semantic memory is the same as the effect produced by the poetic mode, in the sense that one way poetic language arouses feelings is by keeping semantic and phonological

THE wRTTER's cHnourcLr lzs Slyle (New York: Holt & Rhinehart, 1970).

11. Ivan Fonagy, "Communication in Poetry" in Word 17 (7961\, pp. Notes 194-278.

12. No one has any hesitation and everyone assumes 1. Wellek, R. & Warren, A.,Theory of Literature (NewYork: Harcourt, choosing lgl , without questior? is Brace & World, 1956), p.762. to know what being talked about! 13. And the answer is: Language give an exact of 2. Pinker, S. The Language ftsfincf (New York: Harper, 1994), pp. cannot imitation the 1,62-763. noises of nature. While naturai noises are infinitely varied, and their perception is continual rather than categorical, the linguistic sounds 3. Reuven Tsur, Wat Makes Sound Patterns Expressive (Durham: Duke imitating them are limited to about 30 phonetic categories. Conse- University Pre ss, 797 2). quently, the resemblance of phoneme combinations to the natural noises they imitate is only approximate. 4. Beniamin Hrushovski, "The Meaning of Sound Patterns in Poetry" in Poetics Today, 2: pp. 39-56. 14. Bernard Dadie (1975) "Leaf in the Wind" in Poerns of Black Africa, Wole Soyinka, ed. (New York: Hill & Wang), p. 287. 5. Pierre Delattre, et al. 'An Experimental Study of the Acoustic De- terminants of Vowel Color" in Word 8,7952, pp. 195-210. 15. Edgar Allan Poe, "The Raven" in Complete Poents (New York: Gra- mercy Press, 1992), pp. 32-37 6. Our tacit knowledge of the acousticJinguistic message proceeds by attending from the signal to the combination of muscle movements 16. Kenneth Burke, "On Musicality in Verse" in The Philosophy of Lite- & finally to the phoneme. rary Form (New York: Vintage, 1957).

7. Since each vowel can be uttered on any fundamental pitch, the 17. A prominent feature of Milton's voice is the obtrusive effect of intuition of an upward step from lul to lil can be easily overridden 'powerful'consonants in passages with the strongest musical impact when the pitch pattern goes in the opposite direction. impinging on perception. The consonant count in Miltonic lines of iambic pentameter, and his use of monosyllables is greater. When 8. Dylan Thomas, "Especially When the October Winds", in Collected attention is focused on the meaning of words, more information Pocms (New York: New Directions, 7957),pp.l9-2O. is allocated to the final phonemes. This effect is heightened by the 9. RomanJakobson, Child Language, Aphasia & Phonological Universals interaction of gestalt-free elements and the number of run-on lines (Hague: Mouton, 1968). 18. The source of their appeal is four-fold: (l) they are relatively unen- 10. Manfred Bierwisch, "Poetics & Linguistics" in Linguistics & Literary coded, making rich, pre-categorical sensory information available to the reader; (2) this information is periodic and approximates a state of music; (3) they are relatively late developmental additions to the phonological system which amplifies their appeal; and (4) research indicates that the "spectra of nasalized vowels are acoustically less distinct".

19. Several popular theories suggest that Rimbaud's vowel associations are based on a colored spelling book from his child- hood, alchemical mysteries, or other occult lore. Such arguments are flawed because they explain wftaf might have inspired his associations, but not why the poem has aroused such interest for well over a century

20. James Boon, From Symbolism to Struc- turalism, "Levi-Strauss in a Literary Tradi- tion" (New York: Harper & Row,1972). 21. Demonic imagery yields to visions of divinity-i.e. flies, stench and cruelty give way to tents, kings, laughter and astral de- signs-which all seem to recapitulate the hierarchy of creation in the Great Chain of Being, according toJ.P Houston, The De- sign of Rimbaud's Poetry (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1963).

22. Coming up with an inter-subiective foundation for "colored hearing" corre- sponding to Rimbaud's combinations, however, is highly unlikely because genui-

sEPTEMBER 20rc | 76 ne colored hearing is verifiable on independent grounds in extrali- terary contexts, and bears very little resemblance to the color-vowel pairs in "Voyelles."

23. Freudians produce a great deal of evidence from psychopatho- logy and taboo systems to support the claim that the articulatory gestures required for various speech sounds are associated with a variety of unconscious drives. The Freudian approach often uses literature to document its theories and reduces the infinite variety of poems to a small number of repeated themes relevant to its arguments, treating them as causal ancestors that support the "Oedipal conflict". The tendency is to ascribe a sexual interpretation as the essence of human motivation and all other manifestations as subli- mated variants.

24. The opening words of Freud's study of Dostoyevsky states quite bluntly: "Before the problem of the creative artist, analysis must, alas, lay down its arms..."

25. Reuven Tsur, On Metaphoring (Jerusalem: Israel Science Publis- hers).

26. Roger Brown, "The Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon" ir Psycho- linguistics (New York: Free Press, 1970).

27. TOT subiects who could not recall a word, could nevertheless produce considerable information about it, including other words similar in sound and meaning. Partial recall of the target word was better for the end than the middle, and better for the beginning than the end. Moreover, similarly sounding words were more like the target than those similar in meaning.

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