From: Edmond Wright <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Graphic Syntax
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Sunday, December 7, 2008, 6:35 AM

As regards 'graphic syntax' no one seems to have noticed that they are
trying to do what Francis Christensen demonstrated (pages 9-13 of his
'Notes
Toward a New Rhetoric' [New York, Harper & Row, 1967]) -- as I
described in
my email of a few days ago, and which I use with my students.  According to
his method, Carolyn Harnett's sentence ought to appear thus:

1 Poets . . . chunk their poems
        2 who write in traditional forms . . . (RC)
                 3 based on metre and rhyme (VC)
        but    3 in a different way from graphic syntax (PP)
                           4 which chunks . . . (RC)
                                      5 based on grammatical units (VC)

RC:  Relative Clause
VC:  Verb Cluster
PP:  Prepositional Phrase

I prefer to split 'Verb Clusters'  into Past Participle Phrase (as both
the
examples here), Present Participle Phrase, and Infinitive Phrase;
Christensen lumps them all together.

Christensen's numbers indicate the hierarchy of grammatical dependence.
Hence my suggestion for students of drawing vertical lines down the page to
correspond.

His other suggested groupings are as follows:

SC:  Subordinate Clause.  This is an confusion, since Relative Clauses [his
RC] are subordinate clauses.  He already has

NC for Noun Cluster. Again possibly confusing, since it looks like Noun
Clause.  He uses it for such extensions of meaning as 'a quick shake'
in the
sentence 'He dipped his hands in the bichloride solution and shook them, a
quick shake.'

AC:  Adjective Cluster (e.g. for the two phrases attached here:  'They
huddled, wild as deer, deadly as rattlesnakes.')

A + A:  Adjective series (e.g. For the three adjectives here:  'They
huddled, gaudy, motionless and alert.')

Abs:  Absolute Phrase (e.g. for the two phrases attached here:  He stood at
the top of the stairs and watched me, I waiting for him to call me up, he
hesitating to come down.')


I prefer the following:

ADJP  (Adjective Phrase) for both his AC and A + A.

NP for Noun Phrase (e.g. the noun phrase in apposition, 'an expert
swimmer'
in 'The scout, an expert swimmer, was soon across the lake.'

ADVC for Adverbial Clause.

ADJC for Adjectival Clause.

ADJ PREP for Adjectival Prepositional Phrase (e.g. 'in the white suit'
in
'The man in the white suit.'

ADV PREP for Adverbial Prepositional Phrase (e.g. 'over the bridge' in
'The
procession was filing over the bridge').

ABS for Absolute Phrase (e.g. 'He stopped at the corner, the rain lashing
at
the windscreen.')

ING for Present Participle Phrases (e.g. The rooks, cawing in comical
surprise, rose clumsily into the air.')

ED for Past Participle Phrases (this included the strong verbs which do not
use 'ed' to indicate the past participle -- e.g. 'thrown out of the
car' in
'The gun, thrown out of the car, had disappeared into the grass.').


When I reverse the process in sentence combining (for all these can be used
to indicate to students how to combine), I also include 'HYPH' for the
collapsing of a sentence into a hyphenated word.  For example:

    The child delighted them all.
    The child loved fun. (HYPH)

Becomes  'The fun-loving child delighted them all.'

One is helped by the fact that many distinguished writers enjoy creating new
hyphenated words from such combining.  For example:

[Gerard Manley Hopkins]  'Some of the pigeons are dull thunder-colour or
black-grape-colour.'

[James Joyce] 'Suddenly the dog made off like a bounding hare, ears flung
back, chasing the shadow of a low-skimming gull.'

[Shakespeare]          '. . .who knows
     If the scarce-bearded Caesar have not sent
     His powerful mandate to you.'

[William Barnes] 'and the sheep, little-kneed, with a quick-dipped nod'

Hopkins, Barnes -- and Barnes' friend, Thomas Hardy -- were all
unconsciously aware that the Anglo-Saxon words of English have rarely been
hyphenated (compare the cognate German language, full of such compounds),
and they started to look for original linkages. This can still provide an
amusing exercise for students:  for example, instead of words of Latin
origin, suggest Anglo-Saxon substitutes, thus -- for ¼collision¹ a two-bang;
¼auction¹ a step-buy;  ¼frustration¹ foot-bind-hood;  ¼dentist¹,
tooth-soother;  ¼vaccinate¹, cow-sting.


Edmond Wright


Dr. Edmond Wright
3 Boathouse Court
Trafalgar Road
Cambridge
CB4 1DU
England

Email: [log in to unmask]
Website: http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/elw33/
Phone [00 44] (0)1223 350256
















 








> Poets
>      who write 
>                in traditional forms
>  based on meter and rhyme
> chunk their poems
>                   but
>                   in a different way
>                          from graphic syntax,
>
                                      
which chunks based on grammatical
> units.
> Both,
>      I believe,
> can make text easier to comprehend.
> --- On Sat, 12/6/08, Carolyn Hartnett <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> 
> From: Carolyn Hartnett <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Graphic Syntax
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Saturday, December 6, 2008, 9:51 AM
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Isn't the way much poetry is printed somewhat similar to graphic
syntax?
> It makes poems easier to read, I believe.
>  
> Carolyn Hartnett
> Professor Emeritus, College of the Mainland
> 2027 Bay St.
> Texas City, Texas 77590To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit
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> 
> 
> 
> 
> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web
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