The three texts are actually one and the same, it's Charles Baudelaire's (1821-1867) poem called CHATIMENT DE L'ORGUEIL in SPLEEN ET IDEAL, his famous poems collection. The visual parallelism evoked by Edward Tufte made me think about how, though we take it for granted, poetry aligning in formatting is important. Not only from left to right, but even more from right to left (flushed right) because then we can visualize the end of lines rhyming, and those are the core points that make the music of poetry audible without sound, just by visualization. How about if you were given the choice to read in public a text of similar poetry in one of those three formats, which one would you not chose for sure?
I think also visualization becomes as important to the presenter (the actual giver of inofrmation) as to the audience (the receivers of information).
There are other examples where the actual "shape" of the poem is as important as the worlds themselves.
ReplyDeleteSome "shape poems" are quite literal, representing the object or concept the poem alludes to. But others, like in concrete poetry (poesie concrete)suggest rather than describe.
Wikipedia says:
Concrete poetry, pattern poetry or shape poetry is poetry in which the typographical arrangement of words is as important in conveying the intended effect as the conventional elements of the poem, such as meaning of words, rhythm, rhyme and so on.
In that sense (pun intended) there is also sound poetry and tactile poetry, think about the latter and give me some examples:-)