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5. Form Some years ago, in a second-hand bookshop, I happened upon a book about ‘orthometry’, a quaint and obsolete term defined in the book’s full title, which is The Art of Versification and the Technicalities of Poetry (published by J. Grant of Edinburgh, revised edition, 1923). The second chapter is called ‘Kinds of Poetry’, of which there are seven (the book claims), the first being ‘Lyric Poetry’, which is subdivided into sections on ‘The Ode’, ‘The Ballad’, ‘The Hymn and Song’ and ‘The Elegy’. Surprisingly, the sonnet is the sixth of the seven ‘Kinds of
2 Form Whereas ‘power’ is a term taking us immediately to the contested centre of media research and debate, including that conducted outside the academic sphere, the notion of ‘form’ is far less certain in its indications. To talk beyond the academy, and even at points within it, about enquiry into form is to invite a degree of suspicion. Around the notion of form in respect of the media there is often the sense of something elusive and possibly of secondary significance to what really needs to be known more about. Formal analysis suggests a carrying over of
Form: queer zen In the summer of 2012 I participated in the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Summer Institute programme titled ‘Re-envisioning American Art History: Asian American Art, Research, and Teaching’.1 Margo Machida, one of the pioneers of exploring artworks by artists of Asian descent through a transnational lens, and Alexandra Chang, curator of special projects and the director of global arts programs at the Asian/Pacific/American Institute research centre at New York University (NYU), organized the intensive three-week programme and
1 ‘Living Form’: William Blake's Gothic relations David Baulch We enter William Blake's Jerusalem (1804–c.20) through a distinctly Gothic doorway, yet the word ‘Gothic’ never makes an appearance throughout the 100 plates of Blake's longest work of illuminated printing. To grasp the importance of the Gothic for Blake's late work, we might turn to the 1822 broadsheet entitled
3 Solvent form Trying to make the moment permeable, the art impulse yields forms that are likewise solvent. It is this intersection of permeability that the destroyed object prompts most overtly. Crossing an expansive moment when form is most solvent, to be here and yet not, solvent in terms of capable of undoing (dissolving) yet also in the sense of solvency, to make secure and firm. Therefore, in this an art object points to itself, as well as to what is imperceptible and distinct, ensnaring us both in the cascading of the moment and in prolonging this
autobiographical moment, they indicate a poetic direction. With great subtlety, Gray calls out the poetic figure of simile, suggesting that exact observation describes his ‘interests’ better. In that ‘instant’ Gray saw through the similarity to grasp an absolute difference. It is not clear whether two movement forms differ – a matter of physics and mechanics – or whether two associative universes collide. The difference is that the swallow is free to fly ‘fast as a cricket ball’, and converges at will, as it were, on a flight path (the skimming ball) dictated by convention and
This book explores a range of literary and theatrical forms as means of mediating religious conflict in early modern England. It deals with the specific ways available to mediate religious conflict, precisely because faith mattered more than many other social paradigms. The first part explores the ways in which specific religious rituals and related cultural practices were taken up by literary texts. In a compelling rereading of the final act of 'The Merchant of Venice', the book investigates the devotional differences informing early modern observances of Easter. Subsequently, it explores the ways in which Christmas provided a confessional bridge uniting different religious constituencies. Goodnight ballads were not only commercially successful pieces of public entertainment but also effective forms of predominantly Protestant religious persuasion. The book's consideration of Elizabethan romance links the literary form to the sacrament of the Eucharist, and argues that the Eucharist debate had an impact on Elizabethan romances. The second part 'Negotiating confessional conflict' provides a rereading of When You See Me You Know Me, exposing the processes of religious reform as an on-going means of mediating the new normality of confessional plurality. It examines the potential of the tragic form by a reading of the play The White Devil, and discusses the ideological fault line in the views of witchcraft. The book also shows that Henry V anticipates later sermons of John Donne that served to promote 'an interrogative conscience'.
Forms of potential: reading Lawrence Weiner Katie L. Price Although since 1968 American conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner’s primary medium has been language, he prefers to call his works sculptures. Weiner’s preferred term implies that his works are three-dimensional, existing as physical objects in space. However, Weiner’s ‘Statement of Intent’, first published in January 1969 and structuring his artistic output ever since, complicates this notion of three-dimensionality. The statement asserts that his works need not be made by him, need not be authentic and
• 3 • Film form and aesthetics This chapter offers an introduction to film analysis. Although this work emphasises the importance of film as a cultural and historical object, it is crucial to recognise the textual specificity of film. As the work is partly aimed at those who may not have studied film before, this chapter will outline how to explore visual style and will draw attention to how this is constructed through lighting, staging, performance, camerawork, costumes and music. The focus here is film and, while the examples are predominantly drawn from
6 Narrative forms and shapes Introduction In line with previous chapters, this one continues the argument developing throughout this book of the ways in which ‘old age’ come to be attributed to older people and how this is experienced subjectively. I have so far explored this with regard to temporality, intra-generational relations and selfhood. In so doing, I have privileged narrative accounts and interpersonal interactions. This chapter shifts gears somewhat by turning its attention to distinctive characteristics of narrative style and activity among my