I know, Stephen:
'i' Was Making
a Joke
2009/6/16 Stephen Vincent <[log in to unmask]>
> Fanny is Catholic, Susan is Protestant. I think it's fair to say that
> Susan is more subversive on a textual level. Initial Caps tend towards
> hierarchical considerations and get in the way of subversive challenges,
> marginal attacks, etc., on authoritative texts & unquestioned inheritances
> (form, rhetoric & so forth). Fanny does not seem to let 'that stuff' get in
> the way of her writing process, where Susan takes it all head on.
>
> That said, my impression is that, from a political perspective, they are
> both progressive and combative.
>
> Stephen V
>
>
> --- On Mon, 6/15/09, David Bircumshaw <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> From: David Bircumshaw <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: initial capitals
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Monday, June 15, 2009, 9:46 PM
>
> Something along those lines, although I believe the development of
> minuscule
> script for public manuscripts in the Latin alphabet post-dates the
> introduction of parchment. Classical Latin poetry nowadays is always
> printed
> with a lower-case initial letter but would have been entirely in upper-case
> when originally circulated.
> "How about Fanny Howe uses them, Susan Howe doesn't" as an answer,
> considering they're sisters.
>
> 2009/6/16 Mark Weiss <[log in to unmask]>
>
> > I suspect you're on the right track. I remember being told once that it
> > went back to manuscript tradition, when vellum was too expensive to waste
> on
> > white space. The lines were written continuously across the sheet, a new
> > line being indicated by the capital rather than by a line break.
> >
> > Mark
> >
> >
> > At 09:15 PM 6/15/2009, you wrote:
> >
> >> Fanny Howe most often 'caps' the inital letter of each line.
> >> I have an intuitive,no doubt wrong suspicion, that typographers at one
> >> early time could lay out long preliminary lines of type (without
> breaking
> >> them into verse lines) but would indicate the breaks from the eventual
> lines
> >> with a Capital letter.
> >> OR, may the Cap, in terms of verse as a kind of line by line music,
> helped
> >> initiate, say, the initial iambic beat of the line.
> >> Or, maybe it just helped the poem, say a sonnet, look monumental similar
> >> to the edge of a rococo column with those neatly chiseled Caps
> >> scintillating down the margin side.
> >> Yes, maybe it was a sign that Poetry (when found in print and book) was
> a
> >> Significant Presence in the Culture - a Portal and Oracle from which we
> was
> >> graced by News from the Muse(s)
> >> (those happy and/or serious goddesses that curl our hair while - when we
> >> are lucky - we get to write down their messages/visions that they
> whisper or
> >> sometimes shout in our ears).
> >>
> >> I sometimes use caps to start each line just to call attention to the
> idea
> >> that you can read, maybe ought to read the poem, in a way different than
> >> reading straight prose. Like listen for the music, pause for thought, or
> >> 'these words are material in the way of construction - of sound, etc."
> >>
> >> Stephen V
> >>
> >>
> >> --- On Mon, 6/15/09, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >>
> >> From: Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]>
> >> Subject: Re: initial capitals
> >> To: [log in to unmask]
> >> Date: Monday, June 15, 2009, 5:53 PM
> >>
> >> Hal's answer is much better than mine,Max. I suspect Wikipedia might
> >> help. Anyway, I dont know why they were there, nor when it became de
> >> rigeur, but I do know that I felt terribly free when I realized that
> >> the poetry that excited me didnt demand it. I am intrigued to see, in
> >> some books today, poems that do side by side with poems that dont.
> >>
> >> Just another convention, with all the power that implies....
> >>
> >> Doug
> >> On 15-Jun-09, at 3:12 PM, Max Richards wrote:
> >>
> >> > A friend emails me:
> >> >
> >> >> a friend transcribing poetry has asked me about the convention that
> >> >> was dominant for so long of capitalizing the beginning of each line.
> >> >> she finds it very irritating and asked me why it was so. of course I
> >> >> didn't have a clue, and feverish examination of my library was of no
> >> >> help. (the earliest example of not doing it that I could find was HD
> >> >> in 1916).
> >> >
> >> > I emailed him back a vague reply, then said I'd ask PoetryEtc,
> >> > expecting a deluge
> >> > of help.
> >> >
> >> > Max in Melbourne
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> > This email was sent from Netspace Webmail: http://www.netspace.net.au
> >> >
> >> >
> >> Douglas Barbour
> >>
> >> Latest book: Continuations, with Sheila E, Murphy
> >> (University of Alberta Press 2006)
> >>
> >> Is that the flesh made word
> >> or is that the flesh-made word?
> >>
> >> Fred Wah
> >>
> >
>
>
> --
> David Bircumshaw
> "Nothing can be done in the face
> of ordinary unhappiness" - PP
> Website and A Chide's Alphabet
> http://www.staplednapkin.org.uk
> The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
> Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.co.uk
>
--
David Bircumshaw
"Nothing can be done in the face
of ordinary unhappiness" - PP
Website and A Chide's Alphabet
http://www.staplednapkin.org.uk
The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.co.uk
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