Lastly, in addition to the syntax of the poem and its use of white space, the overall form of the poem reinforces the poem’s extended metaphor. The poem is reminiscent of a tennis court; the two narrow columns, with their apparent symmetry and the white space in between, alludes to the two people in the couple situated on either side of the court, with a net in between. The picture called to mind in the imagination by the visual arrangement of the text is compounded by the auditory rhythms that come from the specific placement of words on the page. The two units of text in each line causes the eye to bounce back and forth and, as mentioned before, leads to each unit of text in a column, whether word or syllable, being heard as one unit of sound.
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A quick search on Google for the various formats show images with the title in line with the columns of words in the text, “40” heading one column and “love” (not capitalized) heading the other. Another shows a dashed line connecting the title in bold, where the words continue heading up the columns of the text. Yet another features a scanned version (or perhaps digitally created version) of a book in which “40-“ heads up one column with a considerable amount of space in the left margin on the left page. “Love” heads up the right column, with a similar large margin on the right page. In between each is the crease of the book. This one example of the variation in titles shows how, with the advent of digital technology, the static nature of print which Ong expounds upon begins to become more fluid, with more variations in the versions of the poem being created as the poem is disseminated among readers. Some variations of the work could lead to the meaning, which is derived visually being lost. This example also shows the importance of exact reproduction of concrete poems over time in order to convey the meanings associated with the poem that the author wishes to communicate, because the poem functions as an entity in space.
“40-Love” is a concrete poem, which can function as both a spatial and auditory entity, with each part of this dialectic working together to create meaning. Through the form of the poem as well as the surrounding white space, the poem creates a picture in the literary imagination of a tennis court, with the syntax split up by two narrow columns, echoing the sounds of a tennis match. Divorced from this format, this poem would cease to have the resonance which it does now, that it derives from its form as a spatial
A quick search on Google for the various formats show images with the title in line with the columns of words in the text, “40” heading one column and “love” (not capitalized) heading the other. Another shows a dashed line connecting the title in bold, where the words continue heading up the columns of the text. Yet another features a scanned version (or perhaps digitally created version) of a book in which “40-“ heads up one column with a considerable amount of space in the left margin on the left page. “Love” heads up the right column, with a similar large margin on the right page. In between each is the crease of the book. This one example of the variation in titles shows how, with the advent of digital technology, the static nature of print which Ong expounds upon begins to become more fluid, with more variations in the versions of the poem being created as the poem is disseminated among readers. Some variations of the work could lead to the meaning, which is derived visually being lost. This example also shows the importance of exact reproduction of concrete poems over time in order to convey the meanings associated with the poem that the author wishes to communicate, because the poem functions as an entity in space.
“40-Love” is a concrete poem, which can function as both a spatial and auditory entity, with each part of this dialectic working together to create meaning. Through the form of the poem as well as the surrounding white space, the poem creates a picture in the literary imagination of a tennis court, with the syntax split up by two narrow columns, echoing the sounds of a tennis match. Divorced from this format, this poem would cease to have the resonance which it does now, that it derives from its form as a spatial