{"id":367,"date":"2012-08-01T10:06:33","date_gmt":"2012-08-01T14:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/pschmid1\/?p=367"},"modified":"2024-05-28T08:14:41","modified_gmt":"2024-05-28T12:14:41","slug":"367","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/pschmid1\/?p=367","title":{"rendered":"This may be the best short discussion ever written about words as signs (semiotics) vs. words as music, especially in poetry"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A. R. Ammons, \u201cMotion\u201d (c. 1961-65)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The word is<\/p>\n<p>not the thing:<\/p>\n<p>is<\/p>\n<p>a construction of,<\/p>\n<p>a tag for,<\/p>\n<p>the thing: the<\/p>\n<p>word in<\/p>\n<p>no way<\/p>\n<p>resembles<\/p>\n<p>the thing, except<\/p>\n<p>as sound<\/p>\n<p>resembles,<\/p>\n<p>as in <em>whirr<\/em>,<\/p>\n<p>sound:<\/p>\n<p>the relation<\/p>\n<p>between what this<\/p>\n<p>as words<\/p>\n<p>is<\/p>\n<p>and what is<\/p>\n<p>is tenuous: we<\/p>\n<p>agree upon<\/p>\n<p>this as the net to<\/p>\n<p>cast on what<\/p>\n<p>is: the finger<\/p>\n<p>to<\/p>\n<p>point with: the<\/p>\n<p>method of<\/p>\n<p>distinguishing,<\/p>\n<p>defining, limiting:<\/p>\n<p>poems<\/p>\n<p>are fingers, methods,<\/p>\n<p>nets,<\/p>\n<p>not what is or<\/p>\n<p>was:<\/p>\n<p>but the music<\/p>\n<p>in poems<\/p>\n<p>is different,<\/p>\n<p>points to nothing,<\/p>\n<p>traps no<\/p>\n<p>realities, takes<\/p>\n<p>no game, but<\/p>\n<p>by the motion of<\/p>\n<p>its motion<\/p>\n<p>resembles<\/p>\n<p>what, moving, is\u2014<\/p>\n<p>the wind<\/p>\n<p>underleaf white against<\/p>\n<p>the tree.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A. R. Ammons, \u201cMotion\u201d (c. 1961-65) &nbsp; The word is not the thing: is a construction of, a tag for, the thing: the word in no way resembles the thing, except as sound resembles, as in whirr, sound: the relation &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/pschmid1\/?p=367\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1],"tags":[63,23,65,64,66],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/pschmid1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/pschmid1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/pschmid1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/pschmid1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/pschmid1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=367"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/pschmid1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":426,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/pschmid1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367\/revisions\/426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/pschmid1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/pschmid1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/pschmid1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}