Vocabularyclept poem
A vocabularyclept poem is a poem which is formed by taking the words of an existing poem and rearranging them into a new work of literature.
History
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«Winter Retrospect» Blow, blast. Whirl through the dusk, snow, — Extract from original poem by Howard W. Bergerson |
Vocabularyclept poetry was first proposed in 1969 by Word Ways editor Howard Bergerson. He took his little-known 1944 poem "Winter Retrospect", put all the words in alphabetical order, and challenged readers to arrange them all into a new poem.[2] The challenge was taken up later that year by J. A. Lindon, who, without having consulted Bergerson's original, produced an entirely different poem also titled "Winter Retrospect".[1][3] Both poems are 24 lines long and contain 478 words, and have been subject to several literary and statistical analyses.[4][3][5]
Extract from J. A. Lindon's version:
- Night sends me this whirl of snow.
- Under the low trees the watery glow
- Of your lamp looking through the dusk—my
- Thoughts are still that it must die.
- Upon these walls the snow is driving.
- Grow with the wind's lonely music, my soul, riving
- Bland aspirations split with the blast up in the eaves,
- And I shall remember only that the mind, though failing, weaves
- Tinsel in darkness, memory a kaleidoscope, floss
- That soundless flies, musk rose, and all that nearly was,[1]
Many vocabularyclept poems by Lindon and others appeared in later issues of Word Ways. These and others are collected and discussed in various wordplay books by Bergerson and David Morice.[6][7]
A variation on the idea of rearranging an existing vocabulary into a poem was independently discovered by Dave Kapell. His Magnetic Poetry kits consist of individual words—often related to a particular theme or topic—printed on small magnets which can be creatively arranged on a refrigerator or other metal surface.[8]
See also
- Anagrammatic poetry
- Cut-up technique
- Magnetic Poetry
- Cento (poetry) – literary genre
References
- ^ a b c Lindon, J. A. (May 1969). "The Vocabularyclept Poem, № 1". Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics. 2 (2). Greenwood Periodicals: 85–89.
- ^ Rogers, Ben (February 1969). "Some Neglected Ways of Words". Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics. 2 (1). Greenwood Periodicals: 14–19.
- ^ a b Bishop, Yvonne M.; Fienberg, Stephen E.; Holland, Paul W. (2007). Discrete Multivariate Analysis: Theory and Applications. Springer. pp. 340–342. ISBN 978-0-387-72805-6.
- ^ Eckler, Jr., A. Ross (May 1970). "Anagramming One Poem into Another". Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics. 3 (2): 86–90.
- ^ Eckler, Jr., A. Ross (1973). "The Similarity of Two Poems". In Mosteller, F. (ed.). Statistics by Example: Finding Models. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. pp. 75–87. ISBN 978-0201048797.
- ^ Bergerson, Howard W. (1973). "Vocabularyclept Poetry or Mathematical Collaboration". Palindromes and Anagrams. Dover. pp. 20–39. ISBN 978-0486206646.
- ^ Morice, Dave (2007). "Vocabularyclept Poetry". The Adventures of Dr. Alphabet: 104 Unusual Ways to Write Poetry in the Classroom and the Community. Teachers & Writers Collaborative. ISBN 978-0915924448.
- ^ Truong, Khai N.; Huang, Elaine M.; Abowd, Gregory D. (2004). "CAMP: A Magnetic Poetry Interface for End-User Programming of Capture Applications for the Home". UbiComp 2004: Ubiquitous Computing: 6th International Conference. Nottingham: Springer. pp. 143–160.