Total image-complex / total meaning complex
 

Veronica Forrest-Thomson suggests that "nonsemantic" effects contribute toward the "total image-complex" of a poem
 
Bernstein gently suggests "total / meaning complex, since image may suggest / an overly visual orientation" (11)
 
also: "It / seems to me she is wrong to designate the nonlexical, / or more accurately, extralexical / strata of the poem as 'nonsemantic'; I would say / that such elements as line breaks, acoustic / patterns, syntax, etc. are meaningful rather than, / as she has it, that they contribute to the meaning / of the poem"

> from Charles Bernstein's A Poetics (1992)

> tagged with #language, #poetics, #meaning, #poetry_craft_techniques, #image

> created Jan 30, 2025 at 12:31:00 PM


> part of unfinished everything


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unfinished everything is an original work / ongoing project (1997-present) by jeremy p. bushnell

selection, arrangement, and original text available for creative reuse under this licensing arrangement

authors' quoted words are their own.

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