Typography and World Cafe

8/7/2019 Typography and World Cafe

1/19

Starter A couple of minor brain teasers:

1) There is only one word in the English language that ends inmt. What is it?

2) Complete the following sequence of letters: o, t, t, f, f, s, s, _, _,_


2/19

Typography This is not a term we come across very often in the analysis of poetry.

Typography can be defined as:

The practical and artistic arrangement of type and printing with type

So basically, its the arrangement of words on the page. Normally thiswould be the type of thing wed look for if we were doing unfamiliar text stuff to do with visual language. It is though, quite important in A NegroSpeaks of Rivers.


3/19

Why?

Its worth first thinking about the time and place of Hughes poem.A Negro Speaks of Rivers was published in 1921.

Just before this time e. e. cummings was in the process of becoming the first poet to consciously make use of the possibilitiesof the typewriter to mess around with the typography of a poem. If we have a look at his almost absurd grasshopper poem...


4/19

r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r who

a)s w(e loo)k upnowgath

PPEGORHRASS

eringint(o-aThe):l

eA!p:

S a(r

rIvInG .gRrEaPsPhOs)to

rea(be)rran(com)gi(e)ngly

,grasshopper;

r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r by e. e. cummings


5/19

Cummings was trying to represent the feeling and sensation of thegrasshopper leaping both through his content and his form. The content demands that the reader leap back and forth across the text to decipher what is happening, while the typography helps to reflect the movement of thegrasshopper.

This was brand new, quite radical stuff at the time. It was a completedeparture from any sense of traditional structuring.

Thoughts: why might this kind of form interested Hughes?


6/19


7/19

To an extent, we can say that Hughes is embracing the future in his writinghere. Yes, it is quite likely that he drafted this poem with paper and pen, but he also made the decision to make use of the technology available to him tore-shape his poem on the page.

We could say that Hughes isnt dwelling on the past but rather he isembracing the typewriter, embracing the future of writing, looking towards thefuture - just as he does in his poem.

But I worry that this interpretation is a bit forced...


8/19

What we can justify...

I think we can feel much safer if we discuss the purpose of Hughes decision to make use of indentation in his poem. This istypography at work in a way which directly effects our relationshipwith the poem.

Let have a look...


9/19

A Negro Speaks of Rivers Langston Hughes

I've known rivers:I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the

flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln

went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy

bosom turn all golden in the sunset.I've known rivers:Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.


10/19

There are two significant usages in the poem:

I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than theflow of human blood in human veins.

I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincolnwent down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy

bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

Which one more readily lends itself to interpretation?


11/19

Head up Typography - the use of indentation and answer the following:

1) What is the significance of Abe Lincoln in this image?

2) What do you think Hughes is suggesting in his metaphor Ive seen itsmuddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset

3) How might his decision to indent this image reinforce the meaning Hughes

is trying to convey through this image?4) How does form reflect content in this passage and why do you think Hughesdecided to do this at this particular point?

I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincolnwent down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.


12/19

SummaryThe use of indentation in the poem, and particularly in the passage welooked at, is just another way in which Hughes extends this idea of progress and forward movement. He literally pulls his reader forward(into the future) as he delivers a line about a hopeful future. Its quiteclever and is another example of Hughes combining form and content

to get his message across.

I think this reflects a slightly different purpose than what weve lookedat so far. Most of work has been around this idea of knowing yourself,having an awareness of your cultural identity and the importance of that. This technique though has more to do with Hughes obsessionwith always looking to the future. His focus is always on the future,even if hes looking to the past, hes thinking of the future. For Hughes,the future is what matters and his use of indent mirrors that attitude -his poem is moving into the future and is saying to the reader comewith me.


13/19

The use of indentation in the poem, and particularly in the passage welooked at, is just another way in which Hughes extends this idea of progress and forward movement. He literally pulls his reader forward

(into the future) as he delivers a line about a hopeful future. Its quiteclever and is another example of Hughes combining form and contentto get his message across.

I think this reflects a slightly different purpose than what weve lookedat so far. Most of work has been around this idea of knowing yourself,having an awareness of your cultural identity and the importance of that. This technique though has more to do with Hughes obsessionwith always looking to the future. His focus is always on the future,even if hes looking to the past, hes thinking of the future. For Hughes,the future is what matters and his use of indent mirrors that attitude -

his poem is moving into the future and is saying to the reader comewith me.

This is your chance to summarise the above. Do not copy it out, thats pointless.Read, select, summarise - youll learn more that way and your notes will be more

meaningful to you.


14/19

The Hughes Oeuvre

That is a bit of a lie of a title. I wish we had the time to deal with the entireHughes oeuvre but we are limited.

What I want to do with the rest of this time is try my best to saturate you in Langston Hughes and get you freely responding to who he is as apoet. This involves the following...

(P.S. oeuvre is French for composition, but also legacy, and so tends tomean the entire body of work of an artist)


15/19

1) Making use of the really, really big pieces of paper that are currently attached to thewall at the back of the room.

2) Reading through the excerpts of The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain that areposted on each wall.

3) Reading 7 different poems by Langston Hughes.

4) TALKING about the similarities, differences, variations, techniques, themes, etc. etc.that begin to resonate as you read more and more.

This is about you learning by making connections between different pieces of poetry and the one were studying. And its about doing that learning by talking to each other.Discoveries you make on your own will stick far more than notes copied from a slide. I will teach how to write, but its so much more effective if you actually have the chance todiscover the ideas.

So...


16/19

How does this work?Each group will be given a large sheet of newsprint which will cover both tables at each group -youll need to stick this down with some blue tack.

On that newsprint will be a Langston Hughes poem. As a group, I want you to respond to that poem and to collect those responses on your tables - just scrawl down the words, images,

phrases, sentences that come to mind. ASK QUESTIONS. Ill also put up a bunch of questionsto get you thinking.

Ill give you a certain amount of time to spend on your first poem and then Ill tell you to move.This means you go and sit somewhere else and continue the process. Read the poem. Read what other people have written. Respond. Respond to the responses by agreeing or disagreeing. Make links to the your first poem. Make links to A Negro Speaks of Rivers.

Well continue moving until youve had a chance to read and respond to every poem. There arealso pieces from The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain around the room for you to link tothe poetry.


17/19

Each group will be given a large sheet of newsprint which will cover both tables at each group -youll need to stick this down with some blue tack.

On that newsprint will be a Langston Hughes poem. As a group, I want you to respond to that poem and to collect those responses on your tables - just scrawl down the words, images,phrases, sentences that come to mind. ASK QUESTIONS. Ill also put up a bunch of questionsto get you thinking.

Ill give you a certain amount of time to spend on your first poem and then Ill tell you to move.This means you go and sit somewhere else and continue the process. Read the poem. Read what other people have written. Respond. Respond to the responses by agreeing or disagreeing. Make links to the your first poem. Make links to A Negro Speaks of Rivers.

Well continue moving until youve had a chance to read and respond to every poem. There arealso pieces from The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain around the room for you to link tothe poetry.

This only works if you take the process seriously. This is not an excuse to find your friends and chat. This is about having conversations - in person and on the paper - that enhance your understanding of Langston Hughes, his poetry and why he writes. I want you to have thefreedom to explore what interests you. I expect you have the maturity to work in this way.


18/19


19/19

Reflection

What have we learnt?

1) What connections could you see between the poems you read?

2) How well do you think this collection of poetry represents the opinion Hughesexpresses in The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain?

3) What seems to be Hughes overall project? This might well have multiple aspectsto it, but youre pushing towards making suggestions about why Hughes writespoetry. What motivates him to write?

4) How does this change your attitude towards and/or your understanding of ANegro Speakers of Rivers?

Documents

Typography and World Cafe