70 Understanding French Poetry

CHAPTER 4

Visual Signals in Poetry

Stamos Metzidakis

Every type of literary analysis isolates and then reassembles in various

ways stylistic features that have a common ontological status: they all
exist to the extent that particular readers perceive them as repeated
signals that signify something. When we consider, for instance, a
typical semiotic analysis done by, say, A.J. Greimas or Michael
Riffaterre, we note how both critics proceed in their analyses by
locating multiple lexical and phrasal instances in which a more or less
stable meaning takes on a wide range of linguistic forms. These forms
are said to be variants of an invariable unit of meaning, or what we
might call syntag-matic extensions of a stable paradigm. Such
textually-extensive features constitute iterative signals that impose
themselves onto the consciousness of readers. These readers then have
a critical responsibility to piece back together a preexistent locus from
its
traces.
Now, whether all readers assume this responsibility or not is, of
course, quite another matter. In any case, the locus in question is
essentially an intertextual commonplace, for were this not the case,
nothing that meant anything to most readers could properly be
attributed to these features. In terms of the rhetorical effect of such
features, however, we can state with a great degree of confidence that
iterative signals do not always impress or please every observer to the
same extent. This idea of "pleasing" the reader is part of what the
classical aesthetician Horace (among others) would have had us all
believe in regard to repeated signs. Yet, as Roland Barthes has
indicated: "Je ne

71
72 Understanding French Poetry Visual Signals in Poetry 73

sais si, comme dit le proverbe, les choses répétées plaisent,' mais je new analytical approaches and critical methodologies, underscores
crois que du moins elles signifient."1 Because iterative features are all the fact that there always were, and, indeed, probably always will be
functionally related to each other on this basis of perceived repetition, it many more formal features of literary style than any one reader or
might therefore be supposed that most any such feature, regardless of school can ever hope to identify and describe. For this reason, it may be
its aesthetic power or accepted visibility, can at least signal something time to enlarge our conception of what one's readerly competence could
to some people, as long as it is taken seriously. or should be.
This last statement presents one of the more challenging I would submit, therefore, that no repeated signal in a literary text
questions that confront modern readers of French poetry. The question I should be dismissed a priori from any type of formal analysis on what
have in mind is that of the demarcation line between those linguistic are essentially ideological grounds. That no dictionaries, native-speaker
features of a text that are "truly" significant, and those deemed instead responses, or other such sociolectic supports exist yet to verify a
to be "mere" coincidences. Here, one thinks of Riffaterre's now classic stylistic feature's relevance should not, in theory, undermine a critical
refutation (1966) of the linguistic analysis of Baudelaire's "Les Chats" reader's attempt to consider seriously any minute linguistic elements
done by Levi-Strauss and Jakobson.2 Briefly summarized, Riffaterre's that might eventually justify critical commentary. For, once again, the
argument dismisses certain interpretations of stylistic aspects isolated ontological status of all stylistic features as perceived iterative signals
by the latter two critics because, according to Riffaterre, a purely forces us to come to grips with these less traditional, less visible,
linguistic analysis of a text, such as they practice it, represents^ little pertinent features. Thus, the relevance or irrelevance of all potential
more than its grammatical description.Jjrammar, he goes on to say textual signals depends precisely on the reader's willingness to accept,
(195-202), is often stylistically irrelevant insofar as it is not necessarily and to learn about the possible semiotic function of, certain hitherto
perceived by all readers. unrecognized formal features.
But the question of what is necessarily perceived in the act of What I propose to do here, through the use of several examples
reading a text is one which I would like to consider here further. In from nineteenth- and twentieth-century French poetic texts, is to sketch
modern literary criticism, repeated sounds, words, phrases, images, and out a sub-category of primarily visual, stylistic features in literature that
topoi have always enjoyed a certain privileged position. The present includes every meaningful graphemic aspect of a poetic text, from
essay does not attempt to dispute this position; it seeks instead to letters to accent marks to punctuation points. When I say "meaningful" I
expand the field of such privileged features. Given the role played by understand that it will be precisely my readerly duty to demonstrate in
perceived repetition in the critical articulation of textual significance, it persuasive fashion just how such textual aspects mean what I say they
seems to me all the more crucial to ask again the question of whether do. A study of this type demands many more examples than I can
more subtle elements of a text's material presence on the page— possibly give here, and therefore must be evaluated, at least, in terms of
elements like letters, punctuation points, or in the case of French, other iconic features that I and others have commented on elsewhere.3
accent marks—could not also have a similar semiotic potential in the But I would hope that the scriptural possibilities advanced herein will be
overall formation of literary style. After all, to say that minute regarded as the tip of a relatively unexplored semiotic iceberg, one that
linguistic elements are not necessarily perceived by present-day readers might lead to more detailed and extensive visual analyses of poetry and
is not to say that at some future stage of more advanced research such prose alike.
elements may not come to be necessarily perceived by others. Let us The larger, more general stylistic category into which these
not forget that the advent of semiotics itself in this century, along with graphemic signals may be placed is one that we can call "iconic,"
many other kinds of Following Charles Sanders Peirce's definition, an "icon" is one of
74 Understanding French Poetry Visual Signals in Poetry 75
three major types of signs. It can be anything whatsoever that denotes more on the reader's perception than on the author's intended or
its object "mainly by its similarity."4 Using this definition, we shall conscious manipulation of every linguistic element of his or her text,
consider any graphemic element of a text to be an iconic sign whenever our examination can proceed without any further theoretical
it can be shown to recall something else about the text on the basis of complications. We no longer need to ask ourselves whether the authors
its physical, i.e. visible or visual similarity, to it. Now, as Umberto Eco we shall study deliberately incorporated certain visual signals into their
points out in his critique of iconism,5 this apparently simple definition works in order to point to supplementary meanings it will be my task to
is not without weaknesses. How is one to understand, for instance, that articulate. My goal is simply to show how various letters, accent marks,
a continuous line tracing the profile of a horse is an icon for that horse and punctuation points, perceived as iconic phenomena, carry a
if one has not yet trained one's eye to see it as such? Without trying to semiotic "charge," so to speak, not unlike that of more conventional
answer this question or going into the details of Eco's critique—all of stylistic traits. By virtue of their specific shapes, we shall show how
which would lead us far away from the readings I wish to propose they can recall signs and supposed meanings from other parts of the
here—let me simply note the conclusion of Eco's critique: "Similarity text, thereby adding a kind of visual and semantic as well as stylistic
is produced and must be learned" (200). In other words, what I plan to density to it.
show presently represents what can only be described as a critical My first example is found in Leconte de Lisle's poem "Le
production of my own, a similarity between visual signs and other Jaguar" which first appeared in 1855 in La Revue contemporaine, and
aspects of a given text. As such this produced similarity will have to be which reappears in his well-known collection, Les Poèmes barbares, in
"learned" by others if they find enough merit in its production. As an 1862.7 As one of the major Parnassian poets, Leconte de Lisle is known
interpretive gesture which aims to demonstrate iconic similarity for his extraordinary poetic portraits of animals, ancient heroes, and
between textual signifiers and signifieds, it will "take" only if it is landscapes. In this particular piece, the reader finds an extremely vivid
disseminated and incorporated into the general arena of other critical depiction of a jaguar in its natural surroundings about to pounce on its
readings, as has already happened elsewhere. unfortunate prey, "un grand boeuf des pampas." He smells a subtle odor
Eco's conclusion, based in part on James Gibson's work on that is "égaré dans le vent" and begins to tense up, getting himself
perception, allows me then to make the following assertion. Just as we ready as the poet says for "son oeuvre de mort."
all have to learn how to recognize and identify various kinds of Suddenly he becomes absolutely still and stares ahead with
similarities or equivalences on what I could refer to as the "higher" deadly intent. The scene, spectacular in its cinematographic precision,
stylistic levels of texts, e.g., on the level of a genre, of repeated images reads as follows:
or syntactical patterns, so, too, must we accept the necessity to learn
how to isolate finer stylistic features of literary works. Until readers of Mais voici qu'il se tait, et, tel qu'un bloc de pierre,
Immobile, s'affaisse au milieu des rameaux: Un grand
poetry are willing to accept the fact that all linguistic elements of texts,
boeuf des pampas entre dans la clairière, Corne haute et
irrespective of their distinctive features, are submitted during the deux jets de fumées aux naseaux.
interpretive act to what Derrida suggests is a learned transformation of
literal signifiers into literary signifiers,6 no one group of stylistic Celui-ci fait trois pas. La peur le cloue en place: Au
aspects should in theory, at least, either exclude or take precedence sommet d'un tronc noir qu'il effleure en passant, Plantés
over any others. droit dans sa chair où court un froid de glace, Flambent
Once we have established that the interpretation of icons in deux yeux zébrés d'or, d'agate et de sang.
general, and graphemic stylistic traits in particular, depends
76 Understanding French Poetry Visual Signals in Poetry

The picture of the ox and jaguar is fixed in the reader's mind just write such a fascinating, albeit subtle, feature into his poem. The
as these jungle beasts are fixed in the clearing, with everyone waiting answer is that we will probably never know. But one thing is
anxiously to see what will transpire next. nonetheless certain: these two visual signals are there for us to read, if
As it happens, the poet's attention is especially drawn to the vision of we want to, and also, if we know how to.
the jaguar’s eyes. The ambiguity of my characterization of this As further supporting evidence of this stylistic feature of
narrative situation is intentional, because what de Lisle stresses most is essentially Parnassian poetry, I cite Baudelaire's well-known early
not only the incendiary nature of the jaguar's stare itself, but also the poem "La Beauté." This poem turns Beauty herself into a "rêve de
tangible effect of this stare on the skin of this ox. Indeed, the jaguar's pierre," i.e. an extremely concrete instance of aesthetic
"deux yeux zébrés d'or, d'agate et de sang" are said to burn with blood conceptualization. In that text Baudelaire describes how Beauty sits on
("flambent") and, at the same time, to plant themselves ("Plantés"), so to a throne like a "Sphinx incompris." She does not budge in front of all
speak, in the very skin of his imminent victim, who feels a sudden chill the admiring poets who consume their days in "austères études" while
from these two eyes. It is a dual question, therefore, of seeing as well as contemplating her "grandes attitudes." Poets act this way in front of her
of being seen by the jaguar's two eyes. I should like to insist on the because of her eyes, her large eyes. In Baudelaire's words, they waste
pertinence of the number two here since most every other detail away their lives in pursuit of Beauty because, as she says, she
expressed in these quatrains seems to involve a precise number: either possesses
the number one as in "un bloc," "un grand boeuf," "un tronc noir," un De purs miroirs qui font toutes choses plus belles: Mes yeux, mes
froid de glace"; the number two, as in "deux jets de fumées," "deux larges yeux aux clartés éternelles! Just as in De Lisle's Parnassian
yeux"; or even the number three, found in the count of steps taken by the masterpiece, Baudelaire's poem re-presents a set of eyes thematically
ox, "trois pas." Given this almost theatrical precision in setting the important to the reader by means of a single, isolated usage of a colon,
scene, it is clear then, that these two burning eyes are its focal point. "deux points," two points that appear at no other place in this poem.
Everything about to happen in the poem depends on them. Here is where The very fact that such a visual phenomenon thus seems to recur
our first visual signal comes into play. The reader of a poem's iconic intertextually suggests that something significant may be
dimension notes a curious feature about the punctuation in these two behind it.
particular quatrains. They are the only ones out of thirteen in the whole My next example comes from one of Mallarmé's prose poems
poem that contain any colons (in French, "deux points," literally, two entitled "Pauvre Enfant Pâle" (1866). Using two other texts as
points). Considering how they each contain one colon apiece, I would
intertextual support, I should like to demonstrate how the use of the
contend that the ambiguity suggested above, concerning the jaguar's
circumflex accent in Mallarmé repeats a key element of this anecdote
seeing and the ox's being seen by two eyes, is graphemically dramatized
about a young street singer in a big city. To summarize the story, the
by the sudden, repeated use of a specific punctuation point that is
narrator in the poem describes a young boy in terms of the future
otherwise completely absent from the rest of the poem. To put it simply,
criminal that he sees in him. This future criminal will eventually pay
these two "points" re-present twice in visual or pictorial fashion the
for his crime with his head. Although the narrator is initially
same eyes that have already taken center stage, thematically, at this very
sympathetic towards the boy, he gradually feels a certain guilt, both for
point in the poem: first, when the jaguar sees the ox and immobilizes
himself; second, when the ox notices the jaguar and is in turn frozen by himself and for his whole society with regard to his human fate.
fear in his very tracks. The question we have to ask is whether or not the What interests us particularly in this poem, however, is the
poet meant to narrator's obsession with the child's head ("tète"). The word "tête"
appears no fewer than four times in the text, including in
78 Understanding French Poetry Visual Signals in Poetry 79

the last line, "Oh, pauvre petite tête." One should also note that the this time in José-Maria de Hérédia's much-anthologized poem entitled
original title for the piece was, in fact, "La Tête," and was changed only "Antoine et Cléopâtre" (1884). In the latter text, the nominal group "tête
afterwards in its final form to "Pauvre Enfant Pâle." Irrespective of this pâle" occurs in a line that is otherwise ambiguous, until one reads the
historical fact, the final version is full of words which, thanks to their next line of the sonnet. Yet, the only other occurrence of a circumflex
circumflex accents, recall the otherwise obvious narrative accent in the entire text is in the title, in Cleopatra's name itself. In this
preoccupation with the boy's head. First, there is the way he hollers his case, too, her name seems to have generated a juxtaposition of "pâle"
insolent song in the street, "à tue-tête," which we read in the very first and "tête" just as we found in Mallarmé's prose poem. What makes this
line. One might not agree initially that Mallarmé's use of this adverbial iconic feature particularly effective in Hérédia is that, as a result of
expression— beyond being just a pun—is derived in part from its textual ambiguity, it alone, not the poem's semantic dimension, tips off
graphemic similarity to the word "pâle" in the title, "Pauvre Enfant the reader as to whose head is being described. An iconic trace of
Pâle." Most readers not attuned to all repeated signals would probably Cleopatra herself thus finds its way into another part of the sonnet in
not accept this connection as anything other than mere coincidence. this most subtle of fashions. And, as it turns out in the next line of
They would refuse such a possibility, even though there are other Hérédia's poem, the head is, in fact, Cleopatra's, not Antony's.
adverbs that could have fit into the context without repeating the accent Still another example comes from Hérédia's sonnet titled "la
mark. Naissance d'Aphrodite." This poem puts into play yet another type of
But, when compared to a similar iconic phenomenon in a so- accent mark, that is, a graphemic signal with certain phonemic as well
called "automatic" text of André Breton (Poisson Soluble, #3, 1924), in as visual particularities. In this poem, an orthographic anomaly
which a wasp ("guêpe"), of all beings, is also said to be singing "à tue- constitutes the initial signal to the reader that something more may be
tête," one begins to perceive a curious stylistic pattern emerging from going on than he or she first suspects. I refer to the spelling of
different words. On some level of a French poet's psyche, circumflex Aphrodite's name, which, in this case, ends with an acute accent mark.
accents often seem to generate other circumflex accents, as if a key In other contemporary texts, both literary and nonliterary, Aphrodite
word like "tête" or "guêpe" were determining other textual items, both does not have the accent mark in question. Indeed, the only place where
semantically and graphemically. Indeed, in the prose poem "l'Huître" one can find the accent in her name is in the original Greek.
of Francis Ponge, the circumflex accent recurs in various adjectives Knowing what we do about Parnassian aesthetics, we should
throughout the text because the poet wished consciously to disseminate nevertheless not be surprised to see one of the great proponents of Le
the oyster's physical presence into the very fabric of his poem.8 Parnasse engaging in what we might call classical erudite "local
Returning to Mallarmé's own text, however, let us consider other coloring" through the use of such spelling. As we continue our very
attributes of the young singer that the narrator chooses to describe. It close reading, we note a secondary reason for the accent mark, the
will be noted that all of these attributes have circumflex accents: his rhyme scheme. The poet has chosen a typical sonnet rhyme scheme
clothes ("vêtements"), his age ("âge"), his eating habits (being poor, he insofar as the verses follow the pattern abba abba ccd ede. Because the
fasts, hence, "tu jeûnes"), even his color ("pâle"). Since the narrator is poem is about the emergence of Aphrodite from the waters, the last
alluding constantly to the boy's future decapitation as a criminal, there word "Aphrodite" must have an acute accent in order to rhyme
is already a certain justification and foreshadowing involved in saying properly. However, as is well known, every Parnassian poet, especially
that his head looks pale. Significantly enough, though, the adjective Hérédia, tends to favor rich rhyme (rime riche) over other types of
"pâle" reappears in relation to another "poetic head," rhyme for various aesthetic reasons. In fact, the
80 Understanding French Poetry Visual Signals in Poetry 81

final two tercets of the poem do adhere to this accepted convention, in other poems from this collection one finds many other visual signals
except for one small detail. Parnassian rhymes should not, in theory, be that help cue the reader and round out his/her experience of the things
so close in nature as to create confusion between different rhymes in themselves. In "Le Gymnaste," for instance, Ponge breaks up the title
different lines. In the present case though, one might very well read the word into some of its individual letters and comments on both the [G]
final four lines as if they were instances of assonance. After all, they and the [Y] in the first two paragraphs.
all end in the vowel sound [e]. Yet, even there, we are dealing with very obvious visual signals
Assuming that Hérédia knew better than to do this, one might presented to us on a silver platter, as it were. An even more subtle and,
therefore be tempted to ask whether the repetition of the sound [e] is to my mind, interesting example is found in the piece titled "Le
not somehow significant vis-à-vis the overriding image that the poem Papillon." The butterfly, we know, has always been known by its
develops. If we examine the internal rhymes in the poem, we begin to colorful wings. Thanks to their incessant fluttering, they also cannot
discover an interesting pattern. In the first quatrain (which concerns help but intrigue most any casual observer who happens upon them
prehistorical chaos) only one acute accent appears, and in an while they are in flight. The French word for butterfly itself
unstressed position of the sonnet at that. However, the closer we get to ("papillon") is formed by two [p]s and two [l]s, with the latter two
the actual emergence of Aphrodite out of the waters, which occurs at actually forming a cluster. Moreover, the secondary sense of "papillon"
the very end of the poem, we suddenly locate a very powerful internal as the French word for a bow-tie only confirms the notion that what
rhyme in one of the poem's last verses—"émergeant de l'écume matters visually about a butterfly is its redoubled shape, its pair of
embrasée"—as well as in the final four rhymes—rosée," "-dite," connected and perfectly symmetrical wings.
"embrasée," and "Aphrodite." It should be clear by now that what we As if to reinforce, then, this sense of a butterfly's taking wing
are seeing (and even hearing) unfold, thanks to the accent mark, is, so within the very space produced by his choice of signifiers, Ponge
to speak, the coming-forth of Aphrodite not only from the waters, but multiplies, perhaps unconsciously, the number of words containing
also from the page itself. I recognize, of course, that this is primarily a clusters of double letters that serve to describe the insect:
phonemic phenomenon, as I have presented it here. Yet, my contention
Lorsque le sucre élaboré dans les tiges surgit au fond des
is that without the latent graphemic power of the anomalous accent
fleurs, comme des tasses mal lavées,—un grand effort se
mark in the title, we would very likely not have perceived the stylistic produit par terre d'où les papillons tout à coup prennent
value such a minute linguistic feature could have in our poem. leur vol.
By the end of the nineteenth century the concrete value of such
visual signals becomes more and more evident to poets writing in Mais comme chaque chenille eut la tête aveuglée et laissée
France. Mallarmé begins the conscious exploitation of them, of course, noire, et le torse amaigri par la véritable explosion d'où les
in his revolutionary text, "Un Coup de dés." Apollinaire furthers this ailes symétriques flambèrent,
essentially pictorialist experimentation with his collection of Dès lors le papillon erratique ne se pose plus qu'au hasard
Calligrammes in the early twentieth century. As was previously noted, de sa course, ou tout comme.
Francis Ponge, taking the "side of things" in Le Parti pris des choses, Allumette volante, sa flamme n'est pas contagieuse. Et
admits that his use of so many circumflex accents in his prose poem d'ailleurs, il arrive trop tard et ne peut que constater les
"L'huître" also resulted from the iconic similarity between the words he fleurs écloses. N'importe: se conduisant en lampiste, il
chose to describe the oyster and the French signifier for oyster itself. vérifie la provision d'huile de chacune. Il pose au sommet
But des fleurs la guenille atrophiée qu'il emporte et venge ainsi
82 Understanding French Poetry Visual Signals in Poetry 83

la longue humiliation amorphe de chenille au pied des rabattait fendant le vent comme deux flèches [. . .] (my
tiges. emphasis).
One might even consider as secondarily significant to my This textual insistence on swallows slicing the air like arrows
reading the visual signals constituted by the much larger number of (flèches) has somehow imposed itself onto the graphemic nature of that
words in this prose poem that contain two of the same letters, e.g., key word which is used, literally, to bring them back into the
élaboré, tête, chacune, écloses, etc. What all these signals do, therefore, observer's field of vision. As such, it has increased the stylistic
is to signify over and over the wings of a butterfly whose very winged appropriateness and efficacy of the adjective "petites." No longer
materiality forms most of the text's actual subject matter. simply an endearing term of affection for the swallow, the irregular
Another example of what I can now call "literary iconism" spelling of "Petî-î-î-tes" also permits the reader to see, for all intents
occurs in Colette's novel, La Maison de Claudine (1922). Like all the and purposes, the return of these birds via their graphemically
other instances examined thus far, it may or may not have been represented wing shape. The use of circumflex accents in this text is
intended. Although this text is not poetic in the traditional sense of thus over-determined in two ways: phonemically and visually.
having a certain versified form, it does exhibit certain "poetic" features My final example comes from another, earlier novel, Pierre
similar to those found in our three previous examples. As such I have Loti's Le Pêcheur d'Islande (1886).10 As a second instance within a
no difficulty including it here, since one can understand the novel of the kind of poetic iconism examined throughout this essay, it
phenomenon in question as an example of the "poetic prose" of Colette. completes my argument for the need to reassess this important element
(This distinction between poetry and prose is precisely one of those of style in prose as well as poetry. From the very first page, one of the
historical dichotomies that might have to be re-interpreted when enough main characters, Sylvestre, is presented in oppositional terms to every
of these poetic, visual signals come to light in years to come.) other sailor in the story. The reader learns immediately that Sylvestre is
In any case, in a chapter where the narrator describes her much younger, much less coarse, and much more innocent than his
mother's fondness for animals, there is a long passage on two swallows fellow shipmates. His innocence, in particular, makes him
that used to answer a simple call of a single word, "Petî-î-î-tes." At first paradigmatically equivalent to one other figure in the opening scene,
glance, nothing is amiss with the spelling of this word since the the Virgin Mary, whose earthenware statue ("en faïence") sits in a
repeated circumflex accent could be read as a means to elongate the place of honor. Being the sailors' patroness, the Virgin watches over
vowel sound [i], just as one would expect in a long-distance shout. But, the men, and protects them from danger.
strictly speaking, there should be no accent mark on the word "petites." But the statue is said to be slightly old, and painted with "un art
Without needing to confirm my suspicion of an iconic relationship encore naif." In this context of gruff, broad-shouldered men ("aux
between these accents and swallows through the use of referentiality to carrures terribles"), the Virgin appears just as incongruous as Sylvestre.
the flight or physiology of actual swallows, I would like to suggest that The text points out that "les personnages en faience se conservent
what has happened instead is this. The description that immediately beaucoup plus longtemps que les vrais hommes" (8). There would
precedes the word "Petî-î-î-tes" in the text established a paradigm of seem to be something about earthenware characters—their innocence
sharpness and pointedness. It reads: and naïveté, perhaps—which sets them apart from "real men." What
interests us here is not the precise explanation of this textual
Quand la faux luisante de leurs ailes grandit et s'affûta, affirmation, but rather the supplementary graphemic signal it provides
elles disparurent à toute heure dans le haut du ciel
us. The signal in question (the repeated diaeresis in the words "faïence"
printanier, mais un seul appel aigu: "Petî-î-î-tes"'! les
and "naïf") links Sylvestre to the implicit category of
84 Understanding French Poetry Visual Signals in Poetry 85
earthenware innocents represented by the Virgin. Both Sylvestre and particular, and readers of poetry in general, is the possible existence of
the Virgin, being "naif," thus lie at the other end of the human a whole new level of reading, one for which a future computer-aided
paradigm represented by the rough and experienced sailors. Indeed, as study might prove useful.11 This whole new level of reading has already
soon as we meet Sylvestre, in the beginning scene of the book, the been explored in much concrete poetry of the twentieth century, where
graphic specificity of his characterization merely reinforces the poets have deliberately used the pictorialist or visual dimension of their
metaphoric relationship already established between him and the texts to draw images, as it were, right on the page.
Virgin. For the last and possibly most important physical detail which What this essay indicates, however, is that before French poets
the text attributes to this boy, pertains to his eyes, which are began thinking consciously of such possibilities many earlier poets
"extrêmement doux et tout naïfs" (9, my emphasis). With one notable already seem to have exploited the purely graphemic side of literary
exception, the word "naïf" recurs only in contexts where we find either style without necessarily realizing it themselves.12 Perhaps the best way
the Virgin or Sylvestre. to close the present study is thus to invite the quasi-maniacal, neo-
The exception itself, however, is quite telling. Throughout the formalist readers within our critical ranks to begin searching for even
novel, Sylvestre's best friend, Yann, figures prominently amongst this more evidence of similar visual signals. I am convinced that there are
group of unmannered salty sailors, and never really has anything in far more of them in (French) poems than have readily met our eyes.
common with his younger, simpler friend. When he finally resigns
himself at the end to marrying Sylvestre's cousin, Gaud, a significant
change occurs in his personality. At the time of their courtship, Yann
suddenly acts like a gentleman, and tames his otherwise wild ways. At
the same moment, our iconicjeature, the diaeresis, coincidentally
reappears in the text, as if out of nowhere. In response to Gaud's ENDNOTES
question concerning the reasons for Yann's continual refusal of their
marriage, Yann assures her that it was not for lack of money that he
refused her hand until then. His simple response, "Oh! non, pas cela" 1. Roland Barthes, Mythologies (Paris: Seuil, 1957), p. 10.
(197), is immediately followed by this intervention on the part of the
2. Michael Riffaterre, "Describing Poetic Structures: Two
narrator: "Il fit cette réponse avec une si naïve sûreté de lui-même, que approaches to Baudelaire's 'Les chats'" in Structuralism, ed. Jacques
Gaud en fut amusée" (197, my emphasis). For one brief moment, Yann Ehrmann (New York: Anchor Books, 1970), pp. 188-229.
thus resembles his friend, Sylvestre, as well as the Virgin Mary, thanks
3. See David Scott, Pictorialist Poetics: Poetry and the Visual Arts in
to his self-transformation into an innocent and devoted lover. Nineteenth-Century France (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
To conclude, I must recall one final time that the iconic features 1988), my Repetition and Semiotics: Interpreting Prose Poems (Birmingham:
brought to our attention by the visual signals analyzed here are nothing Summa Publications, 1986), especially chapter four, and my "Graphemic
more (or less) than supplementary aspects of a text's style. In no case Gymnastics in Surrealist Literature," Romanic Review 81 (March 1990):
can they be said to be more "important" to a stylistic analysis than 211-224 for many more examples.
other traditional aspects. Yet it is equally true that on the 4. Charles Sanders Peirce, Collected Papers, ed. Charles Hartshorne
epistemological ground of repetition, they are no less pertinent than and Paul Weiss (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1931), Vol. 2., p.
those found in more conventional scholarship either. In essence, what 274.
they indicate to literary theorists in 5. Umberto Eco, A Theory of Semiotics (Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 1976), pp. 195-217.
86 Understanding French Poetry

6. Jacques Derrida, L'Ecriture et la Différence (Paris: Seuil, 1967), p.

339.
7. Leconte de Lisle, Poèmes barbares (Paris: Gallimard, 1985), p.
183.
8. Francis Ponge, Philippe Sollers, Entretiens de Francis Ponge avec
Philippe Sollers (Paris: Seuil, 1970), pp. 111-112.
9. Colette, La Maison de Claudine (Paris: Hachette, 1960), p. 53.
10. Pierre Loti, Le Pêcheur d'Islande (Paris: Calmann-Lévy, 1984).
All page references are to this edition and are included in my text.
11. An example of just such computer-assisted research is to be
found in Carrol Coates's essay on Rimbaud contained in this volume.
12. In his Pictorialist Poetics, David Scott has done even more of the
groundwork for an exploration of similar features found elsewhere in
nineteenth-century French poetry. His book, published around the same
time as I published some of the examples used in this essay, documents
many analogous phenomena. It provides an indispensable historical
survey of the whole issue of visual experiments in modern French
poetry, and is the logical starting point for all further studies.