Saturday, February 16th, 2008...9:11 pm

2.5 She being Brand

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2 Semiotics

2.5 She being Brand

This is a recording, by the actor John Sterland, of e e cummings’ poem which you studied in Section 2.2.

You should allow 0 hour(s), 30 minute(s).

Click below to Listen to the reading of this poem and note the tension between the way it is read and the way it is laid out and punctuated on the page. Does listening to the reading while you look at the poem enhance your appreciation of the artistic effects?

Listen in separate playerClick play to start.

View transcript


Now read the answer

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Your reaction will, of course, be personal to you. For me, hearing the poem read aloud whilst trying to follow it on the page was quite a shock. It certainly underlined the way the layout and punctuation makes the poem ‘strange’ in Formalist terms. It made me think more carefully about the way the language works and the effect on the meaning of the punctuation and line breaks.

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