Poetic Syntax: Meaning@Structure

Abstract

Poetry is recognizable to readers for its use of certain effects achieved through linguistic “manipulation.” In most cases, especially in the case of contemporary poetry, these effects are obtained not through particular word choices or striking literary devices, but through specific syntactic constructions. This paper will focus on poetic syntax by viewing it as the “bone” that holds meaning in poetry. It will not be simply an attempt to revisit poetic syntax, but a demonstration of the importance syntax, as representative of the grammatical structure of poetry, has on meaning. Most poetic effects are achieved through the use of certain syntactic structures. Examples of attempts to undo the original syntactic structures of some poems and adjust them to new syntactic structures will be brought here to suggest that a change in syntactic structure brings about a change of meaning.