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The Art of Form and Content Alignment

Explore how form and content intertwine to create meaningful text, from medieval poetry to modern literature. Discover the impact of matching or mismatching form with content in writing. Learn how to construct compelling narratives through proper alignment of form and content.

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The Art of Form and Content Alignment

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  1. Form / Content

  2. Form / Content • all content has a form – they are inseparable • and of course the form shapes the content

  3. Form / Content • all content has a form – they are inseparable • and of course the form shapes the content • BUT content also shapes form: • we use pitchers or glasses for water because plates don’t work

  4. Form / Content • Love songs – the same content the world over and across time: • you are awesome, handsome, pretty, smart, funny, made for me, me for you, two halves of a whole, blah-blah-blah • I really dig you and we should be together forEVER, m’kay? • but the forms change

  5. Form / Content • from Medieval love lyrics For I love you so much, truly, that one could sooner dry up the deep sea and hold back its waves than I could constrain myself from loving you … and so on…

  6. Form / Content • to today: • I belong with you You belong with me You’re my Sweetheart… and so on…

  7. Form / Content • When form and content match, you get something good • When form and content don’t match, well …

  8. Form / Content • When form and content match, you get something good • When form and content don’t match, well … • Good Match: • AWKWARD – this word is awkward this is an auk (nothing to do with awkward)

  9. Form / Content • When form and content match, you get something good • When form and content don’t match, well … • Bad Match: • PULCHRITUDINOUS • this word is not pulchritudinous

  10. Pulchritudinous

  11. Pulchritudinous

  12. Pulchritudinous

  13. “The Platonic Blow”W. H. Auden (1965)

  14. Plato • Greek philosopher 427-347BCE • homosexuality = Greek love • Platonic as adjective = without lust or desire • Platonic Forms, ideals, perfection • Platonic brings us closer to The Good

  15. “The Platonic Blow” • content? • Formal Qualities • word choice – how do the words sound? what do they evoke? • tone – clinical, passionate, detached, breathless? • rhythm – fast, slow, variable, staccato, sustained? • sentence length – short, long, variable, …? • punctuation, syntax – lots of full-stops, or flow? • how is the reader addressed/situated? • do the form and content work effectively together or are they disjunctive?

  16. from Macho Sluts: “A Dash of Vanilla”Pat(rick) Califia (1989) • possibly the best title of all time • what is the content?

  17. from Macho Sluts: “A Dash of Vanilla”Pat(rick) Califia (1989) • mouth, eating, oral

  18. from Macho Sluts: “A Dash of Vanilla”Pat(rick) Califia (1989) • mouth, eating, oral

  19. from Macho Sluts: “A Dash of Vanilla”Pat(rick) Califia (1989) • Formal Qualities? • Point of View/Perspective • Where is the reader in all this? • voyeur • participant • subject? • object? • both? ~~~

  20. from Macho Sluts: “A Dash of Vanilla”Pat(rick) Califia (1989) • Put differently, How does this piece construct its reader?

  21. from Macho Sluts: “A Dash of Vanilla”Pat(rick) Califia (1989) • and, How does it construct its narrator?

  22. “Figs”D. H. Lawrence (1920)

  23. “Figs”D. H. Lawrence (1920) • Biblical precedent (sin, Fall, sex, lust, unnatural conduct) • Eve covers her “shame” with a fig leaf, so the fig is the fruit on the branch

  24. “Figs”D. H. Lawrence (1920) • fruit • fecundity • nature – remember Roman de la Rose? • women/fruit/vagina/womb • orality, tongue, penetration, juicy, pleasure

  25. “The Flea”John Donne (1670) Sexy, right?

  26. “The Flea”John Donne (1670) • blood, bodily fluids shared • intermingling of them brings shame, loss of honour • blood = honour, lineage, quality of person • blood = life, vitality, force, potency • also shedding of blood as deflowering • double trick: • the flea hasn’t really taken our vitality – symbolic only • same goes for honour, then – symbolic only

  27. “The Flea”John Donne (1670) • Formal Qualities • word choice – how do the words sound? do they rhyme? what do they evoke? • assonance, alliteration, sibilance, onomatopoeia, euphonia, cacophany • tone – clinical, passionate, detached, breathless? • rhythm – fast, slow, variable, staccato, sustained? • sentence length – short, long, variable, …? • punctuation, syntax – lots of full-stops, or flow? • how is the reader constructed? speaker? listener? • do the form and content work effectively together or are they disjunctive?

  28. “The Flea”John Donne (1670) IS IT EROTIC?

  29. Goblin MarketChristina Rosetti (1859) • Victorian era – 1835-1901 • strait-laced, reserved, prudish • childhood, the unconscious, imagination, dreams • What is the content?

  30. Goblin MarketChristina Rosetti (1859) • sublimation | repression | displacement • FREUD! cigar  (no, really)

  31. Goblin MarketChristina Rossetti (1859) • YOUR MISSION: • pair up and choose 5 line passage (5 mins) • individually identify THREE formal elements (5 mins) • pair up and consolidate (5 mins) • we’ll discuss and relate to content • blushing, awkward laughing, etc. to follow…

  32. Next Week: • Smooth Bits, Foldy Bits, Hairy Bits • Readings: • “Creamy Breasts” • “The Penis” • “The Female Genitals” • from Les Guerillères • from Amores • “Obscur et Froncé” • Humour – “Anglo-Saxon Riddle”

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