In the passage “A Dice Throw” on page 180 and 181, Mallarme
uses both form and content in relation with one another. The passage is,
“EXCEPT
on high
PERHAPS
as far away as a
place merges beyond
outside
any interest
assigned
to it
in
a general way
by certain obliquity in
a certain declivity
of
flames
toward
what
must be
Septentrion as well as North”
This passage demonstrates the relationship between the form
and content because the positioning of the words give them a better
three-dimensional sensation. By placing the word “high” at the very top of the
page and capitalizing “perhaps,” Mallarme creates the feeling of being elevated
and placing an emphasis on the possibility. The capitalization of this word
also brought to mind an image of someone who dawns on an idea, lifts up his or
her finger and suddenly says “perhaps…” which in my opinion, allows for greater
connections between the author, the passage and the reader. Another example of
this relationship was in the phrase “outside any interest” which happened to be
close to outside of the range of the rest of the poem. There is a feeling of
disconnection and later which may relate back to the feeling of separation when
in the ocean. Feeling further away from reality is something that can be
experienced in the midst of the ocean, especially when thinking about being in
an abyss.
I looked up also the definition of
Septentrion and found it was a Latin word for “of the North.” What was more
significant to me was that when I read the word “toward,” I felt that the
passage had been guiding me all along, to what eventually would be north. Meaning
in this passage did not come from one particular way of reading. When I first
read it, I had almost no idea what I was reading or how it was supposed to be
read. But after rereading it, and listening to it in class, I was able to
further examine the structure of the passage and use it’s movement and content
to guide me to a clearer understanding of what Mallarme may have intended to
say.
I am really interested in some of the observations you wrote about regarding Mallarme’s piece. First off, I never really thought about the form being three-dimensional and now that I have read your post, it does seem very appropriate to describe it that way. When I read this poem, I focused more on the placing of the words on the page and not necessarily as close on the capitalizing and italicizing of the words themselves. I think that your observation of the capitalization is highly important because this technique definitely enhances the meaning of the passage and more importantly the relationship between form and meaning. I think your thoughts about the ocean are very true and I reading your blog post had me thinking about the ocean as a whole and how it could relate to the poem even more so. The ocean has waves and a current, which sometimes can be strong. The words on the page could be a representation of the strong current of the ocean that just pushes them on the page in a certain order. Although this does sound like a random process, and the process Mallarme went through to place the words on the page, in my opinion, is anything but random. That being said, I do still think the words and their positions on the page have something to do with the ocean and its overall theme. It is so important to hear different interpretations from people especially with a work as non-traditional as this.
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