Taking a look at Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes’ poem, its
important to read the page of reasoning and description Richter places in front
of it. First, the paragraph where Richter explains a method to his art, one in
which he painted at twilight, so that the colors were almost indistinguishable,
yet he goes on to mention that there was a consciousness to his hands choice of
color, as the color appeared on the canvas. This idea, of almost random action
actually being specific and willed is an interesting concept of the Dadaist
poetry we’ve read. Take for example Richter’s
excerpts of abstract poetry, “gadji beri bimba glandridi laula lonni cadori…” At first it makes no sense. Then it continues
to make no sense. The takeaway from this poetry is not dependent on sense at
all. It is a rhythmic verse that comes together, perhaps it sounds like another
language. It brings to mind being lost in translation. It’s like hearing a tape
in Chinese, a language you hypothetically have no knowledge of, and simply
listening, reading, letting the sound and visual of the text affect you.
Perhaps you catch a rhyme, a particularly nice sounding line, and then you
enjoy it, you think on it after, all without understanding a thing.
Looking
at the Dadaist poetry, specifically Ribemont- Dessaignes’, its necessary to
keep this feeling of rhythmic enjoyment in mind. Despite the use of real
language, or words that we understand, a reader may not be able to understand
the dramatic situation in the poem, or even the entire poem. But like Richter
explained in his thoughts on his painting in the twilight, there is a sense of
directed choice in the poem.
“He
placed his hat upon the ground and filled it up with earth.
Then, with his fingers, he sowed a tear in it.”
This
set of lines is complex; it brings to question why the man would do such a
thing, why he would sow a tear in his hat that has just been filled with earth.
Despite the lack of understanding on the why, the poem means something; it does
something for the purpose of poetry. It has been willed to be this way by
chance. Like a hodgepodge of reason that clicks. The rest of the poem is the
same, it follows the leaps in logic, and addresses the strange as normal. It
does this because of the idea of art willed into being through the route of
chance. Richter emphasizes on the idea of chance not being random for Dadaists,
rather, it is a subconscious creation of what we have said chance is
responsible for. Chance is directed according to Richter, and the poems
mentioned have purpose despite nonsense language or even nonsense subjects.
In the above work, Hernandez makes fully explains why a piece of poetry may make no sense but still have meaning and a sense of purpose. She first starts by describing Richter’s methods to his art and I think she hits the explanation right on the head. She claims that even though he paints at twilight “so that the colors [are] …indistinguishable,” he still claims that there is “a consciousness to his hands” and the colors he’s using. This reflects Dadaism so well because many Dada artists were memorized by chance and how chance affected their art. Richter notices that even though his purpose is to be random with his art, chance still plays a role in what color his hands choose first and where the color lands on the canvas. This can also tie into surrealism because chance can be looked at as a distortion of reality in the sense that everyone thinks that most things in life are predetermined. Hernandez mentions one of Richter’s points when she starts to talk about one of his nonsense language poems. She says, “Richter emphasizes on the idea of chance not being random for Dadaists, rather, it is a subconscious creation of what we have said chance is responsible for.” which means that their was some thought put into that gibberish poem whether Richter thought so as he was writing it. Basically, Hernandez and Richter are hinting at the idea that chance has to derive from something or someone and that nothing is this world is truly up to chance.
ReplyDeleteHernandez spoke on the flow of the poem adding a certain beauty in itself. I really enjoyed that before describing the excerpt, Hernandez gave a background of poem which really helped and added to the analysis. I love that Richter differentiates between chance and being random. We tend to mix up the two when they are really just trying their hardest to live the experience and letting go. Sometimes living in rhyme and rhythm is apart of the spiritual experience. For example, old hymns, all seem to sound alike but all convey different meanings. In this poem, the meaning of sewing up a hat does not seem to make sense with the idea of dirt. Yet, with rhythm, the beauty was still conveyed.
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