Presentation*to*the*Cambridge*Prosody*Research*Group*

24*January*2007!
!
Introduction*to*Henri*Meschonnic**For*a*Poetics*of*Rhythm!
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(N.B.%The%handout%mentioned%in%this%talk%has%not%been%reproduceable%on%the%blog.%Otherwise%have%kept%this%
presentation%in%its%original%format)!
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1.*Henri*Meschonnic!
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Born!in!France!in!1932!into!an!migr!Jewish!family!from!Russia,!Henri!Meschonnic!is!Emeritus!Professor!
of! Linguistics! at! the! University! of! Paris! VIII,! Vincennes.! His! intellectual! development! came! out! of! the!
debates!in!France!in!the!1960s!and!70s!concerning!literary!theory!as!it!was!renovated!by!the!reMdiscovery!
of!the!Russian!Formalists,!and!in!the!context!of!New!Critical!and!Structuralist!literary!theory.!While!many!
of!the!key!players!in!those!debates!later!turned!away!from!an!attempt!to!develop!a!theory!of!literature!
(Todorov!towards!ethics,!for!example,!and!Kristeva!towards!psychoanalysis).!Meschonnic!has!continued!
to!make!poetics!and!the!theory!of!literature!the!point!of!departure!for!all!his!later!thinking.!
!
In!addition!to!his!career!as!a!professional!linguist!(including!the!compilation!of!a!number!of!dictionaries!
and!scholarly!works!on!the!French!language),!Meschonnic!is!a!renowned!translator!of!the!Old!Testament!
(from!which!work,!early!in!his!career,!he!developed!his!theory!of!rhythm),!as!well!as!being!a!prolific!poet!
and!essayist.!He!is!a!regular!contributor!to!the!Forom%des%langues%du%monde,!which!has!been!held!annually!
in!Toulouse!since!1993.!
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2.*The*areas*of*Meschonnics*work!
!
It!seems!to!me!that,!for!the!purposes!of!a!general!introduction!to!his!work!and!ideas,!it!would!be!useful!to!
consider!his!oeuvre!in!two!distinct!ways:!in!terms!of!the!discrete!areas!of!his!work;!and!then!in!terms!of!
the! theoretical! thinking! that! unites! them! in! one! body,! Meschonnics! lifeMwork;! a! term! that! is! very!
important!to!him,!not!least!because!he!begins!with!all!the!strands!already!together!at!the!beginning!of!the!
1970s.!
!
1.!Linguist:!Meschonnic!was!employed!at!Paris!VIII!as!a!professional!linguist!and!spent!a!great!deal!of!his!
time!working!as!a!complier!of!dictionaries!and!as!a!scholar!of!the!French!language!and!its!study.!His!first!
publication,! as! coMeditor,! the! Dictionnaire% du% franais% contemporain! (A! Dictionary! of! Contemporary!
French)! from! 1967,! belongs! to! this! work,! for! example.! Given! the! interMdisciplinary! nature! of! almost!
everything! else! he! has! done! this! might! seem! strange,! but! he! has! used! his! academic! position! as! a!
springboard!for!a!radical!critique!of!linguistics!basis!in!structuralism.!It!might!also!be!worth!mentioning!
something!about!Meschonnics!work!habits!here.!He!was!famous!for!his!seminars!in!which!he!developed!
ideas!with!students!and!collaborators,!often!leading!to!collective!publication.!His! Critique%de%la%thorie%
critique,%Langage%et%histoire!(Critique!of!Critical!Theory:!Language!and!History),!for!example,!is!a!work!that!
has!its!origins!in!this!seminar.!A!significant!feature!of!the!working!methods!in!his!seminar!was!his!soMcalled!
Talmudic!method,!and!the!connexion!that!this!has!with!his!theory!of!rhythm!as!it!has!been!developed!
through!his!own!conceptualisation!of!the!Mikra.!Much!of!this!work!is!still!to!be!published,!including!an!
extensive!critique!of!Foucault.!
!

2.!Poetician:!I!have!anglicised!the!French!term!here,!because!it!is!very!important!for!Meschonnic!that!the!
kind!of!thinking!that!he!is!engaged!in!is!a!pome!or!passion%de%la%pense,!that!is,!a!specific!kind!of!thinking!
related! to! the! activity! that! is! unique! to! each! poem! and! each! situation,! and! whose! most! obvious!
characteristic!is!the!continuous!movement!of!signifiance![see!below]!constructed!by!the!historical!activity!
of!the!subject!(Gabriella!Bedetti,!Henri!Meschonic:!Rhythm!as!Pure!Historicity!New%Literary%History,!23,!
2! (Spring,! 1992),! p.431,! pp.431M450).! As! we! will! see,! this! means! that! it! is! not! possible! to! make! a! clear!
distinction! between! his! work! as! theoretician! and! poet.! I! will! deal! with! most! of! the! specific! terms! he!
employs!in!a!little!while,!but!here!I!should!define!briefly!at!least!one!of!his!master!terms:!critique.!For!
Meschonnic,!critique!is!the!historicity!of!theory!(see!CR),!and!as!such!it!is!both!inherently!a!critique!of!the!
sign,!which!is!in!turn!a!critique!of!what!he!calls,!after!Horkheimer,!traditional%theory.!Critique,!then,!is!what!
refuses!mastery,!the!status!quo,!and!the!maintenance!of!order;!it!is!that!which!constitutes!an!adventure!
into!the!unknown,!the!unfinished,!the!unreachable,!and!therefore!a!movement!towards!knowledge,!rather!
than!the!description!of!a!knowledge.!Also!of!significance!here!is!the!insistence!with!which!Meschonnic!
distinguishes! critique! from! polemic.! For! him! polemic! is! the! practice! that! stems! from! the! Sophists! (and!
Socrates,! interestingly),! an! attempt! to! silence! or! subdue! an! opponent,! rather! than! the! opening! up! to!
thought!that!critique!implies,!and!which!his!Talmudic!seminar,!in!particular,!embodies.!
!
3.! Translator:! Meschonnics! first! volume! of! Biblical! translations,! Les% Cinq% Rouleaux! (The! Five! Scrolls! !
comprising!The!Song!of!Solomon,!Ruth,!Lamentations,!Proverbs!and!Esther)!came!out!the!same!year!as!his!
first!work!of!poetics,!Pour%la%potique,%essai!(For!Poetics),!1970.!While!he!kept!producing!new!volumes!of!
poetics!throughout!the!1970s,!almost!no!new!Biblical!translations!came!out!for!several!decades,!except!
for! the! very! small! Jona% et% le% signifiant% errant! (Jonah! and! the! Wandering! Signifier! ! which! includes! a!
translation!of!Jonah),!published!in!1981.!However,!since!2001!Meschonnic!has!published!a!further!four!
volumes!of!translations!(The!Psalms,!Genesis,!Exodus!and!Leviticus).!Although!the!bulk!of!this!work!is!late!
in!coming!within!the!scheme!of!Meschonnics!career,!it!was!the!experience!of!this!early!translation!work!
on!Les%Cinq%Rouleaux!which!provided!the!real!basis!of!his!later!work!on!the!theory!of!rhythm.!More!on!that!
in!a!bit.!
!
4.!Poet:!As!we!have!already!seen,!Meschonnic!insists!on!a!practicalMtheoretical!continuity!between!the!
activity! of! writing! poetry! and! theoretical! and! critical! thought,! which! is! not! to! say! that! he! believes! that!
poets!should!dispense!with!theory!on!the!grounds!that!poetry!is!autonomous!and!selfMregulating.!On!the!
contrary,!Meschonnic!considers!this!attitude!to!constitute!a!false!metaphysics!of!poetry,!rather!than!what!
he! would! call! a! specific! epistemology! of! writing.! Poetics! begins! with! the! poem,! it! doesnt! end! there.!
Meschonnics!poetry!itself!aims!to!be!an!oral!poetics!in!the!sense!that!he!gives!this!term!(i.e.!neither!of!
the!order!of!the!textual!or!the!spoken,!but!at!the!site!where!these!two!are!inextricably!linked!in!textual!
and! performative! embodiment,! itself! a! form! of! critique! of! thought).! Ddicaces% Proverbes! (Dedications!
Proverbs),!his!first!collection!of!poems,!published!in!1972,!won!immediate!recognition!for!its!rejection!of!
some!of!the!formal!features!associated!with!Symbolism,!and!more!especially!for!its!use!of!oral!forms!of!
literature!including!proverbs,!fairy!tales!and!so!on.!Another!prizeMwinning!collection!was!Voyageurs%de%la%
voix!(Voyagers!of!the!Voice),!1986,!which,!as!the!title!suggests,!relates!to!Meschonnics!conviction!that!
epic,!with!its!close!etymological!connexion!to!voice,!is!present!in!all!genuine!poetry!as!its!fundamental!
historicity;!and!which!also!suggests!the!fundamental!relation!of!the!subject!in!the!poem!to!history!and!to!
society!in!an!ongoing!adventure!into!the!unknown.!Indeed!his!general!critique!of!all!European!poetry!in!
the!last!150!years!is!partly!what!he!considers!to!be!its!bias!towards!the!lyrical,!a!tendency!he!traces!to!the!
Romantic!confusion!of!the!subject!with!the!individual.!
!
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3.*Key*Critical*Ideas!

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Discourse%and%Poetics!
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Meschonnic!has!pioneered!a!critique!of!what!he!calls!the!theory!of!the!sign!(more!narrowly,!structuralist!
theory),!which!he!claims!imposes!a!form!of!universalism!or!false!totality,!which!via!the!dualisms!(formM
content,! natureMculture,! wordMthing,! etc.,! all! on! the! model! of! signifierOsignified)! of! traditional! theory,!
which!he!uses!in!the!sense!given!the!term!by!Horkheimer,!prevents!the!emergence!of!the!new,!or!the!
utopian,!in!favour!of!the!status!quo!and!the!maintenance!of!order.!
!
Implicit! in! this! critique! is! a! theory! of! literature! and! a! theory! of! value.! A! literary! value! or! element! is!
constituted! in! the! role! it! plays! as! a! unit! of! the! system! of! a! literary! work,! to% the% extent% that% the% work%
constitutes%itself%through%certain%differences.%These%differences%may%relate%to%phonemes,%words,%characters,%
objects,%places,%scenes,%etc.%There%is%no%value%in%the%pure%sense,%but%only%in%the%interior%of%a%system!(PPI,!
275M6).!Hence,!Meshonnic!moves!from!a!consideration!of!langue!(grammar!and!linguistics!as!they!have!
been!constituted)!in!favour!of!a!consideration!of!discours,!where!language!is!continually!being!created!
anew!within!each!and!every!subject!of!discourse,!what!he!calls!the!sujet%dnonciation!to!distinguish!it!
from!other!kinds!of!subjects.!
!
Poetry!is!essential!to!this!critique!of!the!sign,!because!it!has!always!been!its!weak!point.!It!is!the!weak!link!
in! traditional! theory! because! it! is! the! form! of! discourse! where! it! is! most! difficult! to! disguise! what!
Meschonnic! calls! the! signifiant! (what! might! otherwise! be! called! the! signifier)! by! reducing! it! to! the!
formality!of!the!dual!pair!signOsense.!In!other!words,!poetry!is!the!form!of!discourse!in!which!the!subject!
of! that! discourse! is! most! obviously! in! play.! Poetry! is! the! most! embodied! form! of! language,! and! hence!
maintains!the!trace!of!the!body!in!its!orality,!its!rhythm,!and!its!historicity.!
!
Historicity%and%the%Subject!
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That!which!makes!the!new!come!into!being!as!individuation!is!just!this!subject.!The!subject!is!radically!
historicised!(in!Meschonnics!sense,!being!both!historical!and!transMhistorical,!both!subject!to!the!shaping!
discourses! of! the! social,! and! the! very! medium! in! which! those! discourses! are! shaped);! so,! while!
Meschonnics! position! might! be! likened! to! some! poststructuralist! positions,! he! goes! much! further! in!
arguing!that!the!dialectic!between!the!social!and!the!individual!operates!fully!in!both!directions,!and!in!
such!a!way!that!it!can!never!be!resolved.!Equally,!historicity!doesnt!mean!either!the!absolute!break!with!
the! past,! implied! in! many! conceptions! of! the! contemporary,! nor! the! pale! historicism! that! would! make!
everything! simply! a! product! of! its! time.! Historicity,! is! properly! speaking,! then,! the! form! of! interaction!
between!a!subject!and!its!situation!(another!important!term!for!Meschonnics!theory!of!literature).!
!
Prosody%and%Signifiance!
!
In! the! restricted! sense! prosody! describes! the! suprasegmental! melody! created! by! the! alternation! of!
syllables,!but!which!is!also!inclusive!of!accent,!intonation!and!other!phonetic!features.!
!
However,! in! a! wider,! or! more! general,! sense,! prosody,! for! Meschonnic,! is! the! consonantalMvocalic!
organisation!of!language!by!means!of!an!internal!system!of!similarities!and!differences!(values).!Thus!it!is!
not!to!be!confused!with!metrics,!which!is!the!study!of!what!can!be!measured!and!repeated!in!language!
(e.g.! numbers! of! syllables,! accents,! etc.),! although! clearly! prosody! and! metre! interact! in! that! metre!
constitutes!a!possible!constituent!of!prosody.!
!

Signifiance,!which!he!prefers!in!the!form!of!this!neologism!in!English,!is!for!Meschonnic!opposed!to!the!
still!dualistic!theories!of!thinkers!such!as!Riffaterre!and!Kristeva.!Instead!of!thinking!of!the!signifier!as!a!
material!carrier!of!meaning,!signifiance!is!the!activity!of!meaning!coming!into!being!itself;!it!is!related!
then!to!the!present!participle!of!the!verb!to!signify.!Signifiance!is!inherently!multiple!and!unfinished,!and!
constitutes!the!activity!of!the!subject!in!the!production!of!discourse.!Signifiance,!then,!is!neither!meaning!
nor! significance! in! the! usual! sense,! however,! but! rather! the% specific% production% of% elements% that%
contribute%to%both%meaning%and%signification%without%their%knowing%it,%for%the%sign%does%not%take%them%into%
account.%These%elements%are%the%semantics%of%rhythm%and%of%prosody,%their%paradigms.%They%include%pausal%
or%positional%effects,%or%conflicts%between%syntax%and%meter!(In!'Interview:!Henri!Meschonnic',!p.!106)!The!
theory!of!rhythm!(see!below)!is!intended!to!demonstrate!how!these!apparently!different!levels!of!language!
interact!to!produce!discourse.!
!
The%Theory%of%Rhythm!
!
There!are!two!essential!strands!to!Meschonnics!theory!of!rhythm.!On!the!one!hand!he!experienced!a!
basic!theoretical!problem!in!his!first!Biblical!translations!(Les%Cinq%Rouleaux);!how!to!translate!a!text!that!
is!neither!prose!nor!verse,!but!which!is!clearly!rhythmically!marked?!His!solution!was!to!translate!the!text!
along!the!structure!of!the!cantillation!marks!in!the!original!Hebrew!texts,!and!so!lay!bare!the!performative!
aspects!of!this!text,!what!he!calls!the!Mikra,!which!is!usually!referred!to!as!the!Tanakh,!the!threeMpart!
division!of!the!Hebrew!Bible!into!the!Torah,!the!Neviim!and!the!Ketuvim.!The!Mikra!is!the!name!for!the!
Tanakh!insofar!as!it!represents!the!act!of!reading!the!texts!collectively!in!the!Rabbinical!schools.!Unlike!its!
Latin! equivalent! scriptus! (that! which! is! written),! the! Mikra% makes! no! distinction! between! writing! and!
performing,!the!written,!and!the!oral.!One!element!of!Meschonnics!theory!of!rhythm!is!the!attempt!to!
theorise!this!textual!condition,!a!conceptualisation!of!textuality!that!refuses!the!occidental!dualism!of!the!
written!and!the!spoken,!by!introducing!a!third!term,!the!oral,!which!is!the!bodily,!rhythmic,!element!in!
writing!(une%parole%criture).!
!
The!second!strand!of!Meschonnics!theory!comes!from!his!reading!of!Emile!Benvenistes!essay!The!Notion!
of!"Rhythm"!in!its!Linguistic!Expression!in!his!Problems%in%General%Linguistics.!In!that!essay!Benveniste!
uncovers!the!falsity!of!commonplace!theories!of!rhythm!that!derive!its!meaning!from!a!Greek!verb!!
(to!flow)!that!gave!rise!to!the!abstract!noun!!on!the!model!of!the!repetitive!breaking!of!waves!
onto!the!shore.!On!the!contrary,!Benveniste!argued,!careful!textual!analysis!reveals!that!the!origin!of!the!
term!is!really!in!a!word!meaning!form%in%the%instant%that%it%is%assumed%by%what%is%moving,%mobile%and%fluid,%
the%form%of%that%which%does%not%have%organic%consistency;%it%fits%the%pattern%of%a%fluid%element,%of%a%letter%
arbitrarily%shaped,%of%a%robe%which%one%arranges%at%ones%will,%of%a%particular%state%of%character%or%mood.%It%
is%the%form%as%improvised,%momentary,%changeable!(Benveniste,!Problems%in%General%Linguistics,!trans.!
Mary!Elizabeth!Meek!(UMP:!Coral!Gables,!1971),!pp.285M6).!Meschonnic!takes!up!this!idea!and!extends!its!
significance!to!a!major!critique!of!all!theories!of!the!sign!as!the!basis!for!a!science!of!language!in!favour!of!
a! theory! of! discourse.! Meschonnic! thus! defines! rhythm! as! that! which! governs! meaning! as! the!
continuous!movement!of! signifiance!constructed!by!the!historical!activity!of!a!subject.!And!rhythm%in%
language% [is]% the% organization% of% marks% by% which% linguistic% signifieds% (especially% in% the% case% of% oral%
communication)%produce%a%special%semantic%meaning;%signifiance,%which%is%to%say%the%values%proper%to%a%
discourse%and%only%one!(Critique%du%rythme,!p.!216).!
!
A! clear! problem! here! is! how! to! develop! a! system! of! reading! texts! that! demonstrates! this! essential!
individuation!in!all!language,!and!especially!in!poetry.!I!will!discuss!Meschonnics!system!of!scansion!very!
briefly!below.!
!

The%Poetics%and%Politics%of%Translation!
!
Meschonnic!believes!that!translation,!and!in!particular,!the!translation!of!the!Bible,!provides!a!very!subtle!
register!of!the!degree!to!which!the!theory!of!the!sign!is!trapped!in!the!ideology!of!traditional!theory.!On!
the!one!hand!he!describes!the!Jews!as!having!a!very!special!relation!in!the!history!of!Europe,!because!of!
their!function!as!the!Chosen!People!of!the!Old%Testament.!Just!as!Christianity!reduces!the!Old%Testament,!
as!prophecy,!to!a!sign,!or!signifier,!of!the!New%Covenant!(and!hence!establishes!one!ideological!version!
of!the!history!of!the!sign),!so!the!Jew,!in!European!history,!is!aligned!with!the!poem,!as!this!ideologys!
weak!link.!The!poem,!then,!is!the!Jew%of%the%sign,!that!material,!embodied!existence!that!sticks!like!a!thorn!
into!the!side!of!ideology.!Just!as!historical!Christianity!has!failed!to!reduce!the!Jews!to!the!simple!condition!
of!metaphor,!so!the!poem!continues!to!survive!as!the!challenge!of!the!subject!and!history!to!the!status!
quo!and!the!maintenance!of!order.!
!
Ironically,! then,! Meschonnic! sees! his! Bible! translations! as! being! the! greatest! expression! of! what! is!
experimental!in!his!poetry!and!in!his!poetics,!in!particular!due!to!its!denial!of!the!dualisms!of!writtenO
spoken!and!proseOpoetry.!
!
!
4.*Meschonnics*system*of*scansion!
!
In! developing! his! system! of! scansion,! Meschonnic! has! sought! to! make! it! possible! to! describe! the!
multiplicity! of! performative! possibilities! in! texts.! Consequently,! unlike! in! most! traditional! systems! of!
scansion,! he! doesnt! so! much! provide! a! reading,! but! rather! a! method! able! to! account! for! all! possible!
readings!or!performances.!As!far!as!French!verse!is!concerned,!he!is!also!innovative!in!that!he!marks!both!
syllable!position!and!accent!together!in!the!same!system,!what!he!calls!a!rhythmic!as!well!as!a!metrical!
notation.!
!
When!Donald!Wesling!reviewed!Critique%du%rythme!for!Eidos:%The%International%Prosody%Bulletin!he!noted!
that!while!Meschonnic!had!demonstrated!the!need!for!a!critique!of!rhythm!he!hadnt!provided!a!method.!
The!lack!of!a!translation!of!Meschonnic!into!English!is!a!problem!here,!but!as!is!usual!for!Meschonnic,!
many! of! the! observations! in! the! book! came! out! of! his! extensive! twoMvolume! study! crire% Hugo,! which!
appeared!as!Pour%la%potique%IV!in!1976.!Here!he!pioneered!the!system!of!scansion!that!he!had!already!
used!to!great!effect!in!his!study!of!Baudelaires!Chant!dautomne!in!Une%parole%criture,%Pour%la%potique%
III,!1973.!
!
This!(see!handout)!example!of!scansion!from!a!single!line!of!Racine!comes!from!Critique%du%rythme!(pp.252M
3)!where!Meschonnic!critiques!an!existing!reading!by!Matila!Ghyka!as!essentially!an!artificial!and!fictional!
reading!of!metrical!feet:!
!
Lclat%de%mon%nom%mme%augmente%mon%supplice!
(The!honour!of!my!name!itself!intensifies!my!torment)!
!
Meschonnics!rhythmical!analysis,!on!the!other!hand!looks!like!this!
!
Lclat%de%mon%nom%mme%augmente%mon%supplice!
!
In!this!example!Meschonnic!overlays!Ghykas!quantitative!analysis!with!his!qualitative!rhythmic!analysis.!
He!doesnt!deny!the!quantitative!aspects!of!Racines!metrics!(just!as!he!accepts!the!existence!of!metricality!

in!much,!if!not!most!verse),!but!he!wishes!to!show!that!rhythmic!notation!can!be!a!far!more!productive!
and!even!empirical!form!of!methodology.!Meschonnic!no!longer!considers!French!verse!in!terms!of!a!fixed!
or! unfixed! number! of! syllables,! but! also! in! terms! of! a! hierarchy! of! accents! and!contrasts.! Over! a! short!
syllable!the!(/)!denotes!consonant!attack!and!alliteration,!whereas!the!same!mark!(/)!over!a!long!syllable!
denotes!the!fact!that!it!is!counteraccented:!(//)!therefore!denotes!a!subsequent!counteraccented!syllable!
and!so!on.!
!
In!the!example!there!is!no!measure!that!can!account!for!what!Meschonnic!calls!the!le%couplage%vocalique!
(vowel!couplings)!in!mon!and!nom!or!the!consonant!couplings!with!mme.!They!are!all!part!of!what!
Meschonnic!calls!a!paradigmatic!series.!Lclat!couples!l!and!supplice!s,!but!mon!supplice!is!marked!
three!times!because!this!second!appearance!on!mon!continues!the!sequence!found!in!mon!nom!mme.!
In!this!system!of!scansion!it!doesnt!matter!therefore!that!a!particular!series!are!necessarily!all!related!
together,!but!only!that!they!take!part!in!an!overall!system!or!network!that!operates!across!the!line!or!unit!
considered.!
!
Another!interesting!feature!of!this!scansion!is!the!double!marking!of!the!fifth!syllable!nom:!because!this!
occurs! just! before! the! caesura! it! creates! a! syntacticMmetrical! tension! that! produces! a! possible!
counteraccent!on!the!metrically!marked!sixth!syllable.!The!double!marking!is!intended!to!show!that!the!
fifth!syllable!can!be!read!as!accented!or!not!depending!on!the!manner!of!performance.!
!
So!far!all!but!the!third,!seventh!and!ninth!syllables!are!marked.!However,!the!third!and!ninth!are!related!
through!the!dentals!t!and!d,!and!the!seventh!by!the!form!of!liaison!that!places!the!initial!syllable!of!
augmente!between!an!m!at!the!end!of!the!syllable!that!continues!one!marked!series!and!a!g!that!forms!
an! echo! of! the! k! of! clat.! Consequently,! Meschonnics! method! of! reading! involves! an! organizationO
saturation!that!attempts!to!account!for!all!the!features!present!in!any!given!sequence.!
!
luards%La%vie%immdiate!
!
Although! there! is! not! really! the! time! available! here! it! would! have! been! very! useful! to! look! at! a! longer!
sequence!to!demonstrate!how!this!rhythmic!analysis!starts!to!interact!with!the!interpretation!of!texts!at!
higher! levels! of! structuration,! and! therefore! demonstrate! how! meaning! is! produced! by! rhythm! in!
Meschonnics!theory.!One!example!Meschonnic!gives!that!you!might!wish!to!follow!up!is!in!Une%parole%
criture! where! he! analyses! what! he! calls! the! formOsense! of! Paul! luards! collection! La! vie! immdiate!
(where!formMsense!implies!the!way!in!which!all!elements!in!the!collection!cohere!as!a!single!system!of!
writing).!The!aim!is!to!demonstrate!the!situation%of!the!writing!and!exactly!how!it!produces!meaning,!i.e.!
its!mode!or!manner!of!meaning.!In!other!words,!Meschonnic!wishes!to!show!the!historical!context!of!a!
writing,! but! also! the! way! that! it! is! transmitted! through! the! various! readings! or! receptions! that! it!
subsequently! enables.! To! read! luard! today! means! to! situate! his! work! and! the! man! as! a! writer,! and!
therefore!treating!his!work!as!a!whole!(see!his!analysis!of!Mallarm!for!example!in!Mallarm!auMdel!du!
silence),!and!not!just!selections.!Obviously!this!is!beyond!the!scope!of!todays!presentation.!
!
In!his!analysis!he!shows!how!rhetoric!and!even!grammar!itself!can!be!altered!and!deformed!by!the!work!
of!the!historical!subject!in!the!text.!So,!in!the!analysis!of!this!text!by!luard!he!shows!how!the!writing!
constitutes!a!correspondence,%a%system%of%relations%interior%to%the%work,%%meaning%given%by%forms,%and%
there%alone!(PPIII,!182).!Meschonnic!describes!the!syntax!of!the!work!and!then!the!functioning!of!nouns!
and!verbs!in!the!collection!as!a!whole,!before!finally!considering!its!prosody.!
!

So,!for!example,!at!the!level!of!book!the!collection!deals!with!love!lost!in!the!past!and!regained!in!the!
lived!present!through!a!new!love.!This!is!not!meant!to!be!a!biographical!description!of!a!real!individual,!
but! rather! that! lyrical! organisation! that! produces! a! double! structure! of! the! couple! even! in! the! texts!
syntax!and!rhythm.!
!
So,! parataxis,! coordination! and! nominal! forms,! for! instance,! dominate! the! writing! in! favour! of!
subordination!and!verbal!forms.!He!thus!delineates!a!poetry%of%the%verb!from!a!poetry%of%the%noun!in!a!
relation!of!active!tension!throughout!the!book.!The%verb%is%here%above%all%the%poem%in%prose,%the%union%of%
the% couple,% a% conjunctive% and% subjective% poetry.% The% noun% is% here% the% identification% of% existence% and%
possession,%the%present%lived%not%as%time,%but%rather%as%substance,%and%separation!(PPIII,!179).!Furthermore!
the%presence%of%noun%complements,%quantitatively%transposing%to%the%noun%that%which%should%pertain%to%
their% adjectival% epithets% % is% the% poetic% force% that% creates% a% poetry% of% dependence% and% of% possession,% a%
language% of% "ofOness"! (179)! Meschonnic! finds! in! the! collection! an! enduring! series! where! de! is!
transformed!into!tre!and!!into!a:!so!that,!for!instance,!lanterne%%tte%de%fourmi!(a!lamp!with!a!head!
like!an!ant)!becomes!la%lanterne%a%une%tte%de%fourmi!(the!lamp!with!an!ants!head),!or!la%neige%de%ses%
rires! (the! snow! of! her! laughter)! becomes! ses% rires% sont% de% la% neige! (her! laughter! is! of! snow),! thus!
conflating!existence!and!possession.!
!
From!this!analysis,!Meschonnic!draws!out!some!surprising!conclusions.!For!example,!that!in!these!love!
poems,!woman,!possession!and!the!past!are!all!linked!by!a!form!of!poetic!nomination!that!seeks!to!fix!
being! and! time! themselves! as! forms! of! possession.! Meschonnic! is! careful! to! distinguish! this! sort! of!
interpretation!from!any!kind!of!mimetic!reading!of!syntax!and!rhythm,!or!from!any!kind!of!structuralist!
production!of!polarities.!Instead,!his!reading!attempts!to!demonstrate!how!the!differences!in!the!writing!
are!produced!solely!by!an!internal!organisation!of!pluralities,!an!ensemble!of!interlinking!contradictions,!
that!in!this!case!is,!nevertheless!dominated!by!the!languageOsolitude!of!luards!poetry.!
!
I!am!aware!that!this!is!an!extremely!unsatisfactory!account!of!Meschonnics!interpretive!procedures,!but!
given!the!length!and!technical!complexity!of!most!of!the!examples!he!gives!(and!that!fact!that!he!tends!to!
look!at!large!bodies!of!work!all!together),!this!indication!of!where!else!to!look!is!perhaps!the!best!that!I!
can!do!for!now!by!way!of!an!introduction.!