Module 2: TEXT AS SOUND

Introduction

Every poem is, in some way, a form of song. Even when we conceive it for reading aloud or as written text, it will reach the reader as a form of sound, with a voice and a cadence. There are many resources that enhance the sonic quality of a poem, such as alliteration, repetition, meter, or rhyme, as well as their variations and adaptations in the more widespread free-verse poetry of our time.

When we encounter the barrier of language—that is, when presenting work to audiences who do not know or do not master the language in which we are performing—the sonic dimension of the text becomes central to conveying emotion, importance, or content.

As a way of understanding the whole, we will analyze parts or components of the text as an auditory experience and study examples of artists who make these aspects visible.

Aspects of the poem as sound

Rhythm

Poetry is the oldest of literary genres. And in its origins, it was an oral practice. Hence the tradition of rhyme has been so prevalent for so long.

Rhyme, in poetry and song, serves several functions in poetic communication. It is at the foundation of the musicality of the text. It helps the performer memorize the words and therefore also helps the audience remember them. Rhyme is a major creator of aphorisms and popular sayings that endure over time.

It can be considered a limiting factor for expressive freedom. However, it also gives rise to highly imaginative and original formulations; in the search for adapting ideas to the form, syntax is broken, grammatical rules are bent, and vocabulary outside everyday language is used.

Today, rhyme as such, precise meter, and traditional structures are techniques used almost exclusively in song. But its legacy survives in many contemporary poetic texts as a form of rhythm or cadence that organizes lines. This practice fulfills the double and paradoxical function of dividing the text (breathing) and unifying it (continuity).

Fast Speaking Woman, Anne Waldman, on the album John Giorno & Anne Waldman, 1977
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je6Xy4rjpn0

Although this classic of oral poetry deserves a much deeper and more extensive analysis, we are interested in observing how Anne Waldman works with rhythm. She maintains tempo throughout a nearly ten-minute poem, with slight variations that control tension, using free verse without rhyme or fixed meter, while remaining coherent with the poem’s title. It also serves as an introduction to the study of structure.

Structure

Rhythm is also determined by the structure of the poem, something easy to identify in song format, which usually has a chorus and verses, or sections differentiated by melody such as A and B parts. The structure of a poem contributes greatly to its content, partly because it creates lines or parameters for analyzing it as text, and partly because the same effect occurs at a sonic level.

Adrian Mitchell, Tell Me Lies About Vietnam, London, 1965
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3bVJAe8xVY

In Tell Me Lies About Vietnam, Adrian Mitchell presents a syntactic structure that is maintained across multiple stanzas, where he adds metaphors that strengthen the discourse, as if building arguments in a political speech. The poem is a political statement without using political language. Above all, it forms a structure that prepares the reader for the final line, which repeats the central theme in a striking way. In this way, an crescendo of drama is produced, conveying the seriousness of the denunciation. At the end, the audience has the intended impression of having something confirmed that they already knew; they feel involved.

This phenomenon is particularly relevant at the sonic level, whereas when the poem is read silently, repetition risks being perceived too quickly—almost overlooked, as if it were already known information.

Sound

A phoneme is an indivisible unit of human vocal sound. Each word is composed of one or more phonemes that we articulate and combine to produce meaning. Our material as writers is a series of phonemes, some combinations of which already carry meaning and others which do not.

However, we cannot ignore the value of the phoneme itself. In all languages there are words that originate in sound (onomatopoeia), such as “purr” in English, “bang,” or “schluck” (to swallow) in German.

This use of language is common in poetic text to produce the sound of what is being expressed, either through such words or by combining others with a shared representative sound (alliteration) or by repeating the same word or line many times (repetition).

Repetition can intensify meaning by repeating a central guiding concept in the form of a leitmotif. At the same time, it is not necessarily tied to strict semantic meaning; instead, it can create atmosphere through abundance or absence of certain sounds: an intimate mood (soft consonants), a rhythmic base (strong consonants), an expansive, open feeling (open vowels), or an oppressive, intense one (closed vowels).

In the following examples, we can observe different uses of these dynamics:

Arnaldo Antunes, Algo Antigo (Part I), 2021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7Dz_-2d4Eo

Cristoph Fiat, America Under Attack, Proposta Festival, Barcelona, 2002
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGa0QpM4HIc

The collective

Literature is often perceived as a solitary art. However, the artist is a social animal who lives and grows better in company. Anyone familiar with writing workshops, poetry festivals, or book fairs knows how important these spaces are for the development of one’s work. These are also opportunities for creative encounters with rich potential for innovation.

Collaborations with artists from other disciplines, especially musicians, are perhaps the most explored form. Although often limited to simple accompaniment, there are remarkable examples of joint work in which disciplines merge in search of a creative unity with surprising results.

We should also mention collaboration with the audience as a possible sonic element, which will be explored further in the final module of this course. Collective performance of text, though less common, also contributes interesting and underexplored sonic elements: multiple voices, the magic of choral expression, the possibility of incorporating different languages or skills. Below are some interesting examples:

Héctor Bardanca and Luis Bravo, Congo Boreal by Richard Garín, Montevideo, 1994
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wjQiNIuThw

Orquesta de Poetas, Derrumbe by Pablo Fante, Santiago de Chile, 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znVAlSJwmZY

Enfermeras Venéreas, Yo mal, PM Festival, Santiago de Chile, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AauS9xGaIaU

Conclusions and tasks

Understanding text as a sonic object is fundamental to fully grasping the work we present to the public. Reading a poem aloud—and even narrative or discursive texts—introduces a subjectivity that we otherwise leave to chance in written form. It gives the text communicative power that goes beyond meaning and becomes, therefore, a privileged tool for disseminating texts in different languages to audiences who do not naturally understand them.

It also allows us, as we will see in the next module, to understand translation as a complementary or guiding element rather than necessarily the central one in communication. The idea of the sonic product becomes more diverse and experimental in collaboration with other poets and creators, opening up a territory worth cultivating.

Regardless of whether the examples and analyses presented in this course inspire us or whether we find affinities or useful suggestions for our own aesthetic proposals, training the voice, accentuation, rhythm, and breathing is important preparation for writers in their communicative role and in developing a more refined and effective work.

There are many exercises for this training, and new ones can be created as we work. Listening to other poets (some suggestions are included in the links below), or simple practices such as singing songs or reading texts aloud, serve as a starting point. Here we propose some additional exercises that can be modified or re-created according to each writer’s interests or each text’s orientation:

Luis Bravo with Orquesta de Poetas, PM Festival, Santiago de Chile, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a_NfbGycNE

Mayra Santos, Dadme mi número by Julia de Burgos, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRl0xQ2RMFk

Bruno K Öjer, Jag frös, Stockholm, 1996
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7N3wA7ItKQ

Anne Goldman, Battery, 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxq7hYNcaTQ

Patti Smith, Spell (Footnote to Howl) by Allen Ginsberg, Seattle, 2000
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj0XdAvy42k

Frank Klöften, Der Paukist, Hamburg, 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd0MevRp1Ww