Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Sleeping With The Dictionary

What made Sleeping With The Dictionary especially interesting for me was it's way of following a trend, yet being so very unique. Some aspects of it can easily be compared to Sonnet Fifty-Six. Especially obvious are the portions (such as Dim Lady and Variations on a Theme Park) which are based on Shakespeare's Sonnet 130. Yet, intriguingly, Mullen's changes effect the exact opposite of Hoover's changes; Hoover changes altered the form and retained the meaning while Mullen retained the form to change the meaning completely. Aside from Shakespeare, much of the poetry in both texts involves finding different words and forms to add extra or underlying meaning. Here, issues such as race and dialect were invoked with a few well-placed word-changes. Sleeping With the Dictionary exhibited a fascinating sort of word-play that made me reflect on how much can change with only a few different words.

4 comments:

  1. I also noticed this similarity, and I agree with you that the differences between Sonnet 56 and SWTD are actually more fascinating than their similarities. Howeve, I'm not sure I agree with your statement that Mullen is changing the meaning of Sonnet 130; I think she was modernizing it.

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  2. "Sleeping With the Dictionary exhibited a fascinating sort of word-play that made me reflect on how much can change with only a few different words."

    I like this line. i completely agree. Isn't that what makes language so beautiful?

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  3. I like what you pointed out about the different ways that Hoover and Mullen approached their work. I think its an interesting comparison to make and an insightful comment to name the two ways they took from Shakespeare. I also liked the line that the previous comment pulls. It's fascinating to see how quick and dramatic words can be.

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  4. I agree with your interpretation of Sleeping With the Dictionary. It was creative and insightful without being to overwhelming or weird. I loved its play on words and the overall effect it had on me as a writer.

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