We talked about Saussure and semiotics on Tuesday – – and Maya has rendered some excellent class notes to refresh your memory.
For Thursday, I’d like you to start a semiotic reading of another Frost poem – – “Stopping by Woods on a Snow Evening.” Remember, the goal (and method) of reading semiotically is to work inductively (from particulars to generals) rather than deductively (from general to particular). Another way of thinking about this: we don’t start out looking for the meaning of a poem; we start by looking for patterns created by the words (i.e. signifiers).
Here’s how I want you to try reading the poem:
- First, get a sheet or two or three of paper and a writing instrument.
- Next, print the poem out and highlight or underline all the high-value words in the poem. High-value words are words that seem very particular or very important. I.e. “the,” “a,” “is,” etc. are not usually high-value words. Recall that in Frost’s “Two Roads,” I suggested that the high-value words in the first line included “roads,” “diverged,” “yellow,” “wood.”
- Make a list of these high-value words. Examine the list and ask yourself some questions: are there any similar words in the list – – words that go together? are there contrasting words in the list – – words that seem opposite in meaning? Re-organize your list to group these similar and dissimilar words together.
- Focus for the moment on the dissimilar or opposing words. Do these pairs seem to echo some common opposition or contrast? (E.g. natural/human, colors, solitude/company, sound or other senses, etc.). What you are doing here is looking for patterns, groups of words that seem to cluster around a particular difference or opposition.
- Once you’ve found a pattern – – that begins with particular paired words from the poem – – now is the time to re-read the poem. How does your pattern help you to grasp a meaning/s for the poem? How might this pattern help you to interpret the poem? Write a couple of paragraphs answering these questions.
Bring your analysis of the poem – – highlighted text of poem, list of paired/associated words, pattern clusters, and your two or three paragraphs – – to class on Tuesday.