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Research & Exhibition
Research & Exhibition Final Presentations 2015
Dec 15th, 5:20 PM
Poetics of Cinema: an Exploration of Poetry in the
Nonverbal Medium
Alexander Dulak
Alexander Dulak, "Poetics of Cinema: an Exploration of Poetry in the Nonverbal Medium" (December 15, 2015). Research &
Exhibition. Paper 11.
http://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/honors-research-and-exhibition/2015/section-03/11
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Poetics of Cinema: an Exploration of
Poetry in the Nonverbal Medium.
Alexander Dulak
Mentor: Dr. Susan Scheibler
Defining Poetry
Oxford English Dictionary:
Composition in verse or metrical language, or
in some equivalent patterned arrangement of
language; usually also with choice of elevated
words and figurative uses, and option of a
syntactical order, differing more or less from
those of ordinary speech or prose writing.
Defining Poetry
Oxford English Dictionary:
Composition in verse or metrical language, or
in some equivalent patterned arrangement of
language; usually also with choice of elevated
words and figurative uses, and option of a
syntactical order, differing more or less from
those of ordinary speech or prose writing.
W. Shakespeare
O Mistress mine where are you roaming?
O stay and hear, your true love's coming,
That can sing both high and low.
Trip no further pretty sweeting.
Journeys end in lovers' meeting,
Every wise man's son doth know.
D. Thomas
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Beowulf
What were we War-Danes in our yore-days?
Tribal-Kings! Truly cast that glory past,
how the counts had courage vast!
Oft Scyld Scefing shed Eotens'
many sons of mead-seats often.
W. Whitman
A noiseless patient spider,
I mark'd where on a little promontory it stood isolated,
Mark'd how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,
It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,
Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.
S. Silverstein
Who wants a pancake,
Sweet and piping hot?
Good little Grace looks up and says,
“I’ll take the one on top.”
Who else wants a pancake,
Fresh off the griddle?
Terrible Theresa smiles and says,
“I’ll take the one in the middle
Research Question
“How is it that the language of poetry is
theoretically explicable and practically
possible in cinema?”
If poetry expresses itself through language, it must be
examined whether cinema – through a language based on
images and signs – is equipped with the means to become a
vessel for poetic meaning.
Language of Poetry,
Language of Cinema
• Poetry perpetually expresses itself through language, which can be both verbal
and nonverbal
• Cinema is a composition of images and signs providing a pre-verbal, intelligible
content on the verge of pure semiotics.
• The elements of the cinematic image are in constant motion, forming an open set
of limitless relationships
• The medium specificity of cinema: shaping of time and movement
Reconciling Poetry & Cinema
Poetry may not in fact be a defined genre – but rather an ontological category, a way
in which both the artist and his audience are aware of the world and relate to it.
The essence of poetry may not reside in its characteristic
elements, but rather in its approach to existence. For example,
“horizontal” vs. “vertical” approach.
Days passed and The Day drew nearer. An oddlooking waggon laden with odd-looking packages
rolled into Hobbiton one evening and toiled up the
Hill to Bag End. The startled hobbits peered out of
lamplit doors to gape at it. It was driven by
outlandish folk, singing strange songs: dwarves
with long beards and deep hoods.
A few of them remained at Bag End.
Achilles went for him, fast, sure of his speed
as the wild mountain hawk, the quickest thing on wings,
launching smoothly, swooping down on a cringing dove
and the dove flits out from under, the hawk screaming...his fury
driving him down to beak and tear his kill—
so Achilles flew at him, breakneck on in fury
with Hector fleeing along the walls of Troy.
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
Iliad
Composition Frame Shot Montage Color
Movement Depth of Field Mise-en-scène
Action
Negative Space Exposure Shutter
Rhythm Narration Symbol Sign Point of View Cut
Image Lighting Editing Sound Design Props Style
Long Take Insert Cinematography
Methodology
• Investigation into the qualities of poetic language and the
cinematic language within a semiotic context.
• Analysis of the oeuvre of crucial directors who tie into the
existing traditions exploring the poetics of cinema.
• Synthesis of linguistic, philosophical, literary, aesthetic and
historical factors.
References
➢
Bergman, Ingmar, and Marie Nyreröd. The Seventh Seal. Criterion, 2009.
➢
Deleuze, Gilles. Cinema. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1986.
➢
Kieslowski, Krzysztof. Three Colors: Blue, White, Red. Criterion Collection, 2011.
➢
Malm, Mats. The Soul of Poetry Redefined: Vacillations of Mimesis from Aristotle to Romanticism.
Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, University of Copenhagen, 2012.
➢
McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics:. New York: HarperPerennial, 1994. Print.
➢
Sitney, P. Adams. The Cinema of Poetry. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015.
➢
Tarkovsky, Andrey. Andrey Tarkovsky: Sculpting in Time: Reflections on the Cinema. London:
Bodley Head, 1986.
➢
Thomas, Dylan et al. Poetry and the Film A Cinema 16 Symposium. New York: N.p., 1953.
Symposium.
➢
Tarkovsky, Andrei. The Andrei Tarkovsky Collection. Artificial Eye.