Tuesday, April 29, 2008

A change of rules and one clarification

"Find the figure" has been fun, but I need to change the pattern somewhat. To give myself more scope for rapid posting and more time to practice each figure, I am going to start posting several times using the same figure. Once I set out the definition and mnemonic image for the figure I have been using, the subsequent posts will start the next figure.

I think multiple posts will also help readers (oh, that hopeful plural!) spot the figure, but brings up a needed clarification.

When I originally proposed the game, my idea was that readers would look for the line that stood out, that seemed most fresh, most zingy. If that line turned out to be the figure of the day, they win for finding it and I win for successfully pulling off the figure. In other words, you don't have to name the figure: you can just say, "This line seems like it."

OK, now to get some actual posts up!

2 comments:

The Vitruvian Duck said...

OK. I dig it. What's nice about this direction is that it'll be a challenge to try and figure out YOUR intended figure. We unintentionally or unknowingly use so many figures of speech in our everyday language that our posts and conversations and essays have literally become littered with literate little litters of literature for the liturgies of the literati.

But I fear this may upset Fr. Barry, giving him cause to call me a hypocrite for supporting an endeavor that focuses around guessing an artist's intent. Then again, maybe this will help him see the Muse acting in the artist's creative act.

Ignoramus said...

Ah yes, we must avoid the intentional fallacy! But here, my friend, I call on you as a judge of my success: if I have used the figure effectively, it will jump out at you; if you guess wrongly, then I have not succeeded.

I'll have to muse about your comment on Fr. Barry. I would have slotted him amongst the New Critics for sure.