P
171
LE RAMEUR
I ENcl
ENcW CONTRE UN qRANd flEUVE, ÍnHniMENT MES RAME5
MarracNent Rtqütr AUX RIANTE ENVÍRONS;
Ame aux pesantes mains, pUiNES des avírons,
H fAUT QUE ÍE Cíe! Efíif AU T|Ias dfs ¡ENTES ¡AMES.
Le ceeur duR, real distRAÍr des bEAuTÉs oue jE bAis,
UiSSANT AUTOUR dE MO¡ MURÍR des CERClB d'ONdE,
jE VEUX ÍARqES coups ROMpRE i'ÍÜUSTRE MONdt
De fEuilks 6T de feu qué je cNante tout bAs.
ARbRES SUR QU¡ JE pASSE, AMpÍE ET NAÍVE MOÍRf,
LaEí dE RAMAJES p£ÍNT£, ET pAÍX df !'aCCOM|)Í¡,
DÉcbÍRE-te, MA ¿ARQUE, ¡MpOSE-lEUR UN pli
Qui COURE du t,RAN<1 caIme aLkíÜR Ia MÉMOÍRE.
JAMAIS, cllARMES du jOUR, jAMA¡S vos q RACES n'ont
TANT SOuffERT d'üN REbEÜE ESSAyANT SA déÍENSE
Maís, comme Ies soIeiIs m'ont tiré dE I'eníance,
Je REMONTE i. Ia source ou cesse méme un nom.
PauI VAlÉRy
Abbildung 3. Betonung der asthetischen Komponente
(Aus einer franzosischen Schriftprobej
Italic type that, perhaps, expresses rhyth»
mical moves better than any other type.
However, hints like these should never be
taken as being available for all cases, for
it will be necessary to make an individual
choise of tbe best suitable type to be
adapted to each particular case. It is the
fineness and differenced variety of nuances
that require our careful attention in order
to be able to fully utilise the expressive
power of the type, rendering thereby a
really valuable service to the author.
It is true, the choice of type is most im<
portant to both the compositor or publi»
sher's printer in their endeavours to inten<
sify the expression of the author's inten¡
tions. Notwithstanding that there are still
many more points of the composition»
technique which, from a psychological
viewpoint, present new aspeets with regard
to thevisualisation of poetry, aspeets worthy
of being hereafter discussed in extenso.
The question as to whether each line of the
verses is to be set in capitals or lowencase
letters has been hitherto mostly considered
from the standpoint of the aesthetic im<
pression only - taihpieces in capital letters
on the left edge of the composition - or
arranged according to Duden's rules. Far
more judicious is a cióse study of the poet's
work as to whether there be frequent
"enjambement" (where a composition or
part of it runs across several lines so that
the verse terminates without marks of
punctuation or often in words without any
stress. Here it is quite obvious that in verses
like these the capitals spoil the current
rhythm, and it often suffices to divide the
lines so as to illustrate the slight, hardly
perceptible faltering in the conveyance of
the sense of the verses as intended by the
poet. On the contrary, if the lines of the
verses, (as it is usually the case), coincide
with closed sentences or parts of them,
and this refers also to periods which are
by their meaning parts too, even if they
are not provided with marks of punctuation-
it will be always better to use uniformly
capitals for all lines. This applies to many
species of verses, such as iambi having five
metric feet, hexameters, distichs, Cíe.
It is a practice frequently observed that in
Román type compositions the first word of
the poem is set in large or sma.ll capitals.
This is merely done for aesthetic reasons,
but this habit should be dropped, as it is
unnecessary to emphacise in excess the first
word which is often unimportant in its
literal sense. Besides, an unjustified ex»
aggeration like that of a word has mostly
a displeasing effect on the reader. The same
applies to the whole first line being comí
posed in capitals though this may be
sometimes justified when, for instance,
these poesies are without titles. The first
line then replaces the latter, though there
is always a possibility of very awkward
solutions, that cause displeasures for reasons
associated with the contents of the book,
but this is not to be discussed in this
article.
The heading itself is a factor both the poet
and the compositor are very much con»
cerned about, for often its relation to the
text is so problematic that it is very hard
to find a satisfactory solution for it. Rilke
suggested to always get the title of a poem
printed on a sepárate leaf, similar to the
former get»up of books in France, but this
is for economical reasons hardly feasible.
Neither is it advisable to place the titles
on the left and the poems on the right
side in the book, as this produces the
somehow unpleasant impression of table»
work. After all, there seems to be no alter»
native but to set the title over the poem
with ampie space in»between. As every
poem is an integral work of art, it requires
of course a page by itself, exceptions being
admissible in exceptional cases only.
Nothing can be said against initials with
regard to the text, provided they con»
stitute puré strokes of the pen, ñor against
initials with illustrative ornaments especi»
ally designed by the graphic artist for the
poem. Initials with cottages, trees and
flower»tendrils (H.Vogler's style) are no
longer patronised hy modern book artists.
One factor requiring particular care, is the
spacedine, for nothing is more apt to impair
the tone of a lyrical poem than incorrect,
mostly too narrow spaces between the lines.
That inexpressible feeling delicately hinted
at by the poet's words vibrating between
the lines and forming lastly the very essence
