Changes

=====5.1.2.6. The Epitext=====

=====5.1.2.6. The Epitext=====

Green grow the rashes, O;

| colspan="2" | ''Green grow the rashes, O;''

Green grow the rashes, O;

The sweetest hours that e'er I spend,

| width="5%"  |   || ''Green grow the rashes, O;''

Are spent among the lasses, O.

Robert Burns, Green Grow the Rashes, O, [CPW, 81]

| colspan="2" | ''The sweetest hours that e'er I spend,''

| width="5%"  |   || ''Are spent among the lasses, O.''

| colspan="2" align="right" | — Robert Burns, ''Green Grow the Rashes, O'', [CPW, 81]

It is time to make explicit mention of a certain wrinkle in this text, even at the risk of warping the record that records this reconnaissance and rendering all the rest of its traces an unceasing problem to itself.

It is time to make explicit mention of a certain wrinkle in this text, even at the risk of warping the record that records this reconnaissance and rendering all the rest of its traces an unceasing problem to itself.

Throughout the course of this ongoing discussion is threaded what I refer to as an "epitext", a linked succession of epigraphs, that, aside from the incidental interest that their contents may hold, are designed to keep before the mind what a real text is like, with all the potential for meaning and all the problems of interpretation that genuine symbols, complex imagery, and transcendental allusions can present.  I cannot be expected to comment on, much less to clarify, all of the relevant aspects and all of the problematic features that are likely to be obvious to even the most casual reader of this epitext, but I think it is important to keep in mind a sense of the distance that is yet to be covered before any theory can claim a true comprehension of real language use.

Throughout the course of this ongoing discussion is threaded what I refer to as an “epitext”, a linked succession of epigraphs, that, aside from the incidental interest that their contents may hold, are designed to keep before the mind what a real text is like, with all the potential for meaning and all the problems of interpretation that genuine symbols, complex imagery, and transcendental allusions can present.  I cannot be expected to comment on, much less to clarify, all of the relevant aspects and all of the problematic features that are likely to be obvious to even the most casual reader of this epitext, but I think it is important to keep in mind a sense of the distance that is yet to be covered before any theory can claim a true comprehension of real language use.

Why are poetic texts and lyrical materials relevant to the aims of the present project?  It is because they "face the music" as soon as they can speak and continue to address it for the rest of their developments.  In other words, they speak from the very beginning of their invocations to the most pressing issues of communication and they attempt to tackle in their informal ways the most difficult problems of interpretation, those that formal languages and formal logics often put off till the end of their days, if they ever face up to them at all.  Of course, if a set of troubles can be avoided then perhaps it is best to do so.  Therefore, if I want to convince anybody that it is worth their bother to engage a given array of issues and problems, then I ought to supply an argument to make it plausible why the types of phenomena in question are likely to be inevitable.

Why are poetic texts and lyrical materials relevant to the aims of the present project?  It is because they “face the music” as soon as they can speak and continue to address it for the rest of their developments.  In other words, they speak from the very beginning of their invocations to the most pressing issues of communication and they attempt to tackle in their informal ways the most difficult problems of interpretation, those that formal languages and formal logics often put off till the end of their days, if they ever face up to them at all.  Of course, if a set of troubles can be avoided then perhaps it is best to do so.  Therefore, if I want to convince anybody that it is worth their bother to engage a given array of issues and problems, then I ought to supply an argument to make it plausible why the types of phenomena in question are likely to be inevitable.

One of the reasons for drawing this epitext from poetic sources is that a genuine poem, aside from its commentary on the passing show, what it seems to say about this ostensibly concrete subject or that divertingly pastoral scene, usually has something extra to say, a surplus meaning or an ulterior motive that sets its aim above and beyond the call of beauty, and this is usually something that it ventures to say about the reasons for its own existence, about the endeavor to communicate that goes into its making, and thus about its total "context of interpretation" (COI).  In sum, a poem is often meant, at least partly, to address the implicit questions:  Why am I writing this?  And why am I writing this way?

One of the reasons for drawing this epitext from poetic sources is that a genuine poem, aside from its commentary on the passing show, what it seems to say about this ostensibly concrete subject or that divertingly pastoral scene, usually has something extra to say, a surplus meaning or an ulterior motive that sets its aim above and beyond the call of beauty, and this is usually something that it ventures to say about the reasons for its own existence, about the endeavor to communicate that goes into its making, and thus about its total ''context of interpretation'' (COI).  In sum, a poem is often meant, at least partly, to address the implicit questions:  Why am I writing this?  And why am I writing this way?

 

There's nought but care on ev'ry han',

There's nought but care on ev'ry han',

In every hour that passes, O:

In every hour that passes, O: