On Young on Notation...

Young’s essay on reading poetry captures different types of notation used by four various cultures during four different time periods. He explains how notation plays an important role in how one did/could read a text.

Young explains how the ancient groups in Mexico, such as the Mayans and Aztecs, with no written language, used notation (as heavy elaborate “book paintings”, for example) in their religious/mythical/historical studies to intensify their current knowledge, as a tool to their primarily oral learning.

Mayan and Aztec notation was read in many ways, depending on the situation. It might accompany elaborate public religious ceremonies, as large book paintings hung on walls as guidance for prayer, or it could be used more intimately, such as a singer performing for a small audience holding up pictures to further define his song/story.

Kinesthetics were probably involved mainly through the senses of hearing (the story, lesson, prayer, etc.) and sight (the powerful imagery) and the connection perceived by this pairing. Notation would seem a powerful tool for any society with much oral use and no written language.

Young explains how poetic notation in 9th century China was used to evoke responses, such as singing, music, or more writing from the reader. Text was also used everywhere, such as on buildings and cliff faces, requiring readers to travel to interact with the words.

The act of physically writing the poetry (as in cursive calligraphy) was purposeful in getting readers to intimately interact and respond to the text. Chinese poems demanded gesture and vocalization from the reader, which seems highly kinesthetic.

English poets in the 1600s also employed notation in order to get readers to become more in touch with the text. Many were ambiguous in their spelling, use of letters, punctuation, and meter. They used this peculiar form of notation to force the reader to read aloud and linger longer, and hence gain a better understanding of the text.

Manuscripts were passed around and transcribed, which also played a part in reading and absorbing the text, as did elaborate usage of puns, which could also be interpreted as a sort of notation. The act of copying the text would have been kinesthetic for the reader, as well as the vocalization. Like the other cultures, this vocalization seemed to play a very important role in understanding the text.

Young shows the final culture, contemporary North America, as using notation to aid in the reading and performance of poems. Many poets also use notation to not only to stimulate vocalization and movement, but also as a graphic statement.

Many poets also employ notation in the hopes of regaining the act of reading as an “art.” They do this much the same as the English poets, to force the reader to slow down and gain a better understanding of the writing.

Just perform, or watch some poetic performances on TV or the Internet, and you can grasp immediately the kinesthetics, through sound and movement. The readers and performers are aware and passionate, exactly how those of the other cultures certainly must have been.