The Inner Functioning of Words: Iconicity in Poetic Language

Abstract

Although it is generally believed that writing is the transcription of the union of sound and sense in speech which makes it appear to be a secondary mode of signification, it can be shown that the union of visual expression and content which constitutes writing is in reality the primary mode. The analysis in detail of several examples of Italian poetry will illustrate the special truth of this in the case of poetic language. The signification in union of expression and content in poetry is virtually motivated or iconic. To be iconic, a written sign need not be an isomorphic imitation of some real-world or natural shape; rather, its shape is the visual result of an "inner functioning" of words. The already culturalized world of meaning is the basis of the iconicity of the sign in poetry.