TYPOGRAPHIC FOREGROUNDING IN CONTEMPORARY POETRY: MASTERY OF MANIPULATION: THE CASE OF Bill Bissett’s d r e e m s

Abstract

The article focuses on the semantics of typographic foregrounding and its divergence in contemporary English poetry as well as the author’s own production from the manipulative standpoint. The paper defines defamiliarisation and describes such typographic tools as font-size alteration, change of background colour in combination with parallelism and related deviations that occur on different language levels: phonological, semantic, lexical and grammatical. These tactics can be used as exploitative tools not merely for a multidimensional perception of poetry per se, but for a literary performance of the author to distinguish him/her from the cohort of other artists. This manipulation serves as a technique to shape the reader’s emotional and cognitive responses, thereby enhancing the engagement with the text. The results are based on the analyses of a poem by Bill Bissett as well as on the own sample of the author produced during the course by Sonia Zyngier, which supports the claim that the concept under consideration is universal not only in literary circles, but also in everyday life and may be accessed by everyone who is engaged into ‘figure poetry’ and/or ‘visual poems’. This breaks the idea of a partially stereotypical, yet established overview upon the investigated phenomenon and introduces subjectivity into the style and manner of presentation. The conclusions indicate the duality of the use of typographic foregrounding in terms of a form of self-expression of the author’s worldview and manipulativeness of a reader, while, at the same time, acquiring a poetic experience at the level of psychopoetics. Research perspective includes the analysis of other works by lesser-known authors in the UK and the USA, as well as of contemporary graphic design and digitalised products that are widespread nowadays. With reference to recent developments in digital art and online poetry platforms, it becomes clear that typographic foregrounding is no longer confined to traditional print media, but has evolved into a dynamic, accessible tool that continues to shape how poetry is experienced and perceived in modern society.