Poetry in Motion

A major component of editing is considering the readability of the text. Readability is how easily the words flow, how easily the reader can make sense of what they are reading. Another component, which features heavily in editing technical documents or corporate reports, is legibility. Legibility is more about the physical presentation of the words; their size and typeface; their placement on the page; accompanying graphics and images. Legibility is obviously considered in all publications, but a paperback novel, for instance, has less elements to consider, than a global corporation's annual report, or poetry, which may use line breaks, indentations and other layout choices to add to the words' impact.

Australian bush poetry, like the country it represents, is often 'down to earth' in its presentation. Line breaks at the end of phrases, minimal indentation, no fancy fonts or typographic doodads. Today, I've taken one of my favourite poems, Clancy of the Overflow, by Banjo Patterson and presented in a city grid. I was in the city (not one of my favourite places) and the lines 'the hurrying people daunt me, and their pallid faces haunt me' came to me. The poem could also be set on the back of an envelope, in wavy lines representing 'the river on its bars' or the 'stock slowly stringing'.

Clancy of the Overflow

I had written him a letter which I had, for want of better
Knowledge, sent to where I met him down the Lachlan, years ago,
He was shearing when I knew him, so I sent the letter to him,
Just `on spec', addressed as follows, `Clancy, of The Overflow'.

And an answer came directed in a writing unexpected,
(And I think the same was written with a thumb-nail dipped in tar)
'Twas his shearing mate who wrote it, and verbatim I will quote it:
`Clancy's gone to Queensland droving, and we don't know where he are.'

In my wild erratic fancy visions come to me of Clancy
Gone a-droving `down the Cooper' where the Western drovers go;
As the stock are slowly stringing, Clancy rides behind them singing,
For the drover's life has pleasures that the townsfolk never know.

And the bush hath friends to meet him, and their kindly voices greet him
In the murmur of the breezes and the river on its bars,
And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended,
And at night the wond'rous glory of the everlasting stars.

I am sitting in my dingy little office, where a stingy
Ray of sunlight struggles feebly down between the houses tall,
And the foetid air and gritty of the dusty, dirty city
Through the open window floating, spreads its foulness over all.

And in place of lowing cattle, I can hear the fiendish rattle
Of the tramways and the 'buses making hurry down the street,
And the language uninviting of the gutter children fighting,
Comes fitfully and faintly through the ceaseless tramp of feet.

And the hurrying people daunt me, and their pallid faces haunt me
As they shoulder one another in their rush and nervous haste,
With their eager eyes and greedy, and their stunted forms and weedy,
For townsfolk have no time to grow, they have no time to waste.

And I somehow rather fancy that I'd like to change with Clancy,
Like to take a turn at droving where the seasons come and go,
While he faced the round eternal of the cash-book and the journal --
But I doubt he'd suit the office, Clancy, of `The Overflow'.

Original post: Creativity Journal - Day 1 (Start Small)