Friday 12 April 2013

K is for ... KAN'T FIND A KONSTRAINT BEGINNING WITH K


So today is the 12th of April, which must mean that it's the eleventh day of the A to Z challenge.  I've decided to share my love of writing through this challenge, and hopefully introduce people to the world of Oulipo.  I first heard about Oulipo when I was at university, and I was fascinated by their approach to writing that I decided to delve deeper into the world of experimental writing.

In a nutshell, this group of writers likes to assign constraints to their work in order to push creative boundaries.  Not only is this fun to do (the process of writing something with a constraint really does open the mind), the results are brilliant.



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K is for .... KAN'T FIND A KONSTRAINT BEGINNING WITH K

I know I'm probably cheating here, but I looked, and searched, and hunted, and explored, and rummaged and investigated, and I just couldn't find anything.  So I thought I would use this page to share a constraint that I invented.  Ok, maybe I didn't invent it.  I'm sure there must be more people who have done this, but I haven't come across any.  Maybe someone can point me in their direction.

Anyway, I haven't given this constraint a name, but I guess it could be called 'Periodically Speaking' or something like that.  I know that doesn't begin with K, but this is a cheat post, remember!

So, you take a pre-existing text (or you could write something original if you're feeling brave) and you use the periodic table of elements to rewrite the text.

http://www.livescience.com/25300-periodic-table.html

My name, Rebeccah, periodically speaking, would be: ReBeCCaH

Re (Rhenium)
Be (Beryllium)
C (Carbon)
Ca (Calcium)
H (Hydrogen)

Not all of the words can be spelled letter for letter, but it's possible to make combinations of letters to make sounds (or similar sounds), rendering the word phonetically recognisable.

So my surname, Giltrow, would be: GeLiTaReW

Ge (Germanium)
Li (Lithium)
Ta (Tantalum)
Re (Rhenium)
W (Tungsten)

Simples, right?!

As usual, I took 'The Tyger' by William Blake, and turned it into ThEr TiGa WILiYAm BaLaKEs.


TiGa! TiGa! BiRnIn BrITe
(Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright)
In ThEr FeRhEsTeS OF ThEr NiTe,
(In the forests of the night,)
WHAt IMoRhTl HAmNd ORh I
(What immortal hand or eye)
Cd FRaIMn ThY FeArFAl SYMoTeRhY?
(Could frame thy fearful semmetry?)

IN WOTh DySTaNd DyPbS ORh SKYS
(In what distant deeps or skies)
BURhNd ThEr FeIRh OF ThYN IEs?
(Burnt the fire of thine eyes?)
ON WOTh WINGeS DyDb He AsPaYRe?
(On what wings did he aspire?)
WOTh ThEr HAmNd DyIr SeISe ThEr FeYRe?
(What the hand dare seize the fire?)

AnMd WOTH SHoAlDyAr, & WOTh ArTh,
(And what shoulder, & what art)
Cd TaWISTh ThEr SINeWS OF ThY HeArTh?
(Could twist the sinews of they heart?)
AmNd WHeN ThY HeArTh BaGaN Ti BeAt,
(And when thy heart began to beat,)
WOTh DyRaDb HAmNd? & WOTh DyRaDb FeUTb?
(What dread hand? & What dread feet?)

WOTh ThEr HAmMoEr? WOTh ThEr CHeIN?
(What the hammer?  What the chain?)
In WOTh FErNEsS WOS ThY BrRaIN?
(In what furness was they brain?)
WOTh ThEr AmVAl? WOTh DyRaDb GaRhAsSb
(What the anvil?  What dread grasp)
DyEr IThS DyUDyLi TeRhErS ClAsSb?
(Dare its deadly terrors clasp?)

WHeN ThEr STaRhS ThReW DyOWN ThIr SPEuRhS,
(When the stars threw down their spears,)
AnNd WAuTeReDb HeVErN WITh ThIr TeEuRhS,
(And watered heaven with their tears,)
DyDb He SmIAl HIS WORhK Ti C?
(Did he smile his work to see?)
DyDb He WHO MnEuDb ThEr LaMn MnAgK ThEu?
(Did he who made the lamb make thee?)

TiGa! TiGa! BiRhNIn BrITe
(Tyger!  Tyger!  Burning bright)
IN ThEr FeRhEsTeS OF ThEr NITe,
(In the forests of the night,)
WOTh InMoRhTl HAmNd ORh I
(What immortal hand or eye)
DyEr FRaIMn ThY FeReFeAl SYMoTeRhY?
(Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?)

15 comments:

  1. Hi Rebeccah, thanks for visiting my blog, nice to meet you. I would click to follow but you seen to be having the same problem as me today with your follower gadget. I'll check again later to see if it is working properly. I've noticed a few blogs seem to be experiencing the same thing.

    Like your 'K' post very imaginative. The Blake poem is a fav of mine so it was nice to read it today :)

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    1. Thank you for stopping by. I've heard that a few bloggers have had difficulty following other blogs. Maybe the A-Z blogging challenge has been too much for Blogger to handle!!

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  2. How creative! And I could see this being a language used in scifi writer's invented world. Very cool!

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    1. Thank you. I've never written sci-fi, but maybe I'll give it a go with this in mind :)

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  3. Wow! That's pretty awesome. It definitely has possibilities as a sci-fi language.

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  4. Thats just super clever. Love your post.

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  5. Oh, this is fun! I've been trying to figure out my name :) Pretty cool!

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    1. Thanks! It appears that you have a bit of an awkward name - LiXeY is the best I can come up with :D

      Li (Lithium)
      Xe (Xenon)
      Y (Ytterium)

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  6. Hi Rebecca. Another creative post - and an inventive way to get around the letter K! Hope you are still enjoying the challenge. Happy writing.

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    1. Thank you. The challenge is great. I'm glad I pre-planned my posts though!

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  7. I LuV ThIS PoSTi! TiS THe BeSTe SO FAr!!

    #atozchallenge, Kristen's blog: kristenhead.blogspot.com

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    1. ThAmKs! GaLaDb U LiKes ThIS. TiS FUN BUTe TeRhICKY :)

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  8. I love this idea! It sounds fiendishly difficult, but I'm going to give it a try this week :)

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    1. Thank you :) Yes you should give it a go. It gets the old grey matter working.

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