D is for ... DEFINITIONAL LITERATURE

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So today is the 4th of April, which must mean that it's the fourth 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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D is for ... DEFINITIONAL LITERATURE

"Each meaningful word in a text (verb, noun, adjective, adverb) is replaced by its dictionary definition; each word of the resulting definitions is similarly replaced, and this process is repeated as often is desired." 

Oulipo Compendium ed. Harry Matthews & Alastiar Brotchie (London: Atlas Press, 2005) page 134.

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This constraint works best if you take a well known text (the Oulipo tend to use Hamlet's "To be or not to be" speech).  However, you can develop your own writing by taking a verse of your own poetry and attacking it with a dictionary.

The text I used was 'The Tyger' by William Blake.  For this specific constraint, I only used the first stanza as it could go on for ever and ever and ever and ever and, well you get the point.  I used the following dictionary for the definitions: Collins English Gem Dictionary ed. J. B. Foreman (London: Collins, 1971).

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Large Carnivorous Animal Of The Cat Tribe

1.

Tyger Tyger, burning bright, 

In the forests of the night: 

What immortal hand or eye, 

Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?  

tiger: large carnivorous animal of cat tribe
burn: be on fire
bright: full of light
forest: tract of land mainly occupied by trees
night: time of darkness between day and day
immortal: deathless
hand: extremity of arm beyond wrist
eye: organ of sight
dare: have courage to
frame: adapt
fearful: dreadful
symmetry: proportion between parts

2.

Large carnivorous animal of the cat tribe, large carnivorous animal of the cat tribe, be on fire full of light, 

In the tracts of land mainly occupied by trees of the time of darkness between day and day: 

What deathless extremity of the arm beyond the wrist or organ of sight, 

Has the courage to adapt thy dreadful proportion between parts?  

large: broad in range or area
carnivorous: flesh-eating
animal: living creature
cat: animal of the genus Felis
tribe: race
fire: state of burning
full: containing abundance
light: natural agent by which things are visible
tract: space of land
land: solid part of earth’s surface
mainly: for the most part
occupy: inhabit
trees: large perennial plant with woody trunk
time: period
darkness: without light
between: in the middle of two
day: time when sun is above horizon
deathless: immortal
extremity: end
arm: limb extending from shoulder to wrist
beyond: farther away
wrist: joint between hand and arm
organ: member of animal or plant carrying out particular function
sight: faculty of seeing
courage: bravery
adapt: fit
dreadful: awful
proportion: comparison
between: in the middle of two
parts: portion

3. 

Broad in range or area, flesh-eating living creature of the genus (or race) Felis, in the state of burning, containing abundance, in a natural agent by which things are visible, 

In the space of land on solid parts of the earth’s surface which, for the most part, is inhabited by large, perennial plants with woody trunks of the period without light in the middle of the two times when the sun is above the horizon: 

What immortal end of limb joint between hand and arm, extending further away from the shoulder to wrist or member of animal or plant carrying out the particular function of the faculty of seeing, 

Has bravery to fit thy awful comparison in the middle of two portions?  

broad: wide
range: scope
area: open space
flesh: muscular substance
eating: chewing and swallowing
living: action of being in life
creature: thing created
genus: kind
race: descendants of common ancestor
Felis (feline): catlike
state: condition
burning: being on fire
containing: holding
abundance: great plenty
natural: normal
agent: natural force
visible: that can be seen
space: expanse
land: solid part of earth’s surface
solid: firm
part: portion
earth: planet or world we live on
surface: exterior
most: greatest in size
part: portion
inhabited: dwell in
large: broad in range or area
perennial: lasting through the years
plant: member of vegetable kingdom
woody: without expression
trunk: main stem of tree
period: particular portion of time
without: lacking
light: natural agent by which things are visible
middle: equidistant from two extremes
two: one more than one
times: periods
sun: luminous body round which earth and other planets revolve
above: higher up
horizon: lines where earth and sky seem to meet
immortal: deathless
end: conclusion
limb: arm or leg
joint: arrangement by which two things fit together
between: in the middle of two
hand: extremity of arm beyond wrist
arm: limb extending from shoulder to wrist
extending: stretching out
further: to a greater distance
away: apart
shoulder: part of the body to which arm or foreleg is attached
wrist: joint between hand and arm
member: any part of complex whole
animal: living creature
plant: member of vegetable kingdom
carrying: conveying
out: from within
particular: very exact
function: work a thing is designed to do
faculty: inherent power
seeing: perceiving with eyes
bravery: courageousness
fit: be correctly adjusted or adapted
awful: dreadful
comparison: act of comparing
middle: equidistant from two extremes
two: one more than one
portion: part

4. 

A wide in scope or open space, muscular substance-chewing and swallowing kind of catlike alive created thing (descendents of a common ancestor) in the condition of being on fire holding a great plenty, in a normal, natural force that can be seen, 

In the expanse of the solid part of the earth’s surface of a firm portion on the exterior of the planet that we live on, in a broad range or area of the greatest portion in size, dwells a member of the vegetable kingdom that lasts throughout the years, without expression, the main stem of a tree of the particular portion of time lacking in a natural agent by which things are made visible at a point equidistant from two extremes in one more than one period when the luminous body round which earth and other planets revolve is higher than the lines where earth and sky seem to meet: 

What deathless conclusion of arm or leg arrangement where two things fit together in the middle of the extremity of arm beyond wrist and the limb extending from shoulder to wrist stretching out to a greater distance apart from the part of the body to which the arm or foreleg is attached to the joint between hand and arm or any part of a complex whole of a living creature or a member of the vegetable kingdom conveying from within the very exact work that a thing is designed to do of the inherent power of perceiving with the eyes, 

Has the courageousness to correctly adjust or adapt thy dreadful act of comparing in the point equidistant from two extremes of more than one point?