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title: '2007-10-18-joke-essay'
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Hilarious!\
\
HARWOOD EXEMPLAR: TOPIC THREE\
\
employed in at least\
one poem you have studied.\
Born on June 6, 1920, Gwen Harood was a Gemini; commonly referred to as
"the\
twin" in astrologica1 parlance. A star sign renowned for an equivocal
calibration of\
contrite balance and contrary insouciance, her felicitous duality found
voice and form\
in poetry that promulgated a progressive alacrity in lieu of acquiescent
familial\
dependability. Hardwood's unwavering employment of the Times New Roman
font is indicative of a fusion of classicism and post-modemism; the main
streams of tradition\
and tergiversation invariably associated with the ineffability of her
words and the\
feminine plurality of her themes.\
\
A poem such as ''In the Park'' is highly indicative of one born under
Gemini, due the\
connuence of meaning generated at the delta of the alpha and omega
extremes of\
domestic castigation, feminine edification and poetic enumeration, as
can be readily\
appreciated in the poem's opening line;\
''She sits in the park."\
\
There is a possessive radiance contained within the image, whereby the
objectified\
feminine other is placed with a constructed environment, in fecund,
neo-gothic tribute\
to Gaia, or the Earth Mother as she is commonly known. The seated
position gives\
rise to perception of a zen-like benevolence, whi1st indicating the kind
of complicit\
subservience one wou1d expect from a woman shackled by the chains of
maternal subjugation. '\
\
The line is dramatically enhanced by the employment of the Times New
Roman font, which is perhaps most strong1y felt be the reader when
scanning the line's angular alliterative allusions. The subtle
inflection contained at the top and bottom of the Capital''S'' is
passionate, but lacking the unrestrained and coquettish flair of
Script;\
"*She sits in the park*'', the confident if somewhat deferential air of
Arial Black; "**She\
sits in the park**'', or the melodramatic hubris of Goudy Stout; "**SHE
SITS IN THE PARK**."\
\
Harwood' s desire to illuminate the intractably judicious nature of the
gender\
calibration is perhaps best appreciated when font and astrological
influence are considered in conjunction with one another. Her desire to
illuminate the convergence\
of traditional domestic compliance, in conjunction with the timeless and
kinetic harmony emitted from the presence of the divine femine is well
served by a text type\
setting that favours a juxtapostioning of ink and angles that, while
linear, does not\
adhere to a uni-dǐrectional timeline.\
\
When taken as noun, the measured attainability of placed - as conveyed
by"park"\
seem to indicate an almost recidivist sense of unalterable routine. When
the noun is\
swung - via a suspension of grammatical accord - from noun to verb, the
notion of\
"parking\" oneself in a place lends the act a sense of artificiality, as
though the female\
persona is being controlled by an external - no doubt male - oppressor,
whereby the\
female is bereft of existential possibility, and in stead bound by
fatalistic\
determinative banality.\
\
As a Gemini, Harwood's occupied a furtive and febrile imaginative space,
whereby\
reason, resolve and artful rumination readily completed for recognition.
The line's\
connuence of presence tense and third person omniscience is well served
by the\
Imperially persuasive power of the nobly Romanic overtones of the
selected font,\
which readily complements - albeit with an agreeable tension - the
intransigent\
perception of "newness" that belies the suggestive autonomy implicit in
the Manichean contrast of pen on paper.\
\
The ubiquity of the Times New Roman font encourages speculation with
regards to\
the possibility of it being possessed of a gender alignment; and it is
not beyond the\
bounds of reason to perceive with in its authoritative presence (or
"pretence" to its\
detractors) the assertive air of the masculine ego. It is therefore
worth considering the\
possible subconscious alignment of Hardwood's muse to the masculine as
opposed to\
the feminine. It is also possible that the selection of the font is an
act of hybridity,\
whereby the emasculated female is given confidence and status
commensurate with\
the 'Walter Lehman' pseudonym she adopted. It is also possible that this
is simply\
another example of the contrary nature ofthe Gemini.\
\
Crucially, aspirations to a non-gender specific chromosomal affinity
between the twin\
proponents of sustained humanity - which has not yet come to be accepted
or even\
defined, by either patriarchal nomenclature or paternalistic narcissism
- is conveyed\
by the font's commonality, and the familiarity of most readers with the
universality of\
parks, and of sitting down. This simply drawn summation of the
articulated state\
provides an earthy familiarity for readers that grounds the potentially
nebulous\
possibilities of such an esoieric reading of the text, which I believe
necessary to\
enable any meaning processed to be approach the kind oftranscendent
epiphany all\
readers would no doubt aspire to experience; the text, font, poet and
perceived point\
conjoin in a radiant cusp of equipoise and sustained equivocation.\
\
As one seeks to provide for oneself an ideological framework to fully
appreciate the\
text, one can only marvel at the richness ofthe visual dimension
afforded by close\
calligraphic explication, in close affiliation with astrological
implication. In fact, the\
only negative consequence that arises is that the extraordinary depth
and significance\
of the meaning perceived makes it virtually impossible to read any
further lines in the\
poem without first enjoying a warm cup of milk and good lie down. Such
is the fate of\
the committed reader; a single line can take a life time to appreciate.