Performing Rhythm Through Enunciation: Prose Versus Poetry

Abstract

In this article, Maryvonne Boisseau, argues that rhythms set the conditions of the performance of a text. Two texts (prose and poetry) describing a lighthouse are compared. The notions of rhythm, enunciation and prosodic condensation are introduced. The first hypothesis postulates that the rhythms contributing to the significance of either text are inscribed in a similar geopoetic background; the second stipulates that the lighthouse's significance is construed by the texts' enunciation; the last assumes that, when the texts are performed, the traditional distinction between prose and poetry is blurred by the voice that carries the words to an audience.