CRYPTOLOGY AS A STYLISTIC TOOL: WHEN STYLE BECOMES AN ENIGMA IN POETRY

Abstract

The study at hand aims to implement cryptology as a stylistic analysis tool for poetry in general and visual/concrete poetry in particular. Indeed, the present study attempts to discover the extent to which the use of cryptology can contribute in facilitating the process of reading visual/concrete poetry. In order to reach the aforementioned aim and solve the problem of the study, the researcher adopted a textual analysis method of a selected set of poems by Guillaume Appollinaire, namely ‘Payasage’, ‘La Cravate et la Montre’, ‘Coeur, Couronne Et Miroir’ and‘La Mandoline L’oeillet Et Le Bamboo’. In addition to Apollinaire’s poems, the researcherselected a set of poems by E. E.Cummings, viz ‘l(a’, ‘SNOW’, ‘ygDuh’, ‘r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r’ and‘the sky was’. To analyse data,cryptographic peculiarities in the selected set of poems by Apollinaire and Cummings were extracted, then the encrypted passages of the poems were decryptedby applyingmultiple cryptanalysis approaches. Finally, a stylistic analysis was conducted on the selected poemsso as to reach a literary significance.Effectively, the findings of the study revealed that no common encryption system can be observed in Apollinaire’s and Cummings’ poems. Furthermore, it appears that even though the selected poems display cryptographic features, it is hard to tell whether the poets deliberately intended to implement cryptology as a writing technique in their poems. Nevertheless, it is difficult to deny the significance that cryptology has in serving to reach a literary interpretation in concrete/visual poetry. Moreover, the significance of cryptology as an additional stylistic level that facilitates the understanding of the poets’ poetic style and makes what was once unreadable readable is also undeniable.