Textones: Tonal Models of Shakespearean Sonnet

by Shaun Sanders     Textones

 

Shaun Sanders

 

Eng 149

 

Professor Liu

 

03/15/2008

 

 

Textones: Tonal Models of Shakespearean Sonnet

 

The concept of literary “close reading” came into vogue in the twentieth century. In part, it was a reaction against the literary establishment’s previous desire to view a work of literature in its historical and social context. At a certain point, that method of analysis lost favor as the primary way in which to view a work, as it did not always address issues implied within texts that might not necessarily be related to historical or social mores surrounding a work. Close reading, then, became a new way of understanding the deeper meanings and implications of a work, and it allowed a freer comparison between works of literature that might not necessarily be from the same epoch or even from the same culture.

 

For the better part of the last hundred years, the employment of the close reading technique has allowed the formation of a variety of critical lenses. As varied as these critical lenses are, however, they are now considered “normative” in their application, and one of the recognized limitations in such analysis is that the results of close reading might be considered to possess a subjective quality. With this in mind, in the dawn of the digital era, the ever questioning human brain seeks new ways to interpret literature, ways that would make a break with past forms of interpretation.

 

            Digital modeling may be described as artful imitation, or as a type of re-creation based on the values most obvious to a modeler. As such, all literary criticism may be considered modeling, and a new form of literary modeling has emerged as digital technology has developed. However, this new modeling of literature has an entirely different focus than those of past inquiries; it does not seek answers or resolutions to disputes in literary attitudes, rather, it is happy to raise new questions that may have no answer that we can discern in our immediate exploration of a work. According to Professor Willard McCarty, author of Humanities Computing and winner of the National Humanities Center’s Lyman Award, says, “the model of exists to tell us what we do not know, the model for to give us what we do not yet have” (McCarty 24). He also calls a model “a design for realizing something new,” and adds that, “In modeling, one begins by privileging…knowledge, however wrong it may later turn out to be” (25). What McCarty is saying is that, rather than scrutinizing literature in an attempt to prove a point in analysis, we are free to experiment with other systems of interpretation, no matter how strange or incorrect the initial presumptions of those interpretations may at first seem.

 

This approach has created more analytical freedom than the proponents of close reading might ever have imagined; we no longer need to prove a “correct” interpretation of a work, but instead, seek to understand how it fits into the big picture of our new, digital age. Digital media now allows us to plot maps of physical territories described within a work, and to analyze quantitative information regarding popular trends in literary consumption throughout the centuries. Digital text analyzers allow us to access any given passage in a volume within seconds, and they facilitate interpretation of that passage in light of all other similar passages using similar phrasing. This “at-your-fingertips” functioning of technology allows literary analysts a broader scope than ever before; with so much information available, it has become important to see a work in context of the digital universe and the vast informational resources offered therein.

 

            At the root of all literary interpretation is a desire for increased understanding of the human condition. Once, it may have been enough to understand a protagonists actions based on the character’s emotional or moral state, the main consideration being that motivation was housed within these spheres. Today, there is an ever-growing awareness that cognitive functioning plays a major role in human behavior, and the awareness of the analyst must grow accordingly. To some extent, this may require a distancing by the analyst/modeler from a narrative to facilitate objectification of a work. This distance can be achieved via modeling because, to a large extent, modeling removes the subjective element inherent in literary analysis; we hope to achieve a sort of empirical effect in our modeling biased towards the quantitive as a means of exposing the qualitive. We do not seek to block the aesthetic appeal of a work, merely to reveal information other than that which is spurred by emotive content.

 

The success of a model depends on the accuracy of the model’s functioning. In the case of a literary work, we must ask ourselves, “Does this model represent the work?” If the answer is yes, we might feel confident in resulting assertions pertaining to the work. Furthermore, an effective model might manifest a value that appears to analysts as being consistent. Unlike the three blind men who each feel a different part of an elephant and believe it be a tree, a snake, and a rope, there needs to be common agreement resulting from the modeling of a work; the work must function within the model in a way that can generally be agreed upon as valid. Of course, validity itself can be subjective, and in the development of the Textones experiments, this issue was addressed.

 

Audio modeling of a literary work is not new. Texts have been applied to music for centuries in interpretations such as opera.  However, the Textones concept of tonal modeling is that tones should be applied directly to parts of speech in a mechanical fashion, rather than in typical, musical fashion, music being designed with only aesthetics in mind. Therefore, musicality was not an early consideration of the Textones concept. The more important goal was the discovery of possible recurring patterns within speech that would indicate universalities in language construction among writers of literary works. However, the Textone Project clearly recognizes that music creates concordance of thought where text fails, and with this in mind, musicality has become an important factor in the listening process; ultimately, we may be trading close reading for close listening. Textones, then, would be a model for.

 

The initial question facing the Textones Project was whether tones could be applied to text in a way that would produce consistent results, consistent because, while it might be easy to assign tonal values to one sonnet in order to make it sound interesting, we sought to create a mechanism by which traits could be revealed within a variety of literary works, and which could be applied repetitively, producing quantitative results across genres. A key idea behind Textones is that, while assignment of tones to parts of speech may be subjective—purely a matter of choice on the part of the Textones Project—as long as assignations are consistent, results will be non-subjective. This phenomena exists because texts are not being interpreted in regard to their emotive context; the language retains its mechanical function, and the tones merely indicate how parts of speech are being employed by the writer. This new type of modeling reveals an interesting thing about literary close reading analysis; it is a system of modeling which affects the emotional responses of the reader, and those responses are then mentally interpreted. In close reading, we are often asked to analyze why a certain text produces a certain feeling—we are asked to read between the lines. In Textones modeling, we seek to read only the lines. The hope is to ignore the emotive, believing it can hinder an understanding of the mechanical functioning of a text. In addition, Textones modeling is based on the idea that mechanical functioning is of greater importance in the initial comprehension of a work, mechanical application of a work being a reflection of cognitive function, and that it might be considered as a canvas upon which other analysis is then laid out.

 

            Ironically, in an attempt to distance itself from close reading of text, the Textones Project found itself immersed in a concentrated close reading of Shakespeare’s sonnets. In order to assign tones to parts of speech, each line and clause was parsed out into its relative components. In this instance, a hierarchical order of  components becomes of prime concern in the determination of tonal assignment. For example, Shakespeare creates verse with very loose links between subjects and objects, so careful attention must be paid as to the extent of the action of any verb, and whether a noun is a subject or a direct or indirect object. In addition, tones cannot be assigned according to each word’s dictionary definition as a part of speech because, within a verse, a noun may be acting as an adjective. Therefore, each piece of verse must be looked at in terms of a clause for its value to be decided upon. Only then can a tone be assigned to each component. By this method, Textones seeks to capture a certain amount of the writer’s nuance within its assignations. But, again, it is not subjective nuance; it is decided entirely by the mechanics of the language.

 

            In its initial undertaking of text analysis, the Textones Project experimented with text analyzers such as TAPor and CLAWS, CLAWS being a grammatical tagger developed by the University Centre for Computer Corpus Research on Language in the UK. Operating upon the principle of simple word recognition, TAPor did not function in a useful capacity; however, CLAWS is a program designed specifically to assess parts of speech, and it did so effectively. Unfortunately, it is limited in its capacity in that it labels words according to their isolated designation—“thy” is tagged as a pronoun but not as an adjective modifying a noun, which is how it is used in the phrase “thy eternal summer” (Sonnet 18). It seems a discursive text analyzer is not yet designed that could do the job we wanted; thus, it became apparent that manual assessment of parts of speech was required.

 

 

            When developing Textones, it was also hoped that a tone sequencing program might be found that would automatically attach tones to parts of speech once they were assessed. This thought proved over ambitious, and, after exploring programs such as Flash, Scratch, and various sound boards, the realization was that early attempts at sequencing tonal values would also need to be achieved by manual means. This entailed a system which started with the sonnet being printed out double-spaced, with parts of speech being assigned above each word. Then, each part of speech was assigned a tone which was entered into a grid consisting of fourteen rows (for each line of sonnet) and 10 columns (to accommodate iambic pentameter). Tonal values were entered into the grid representing each syllable of a word; for example, “darling” is assigned two adjective-tone spaces in the grid because it has two syllables. At this time, adjectives have been assigned the tone of Bb within the C scale, the C scale starting at “middle C,’ or 262 hertz.

 

            Once a grid for a sonnet was completed, it was translated into sound using audio recording software as a tone sequencer. Digidesign’s Protools software was used to sequence tonal values simply because it was available and is reasonably user-friendly. (See Textones Team page for a screen capture image of Protools). With the click-track set to 120 beats per minute, the first line of the sonnet was laid out in a timeline, using one audio track for nouns, one for verbs, and one for “others.” As tonal construction was developing, it became apparent that, rather than simply creating a series of brief consecutive tones correlating to syllables—which would result in audio monotony—it seemed a greater depth of musicality could be achieved by the sustaining of some tones over others. This created tri-tones, which encourage cognitive recognition in the listener—cognitive recognition of harmony being an important element in the success of a Textones model.

 

            The first tonal assignment grids developed had simple chromatic values, with tones being assigned somewhat randomly. The resulting tonal sequences were entirely discordant in nature, and, as such, they were both difficult to listen to and to analyze. It was clear that tone assignation needed modification in order to create something coming close to being “listenable.” In this instance, listenable means something in which patterns might be recognizable.

 

            Recognition of patterns within music can be implemented through the creation and resolution of tonal tensions within a sequence. Music is mathematical in nature, and the frequency of a tone, measured in hertz, must mathematically match other tonal frequencies to determine its harmonic value. For example, the note of A, at 440 hertz, will harmonize perfectly with its octave of 220 hertz. When the numbers are in accord, the music pleases the ear to a greater extent than when it is discordant, discordance meaning that oscillations are literally clashing with one another on the physical level. Ultimately, new tone assignations were developed that resulted in less discordant soundscapes.

 

Eric Prieto, Professor at UCSB, sheds insight into the structure of music, and the ways in which discord is received by the listener. He recognizes universalities within musical language, acknowledging that tonalities can be interpreted metaphorically within the cognitive state as representative of a system of “tension and release” (Prieto). Prieto says that the “point of greatest tension” is the “leading note” of greatest discord against the root note, and that it usually occurs immediately before harmonic resolution within a musical work. Discord typically represents a point of tension, while tonal resolution after discord represents a return to normalcy. Following Prieto's advice, the current Textones assignation grids may undergo further modification in order to limit discord so that, when discord is heard, it will be significant as representing a cognitive event within language structure.

 

Early in the project, original chromatic assignations were modified in an attempt to mimic music’s accepted values, thereby making tonal sequences slightly more listenable. However, it needs to be re-stated that this was not initially an attempt to create music from text, but an effort to create a tonal model of text that could then be evaluated in terms of pattern. As tones were reassigned, it became clear that they could be manipulated in response to the cognitive demands inherent in language. For example, it became clear that, while the subject of a sentence might be considered its most important element, it is the verb that drives a sentence forward into the future. Therefore, by sustaining a verb tone concurrent with a noun tone, the effect a verb has upon an object was replicated. The same protocol was applied to adjective tones upon noun tones, and, when two or more tones are assigned at once, harmonies are formed. Currently, subjects have been assigned the tone of “C,” or the root tone, while verbs have been assigned “F,” or the fourth in the scale, thus creating a recognizable diatonic whenever a verb is acting upon a noun. Likewise, the tone of “Bb” for adjectives supplies a strong coloration, or “description,” to a noun tone.

 

Interestingly, this structural form of Textones reflects the way in which we process language. In her essay, “The Signifier,” psychologist, Danielle Bergeron, discusses the concept of “chaining.” She explains that language is a process of chaining signifiers together—in this case, words that represent symbols—and she makes a significant point when she states: “When we speak…the listener seizes the sense of what we want to say only once we have finished the sentence” (After Lacan 63). She speaks in terms of the delay we encounter during our cognitive functioning when dealing with the mechanics of language; it is this delay that Textones tries to imitate with its “stretching” of an adjective tone to concur with a noun tone. Unlike the visual medium, where a scene can be taken in at a glance, language must be heard in its entirety before an interpretation of any one word can be confirmed. Language instigates a progressive function that necessitates sustained cognitive reasoning for comprehension. This process is reflected in the sequencing of Textones; some tones—usually verbs and adjectives—are held for the term of their role within a phrase, while others—like articles and conjunctions—are limited to the mere syllabic count they occupy. For those listening to Textones, this means that understanding of tonal values will only be reached at the end of each tonal phrase, just as with music. For our current purposes, this phrase ends at the end of each line of verse, at which time a short pause occurs that mimics enjambment in the iambic pentameter of a sonnet.

 

There seems to be a parallel between the current shift in literary analysis and recent revelations regarding the cognitive functioning of the human brain. The ways in which we now understand the brain’s workings, right down to the firing of synapses, is truly remarkable; some researchers even believe we have found the seat of the soul. Be that as it may, psychologists are starting to agree that language mirrors cognitive functioning. Steven Pinker, Harvard Professor and author of the book, The Stuff of Thought: Language As a Window Into Human Nature, has examined the relationship between language and psychological function. During his lecture at Victoria Hall in Santa Barbara September 29^th, 2007, Pinker discussed his book, focusing primarily on ways in which cognition and language reflect each other. In his speech, he introduced words considered taboo in our culture and then asked us to examine our responses to them, highlighting our involuntary application of symbols to those words. He then asked us to examine our resulting behavior: that is, our reluctance to shout such words in public. His experiment made it clear that word choice results in specific cognitive function, and that memory storage and retrieval play an important role in such function. The Textones Project, then, questions whether it can, in fact, display cognitive functioning in tonal values.

 

It might be considered a controversial idea, that cognitive processes result from the brain’s synaptic functioning, rather than from the “thinking” of a Gestalt-like mind which floats in a type of independent, or spiritual, disembodiment. However, if our language patterns mirror the efficiency of synaptic processing, Textones might offer up information regarding both language and process.

 

Work Cited

 

 

Bergeron, Danielle et al. After Lacan   State University of New York Press 2002

 

McCarty, Willard. Humanities Computing Palgrave MacMillan. 2005

 

Pinker, Steven. The Stuff of Thought: Language As a Window Into Human Nature Penguin Group (USA) Inc. NY New York. 2007

 

Pinker, Steven. Public Lecture. Victoria Hall, Santa Barbara. September 29^th, 2007

 

Prieto, Eric. Personal Interview. Feb 19 2008.