Syntheme as Poetic Form

The Syntheme as poetic form involves presenting two poems side-by-side such that the interaction between the poems creates a conversation. These conversations are called “synthemes” drawing from Fichte’s triad of thesis, antithesis, synthesis.^[1]

The pure syntheme presents a new original poem by one author positioned opposite an existing poem or text to which it is formally and/or thematically connected. Each original poem presents imitation, argumentation, or evolution of/with/from the prior works. Each of the original poems is in conversation with the existing poem both in terms of form as well as content. Each existing poem can be thought of as thetic. The original poem is antithetic. The synthetic work occurs in the other, in the reader. In the modified syntheme, both poems are new original works by the same author.

In addition to the Fichtean triad, the structure of the syntheme speaks to the theoretical issue of authorial intent. In a spoken conversation, it would be absurd to claim that the intent of the speaker is irrelevant, and all that matters are the words spoken. Practically speaking, day-to-day life would grind to a halt if we took this approach to language. There are also examples from the legal world (the tort of defamation) where, while words matter, intent is a critical element.

In the syntheme, we have a poetic structure in which on the right side of the page we have a text by “the author.” On the left side, we have a text by “another author,” but selected by “the author.” Two texts, two different authors, placed in juxtaposition by “the author.”

While the two poems can be compared without considering the intent of the author who placed them together, the very structure of the form begs the question, why? Why did author X put poem Y next to poem Z? What was he/she trying to convey? The signification—the authorial intent—in the syntheme is not contained in the original poem. And it is not in the existing poem. The act of signification is in neither poem, but in their juxtaposition which is metatextual. The author creating the syntheme borrows from literature already in existence in the world and creates new meaning by altering its context.

[1] Fichte, Johann Gottlieb; Breazeale, Daniel (1993). Fichte: Early Philosophical Writings. Cornell University Press. p. 249.