the written poem : semiotic conventions from old to modern english huisman , rosemary ( university of sydney ) ; the written poem : semiotic conventions from old to modern english ; available from cassell ; hb . : 0 304 33999 7 ; us $ 75 . 00 / 45 . 00 this book defines a focus of interest : contemporary poetry and its historical construction as a 's een object ' , and uses current literary and social theory to facilitate its study . thus the book contains matter of relevance to practising poets , to those engaged in literary studies and to those with a sociolinguistic interest in the english language , especially in relation to technical and social changes in language technology and literacy . part one discusses the use of graphic , that is visual , conventions in contemporary poetry in english . how do we recognize ' a poem ' ( including apparent contraventions , such as the ' prose-poem ' ) ? once a poem has been recognized , what are the interpretative conventions brought into play for reading it ? and especially , how has the spatial arrangement on the page become ' meaningful ' in its own right for much contemporary poetry ? the last question , of the semiosis of the 's een poem ' , is discussed at length , with numerous examples from individual poems . for a consistent descriptive vocabulary for 'd iscourse ' and ' genre ' , a model of language and social context , derived from the work of the linguist m . a . k . halliday and the sociologist basil bernstein , where relevant , is explained and used . part two explores questions which have been brought to the fore in part one . what is the origin of the line as the primary generic sign of poetry ? how does the potential for seen , rather than spoken , meaning emerge ? it particularly focuses on changes in manuscript conventions from old to middle english poetry , on the comparitvely late significance of print for poetic discourse , on the change , in an increasingly literate understanding of ' literature ' , from a social to a personal understanding of poetic meaning from the late eighteenth century through the nineteenth century . if what has been regarded as an object , ' the poem ' , is an outcome of the social processes of textual interpretation and production , so too is what has been regarded as ' the subject ' , that through which meaning is authorized . available for review . email : sales @ cassellexport . demon . co . uk