‘Throbbing on taut ear-drum’: The Acoustics of David Jones’ In Parenthesis
Keywords:
David Jones, Poetry, Modernism, World War One, Literature and MusicAbstract
Often examined in relation to the landscape and realities of war, David Jones’ 1937 text In Parenthesis is also remarkable in its unwavering attention to the acoustics and sonic interfaces of battle. While previous studies have noted the thematic issues raised by the text, this paper will centre very much on its poetics, providing a detailed analysis of its phonic textures.
These textures are multiple and varied. Descriptions of noises encountered on the battlefield occur throughout, heightened by Jones’ use of onomatopoeia, alliteration, and anaphora. The repetitive tread of marching is captured in the alliteratative ‘feet following file friends’ (37), while the sound of gunfire is spoken of in relation to music: a ‘rising orchestration’ (38). These references to sound are self-conscious, and at numerous points in the work Jones depicts the act of hearing itself: ‘a sudden riot against your unsuspecting ear-drums’ (40), ‘you could lie, with exquisite contentment, and listen to the war’ (116).
In order to fully assess the text’s acoustics, an examination of the rhythms that underlie In Parenthesis is necessary. This paper will investigate the acoustic effects of merging prose narrative and poetic technique, and will also study the rhythms of everyday, colloquial speech as they are evident in the work. I argue that an understanding of the sonic textures of Jones’ modernist work is essential for a fulfilling and nuanced reading, and that above all the text is one that is ‘meant to be read aloud and listened to’ (Powers, 1971).
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