Vector Poetry
By Radoslav Rochallyi
Radoslav Rochallyi
Can vectors be used to describe the shape and movement of words in poetry? Through the creation and analysis of this type of expression, it is possible to understand the world around us better and create new, stimulating works of art, thus opening a new era of creative expression. Poets have placed words in a grid or shape before. However, I know of no use of vectors in poetry as vectors. Similar to Equation Poetry, Vector Poetry uses mathematical concepts and operators as metaphors for everyday events or feelings.
Vector Poetry, in particular, replaces words or partial phrases with vectors. Here we begin the investigation of the semantics/semiotics of vectors in poetry; what meaning can vectors add to a poem? We can achieve a higher level of meaning by moving a word or phrase along some direction in our vector space to create a visual or emotional effect or by using mathematical equations which contain vectors to create shapes and movements.
In vector poetry, words are arranged in a specific way to visually represent the poem's meaning. Just as a vector is defined by its direction and length, each word or sentence is represented by a line that points in a particular direction and has a certain length. The length represents the importance of that word as compared to other words in the poem. The direction tells us how that word relates to other words in the poem. For example, if we wanted to express “love” as a vector, you could draw an arrow pointing up because love is positive and good; however, if you wanted to represent “hate” which has negative connotations, you would draw a downward arrow instead. In mathematics, vectors can represent the direction and magnitude of a force, and they can be used to describe both physical forces and abstract concepts. This structure lends itself nicely to describing movement and forces in words as well.
I do not work with vector semantics in the same way as the field of Machine Learning works with them. Accuracy and exactness are not important to me in this work. My aim is not to establish a relationship between a particular word and a particular discrete symbol. I do not transfer text, specific words, or sentences into numbers and statistical data. A vector, for my purposes, is a quantity that has magnitude and direction, and is usually represented by a directional arrow whose length represents the magnitude and whose direction represents the direction in space. Any particular vector is an element of a bigger vector space.
Here I will take one phrase that I would like to communicate in a poem and show three different examples of how it could be portrayed using vector poetry. The phrase is:
“Time is pouring out of my broken watch glass. You look ahead, and you're right. Because the potential of the past is just … a sandcastle.”
What does each mean to you?
Example of transcription into vector poetry No. 1:
Figure 1: I used the framework for the formula of the product of two vectors.
Example of transcription into vector poetry No. 2:
Figure 2: I used the original diagram "Dielectric half space of z>0. Electric susceptibility of the dielectric is chi." from the page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dielectric_half_space.svg and modified it to illustrate the sample phrase.
Example of transcription into vector poetry in vector space No. 3:
Figure 3: Artistic rendering of the vector poem.
Although using vectors in a poem could bring unnecessary complexity where it is not needed, we also see that using vectors to describe the shape and movement of words has several advantages:
Vectors create a more visually appealing poem. The shapes that words make can be complex and beautiful and can be used to create a unique and memorable poem.
Vectors can be used to create a sense of movement in a poem. For example, words can flow smoothly from one to another, creating a sense of rhythm. It can add another layer of meaning to the poem and make it more visually appealing.
Vectors can be used to create a sense of space. Using different shapes and colors makes it possible to create a whole world in a poem, adding both depth and complexity to the words.
Vectors can be used in poetry in two straightforward ways. One can describe the shape of a movement or of an emotion. Choose a word and create a vector that strengthens, complements, and explains the feeling. This method is the most natural and is universally applicable to any artistic expression. A second way is to describe the position of a defined object in the space of the poet's expression, but this is more complex. The poet takes the sentence they want to say and creates a vector representation of its movement or the movement of its parts. Then the vector space represents the author's perception of the inner and outer world.
Vector poetry is a form of mathematical expressionism in art. It is much more than using a vector merely as a decorative flourish; it can capture words, emotions, movement, and location. There are undoubtedly many ways to create vector poetry, but they all involve describing the shape and movement of words using vectors. I hope to see vectors (including those in drawings, graphs, or mathematical equations) used to their full potential, not only in poetry, but also in painting, graphics, and performance art.
Radoslav Rochallyi is a poet, essayist, and interdisciplinary artist living in Prague, Czech Republic. He is the author of eight books of poetry. His work has been featured in numerous publications.