The Sneeze: Oversignification, Protest, Poetry

maulida fidhuha;

This essay offers an account of a literary device as it appears in poetry whose intent is politically charged, though its content is complex. Examples of this device, termed “oversignification,” are found in certain poems of Victor Hugo, in black American language games, in contemporary hip hop, and in the current work of Sara Larsen, an Occupy activist, community organizer, and poet. Oversignification decentralizes reference; rather than condensing polysemy into a single reference point, oversignification casts
forth a multitude of references, modeling something akin to an ecology and drawing attention to the forces that bring about its ruin. Often thought of as single-minded and message driven, protest poetry, in its long history, has shown itself to have aesthetic, as well as instrumental, intent. This essay calls attention to some examples of poetic protestation used as a medium for wild signaling, hellish ecstasy, and happy, as well as haphazard, rage.