Analysis of the discourse structure of lyric poetry

Applying the method of discourse structure analysis described by Grosz and Sidner to lyric poetry, one views the poet as the Initiating Conversational Participant, and the reader as the Other Conversational Participant as she recreates the poem upon reading it. In poetry the linguistic and intentional structures function in counterpoint to the metrical and stanzaic structures, respectively, producing the effects that define poetry. Analysis of attentional state can reveal the dynamics of the focussing process in a poem, providing a unique perspective on its operation. More research is needed to extend the theory to adequately handle lyric poetry.Mary Dee Harris, Ph. D., is currently a consultant in Natural Language Processing and Artificial Intelligence in the Washington, DC, area. Her research interests are: interaction of metaphor and discourse structure, knowledge-based natural language processing, cognitive linguistic approaches to natural language processing. Her publications include: Introduction to Natural Language Processing (Prentice-Hall, 1985); Dylan Thomas the Craftsman: Computer Analysis of the Composition of a Poem,ALLC Bulletin, 7, 3 (1979), 295–300; Poetry vs the computer, in Festschrift in honor of Roberto Busa, S. J., edited by Antonio Zampolli and Laura Cignoni, University of Pisa, Fall, 1987.