The Changing Spaces of Reading and Writing

What is text?

by Maureen Coyne

Since being made aware of the fact that the word text is contained in the words texture and textile and is defined as “woven words” in Module 1, I’m reminded of the song Tapestry by Carol King, that relates to the words textile and texture. In The first stanza, she compares her life experiences to a tapestry, which is a form of textile that has a rich texture. She says that she can see and feel the experiences in her life, but she can’t hold on to the experiences. Here are the lyrics of the first stanza of this song:

“My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue
An everlasting vision of the ever changing view
A wondrous woven magic in bits of blue and gold
A tapestry to feel and see, impossible to hold”

Carol king wove the words of the first stanza together to form text that began a very lyrically rich song.

1 comment


1 Tracy Gidinski { 09.16.09 at 12:18 am }

I love the image of text as tapestry – I originally considered a quote from this song as well, and also considered using a picture from a needlepoint sampler, which is essentially a small tapestry of text.

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