Journal Issue
Open this April 1967 issue of Comment in Motion and the contents begin making their own introductions. It contains 31 named pieces or sections, beginning with Fluctuant Syllabic Verse by Grover Jacoby, From the “Vita Nuova” by Dante Alighieri, and From “The Antiquities of Rome” by Joachim du Bellay. That opening offers a direct path through the issue, but it is not the only one. A reader can follow the printed order, pause over a familiar contributor, or start with a title that catches the eye. No special background is needed. The magazine explains itself gradually through the choices it makes and through the company each piece keeps.
This number makes Louise Labé the center of its experiment, carrying 10 poems—from Sonnet II to Sonnet XXIII—into Grover Jacoby’s fluctuant syllabic measure. Translations of J. W. von Goethe, Heinrich Heine, Charles Baudelaire broaden the comparison, so the issue reads as a set of practical tests rather than a single showcase. Fluctuant Syllabic Verse supplies the turning point, explaining what the verse itself is trying to preserve: movement, stress, and rhetorical force across languages. The result is both a small anthology and a compact demonstration of translation as an argument about poetic time.
The contents page also works like a small map. Early entries establish the issue’s first set of voices; around the middle, June Nights by Victor Hugo changes the view; the closing stretch reaches To the Fates by Friedrich Hölderlin. The works differ in length, subject, and manner, yet their placement creates connections that a simple list of names cannot show. The pleasure comes from those changes. A short piece can clear the air after a longer one, a new voice can redirect the mood, and an unexpected title can make an earlier page look different when the reader thinks back to it.
The contributor list includes Grover Jacoby, Dante Alighieri, Joachim du Bellay, Louise Labé, Maurice Scève, Victor Hugo, Charles Baudelaire, and Théophile Gautier, along with 5 additional contributors. Some readers will arrive looking for a particular name; others will meet these contributors here for the first time. Either approach works. The publication details add useful context: the issue was edited by Grover Jacoby, published by Variegation Publishing Company, and issued from Los Angeles, California. A journal is also a made object, assembled by people deciding what to print, how to order it, and which voices should share a number. Reading from beginning to end lets those choices appear naturally.
The catalog subjects—Los Angeles little magazines, American poetry, Poetry translation, Comparative poetics, and Fluctuant syllabic verse—are useful starting points, especially for searching, but they do not set limits on what a reader may find. For a first visit, begin with Fluctuant Syllabic Verse by Grover Jacoby, turn next to June Nights by Victor Hugo, and finish with To the Fates by Friedrich Hölderlin. The clean reading edition is designed for that kind of movement. Original scan: 24 PDF pages. Reader’s edition: 44 pages. It keeps the contents in a stable, legible form and makes names and titles easier to find. A source facsimile remains part of the project’s private editorial record, but it is not included in the public upload. What appears here is the reading copy: a practical way to spend time with the issue and discover which pieces invite a return.
Contributors
- Grover Jacoby — Essayist; Translator
- Dante Alighieri — Original poet
- Joachim du Bellay — Original poet
- Louise Labé — Original poet
- Maurice Scève — Original poet
- Victor Hugo — Original poet
- Charles Baudelaire — Original poet
- Théophile Gautier — Original poet
- Gustavo Bécquer — Original poet
- Jules Laforgue — Original poet
- J. W. von Goethe — Original poet
- Heinrich Heine — Original poet
- Friedrich Hölderlin — Original poet
Publication details
Full contents
- Fluctuant Syllabic Verse — Grover Jacoby [Essay]
- From the “Vita Nuova” — Dante Alighieri [Poem (translation), p. 47]
- From “The Antiquities of Rome” — Joachim du Bellay [Poem (translation), p. 48]
- Sonnet II — Louise Labé [Poem (translation), p. 49]
- Sonnet V — Louise Labé [Poem (translation), p. 50]
- Sonnet VII — Louise Labé [Poem (translation), p. 51]
- Sonnet IX — Louise Labé [Poem (translation), p. 52]
- Sonnet XII — Louise Labé [Poem (translation), p. 53]
- Sonnet XIII — Louise Labé [Poem (translation), p. 54]
- Sonnet XVIII — Louise Labé [Poem (translation), p. 55]
- Sonnet XIX — Louise Labé [Poem (translation), p. 56]
- Sonnet XXI — Louise Labé [Poem (translation), p. 57]
- Sonnet XXIII — Louise Labé [Poem (translation), p. 58]
- Dedication of His Work to Delie — Maurice Scève [Poem (translation), p. 59]
- From “Delie” — Maurice Scève [Poem (translation), p. 60]
- June Nights — Victor Hugo [Poem (translation), p. 61]
- The Albatross — Charles Baudelaire [Poem (translation), p. 62]
- To a Passerby — Charles Baudelaire [Poem (translation), p. 63]
- Pastel — Théophile Gautier [Poem (translation), p. 64]
- From “Rimas” — Gustavo Bécquer [Poem (translation), p. 65]
- Encore Un Livre — Jules Laforgue [Poem (translation), p. 67]
- The Violet — J. W. von Goethe [Poem (translation), p. 68]
- Heidenröslein — J. W. von Goethe [Poem (translation), p. 69]
- The Song of the Spirits Over the Waters — J. W. von Goethe [Poem (translation), p. 70]
- The Human Boundary Line — J. W. von Goethe [Poem (translation), p. 71]
- Das Göttliche — J. W. von Goethe [Poem (translation), p. 72]
- Mignon’s Song from “Wilhelm Meister” — J. W. von Goethe [Poem (translation), p. 74]
- From “Die Heimkehr” — Heinrich Heine [Poem (translation), p. 75]
- From “Verschiedene” — Heinrich Heine [Poem (translation), p. 76]
- From “Die Heimkehr” — Heinrich Heine [Poem (translation), p. 77]
- Buonaparte — Friedrich Hölderlin [Poem (translation), p. 78]
- To the Fates — Friedrich Hölderlin [Poem (translation), p. 79]
Rights and citation
Copyright © 1967 by Grover Jacoby
Copyright Status Unresolved
The issue bears a 1967 copyright notice; rights in individual contributions and the compilation have not been fully resolved.
*Comment in Motion*, no. 2, April 1967. Text/Tech Journals, reader’s edition.