Words and Images in Dialogue: An analysis of multimodality in artworks by William Blake and Allen Ginsberg

Abstract

This essay presents a multimodal analysis and interpretation of an annotated photograph by Allen Ginsberg from 1953 and an engraved plate titled Laocoön by William Blake from circa 1818. The aim is to propose a method for analysing and interpreting how words and images interact as multimodal elements to create meaning. The proposed method is in turn adapted from existent approaches to multimodal images from the field of sociosemiotics. In the essay mainly sociosemiotic and cultural historical perspectives were used to interpret the results. The results showed the photograph by Allen Ginsberg to combine the multimodal elements in order to document both his private life as well as that of the Beat generation. In the Laocoön the combination of multimodal elements produced a veritable delta of possible meaning through the integration of word and text ranging from political commentary to art critical debate.