Word appreciation--some thoughts about writing
Sandra Dodd
For Christmas my husband gave me the first season of Saturday Night Live on DVD. Paul Simon hosted the second show. He just sang and sang and sang, as the format hadn't been settled to the modern musical-guest-does-two-numbers, one at 11:10 or so and one at 11:45.
Art Garfunkle came on to sing The Boxer with him, and they did a verse I didn't know. I couldn't understand the second verse so I went to google, but I thought the words were so simple and common it might be hard to find. I found it, though, with lots of commentary on the when and who and where or previous performances. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boxer
But looking at that idea of the very common words, I saw the simplicity of the words, and the beauty of the ideas:
Now the years are rolling by me
They are rocking evenly
I am older than I once was
Younger than I'll be, that's not unusual.
No, it isn't strange
After changes upon changes
We are more or less the same
After changes we are more or less the same
Too often when people advise others on writing, whether it's a teacher or a parent or a friend, they recommend bigger, longer and more words. I think this is a mistake.
Earnest Hemingway wrote (unfortunately in criticism of another author, but still...)
Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don’t know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use.
–ERNEST HEMINGWAY
Here from Bartleby's, Joyce Kilmer's poem which was a standard for schoolkids to memorize in the early 20th century in the U.S.:
http://www.bartleby.com/104/119.html
119. Trees |
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I THINK that I shall never see |
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A poem lovely as a tree. |
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A tree whose hungry mouth is prest |
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Against the sweet earth's flowing breast; |
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A tree that looks at God all day, | 5 |
And lifts her leafy arms to pray; |
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A tree that may in summer wear |
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A nest of robins in her hair; |
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Upon whose bosom snow has lain; |
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Who intimately lives with rain. | 10 |
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Poems are made by fools like me, |
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But only God can make a tree. |
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Kilmer was in his 20's when he wrote that, and then died in WWII at the age of 31.
Except for the word "intimately," and "poem" which is from Greek, way back, those words were in English since before there was an English--very ancient words. And yet they could be put into a new arrangement in the 20th century that would inspire and last.
Another Paul Simon song (written with Bruce Woodley) is full of ancient, small words:
I should have known you'd bid me farewell.
There's a lesson to be learned from this
and I learned it very well
Now I know you're not
the only starfish in the sea.
If I never hear your name again
it's all the same to me.
And I think it's gonna be all right.
Yeah, the worst is over,
Now the morning sun is shining like a Red Rubber Ball.
"Ornament" and "confide" are newer English words ("newer" meaning hundreds of years instead of thousands). That is some fine use of Iron-Age words.
I'm saving these notes and will add to them at http://sandradodd.com/smallwords
Sandra
Schuyler Waynforth
And I think it's gonna be all right.Yeah, the worst is over,Now the morning sun is shining like a Red Rubber Ball.
"Ornament" and "confide" are newer English words ("newer" meaning hundreds of years instead of thousands). That is some fine use of Iron-Age words.
I'm saving these notes and will add to them at http://sandradodd.com/smallwords
Sandra
Schuyler