tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post4420435318188226623..comments2024-02-26T00:59:26.907-08:00Comments on Ana the Imp: The power of the wordAnastasia F-Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-40124889912027757232011-05-03T02:47:17.616-07:002011-05-03T02:47:17.616-07:00Rehan, I'm in a rush at the moment but I will ...Rehan, I'm in a rush at the moment but I will check out your links later today. Thank so much.Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-11137922045292411692011-05-02T22:00:41.141-07:002011-05-02T22:00:41.141-07:00I was a poet. That was why I failed.
My faith in ...<i>I was a poet. That was why I failed. <br />My faith in this chimera brought an end <br />To all my father's hopes. In later years, <br />Now old and ill, he asked me once again <br />To carry on the firm, I still refused. <br />And now when I behold fresh-published, new, <br />A further volume of my verse, I see <br />His kind grey eyes look woundedly at mine, <br />I see his workman seeking other jobs, <br />And that red granite obelisk that marks <br />The family grave in Highgate Cemetery <br />Points an accusing finger at sky. </i><br /><br />(Sir John Betjeman. <i>Summoned by Bells</i>. John Murray, 1960). <br /><br /><b>A treasury of words is always handy in any situation. Indeed the most <i>perfervid</i> of enthusiasts with a passion for words like our mutual selves, treasure a <i>jittery</i> delight in reading a thesaurus or dictionary, as if it were a novel about words instead of a source of reference. Arthur Scargill wrote that his father read the dictionary every day: 'He says your life depends on your power to master words.' <br /><br />Perhaps this obsession for words can best be illustrated in the case of poets. The writer W.H Auden used volume I of the <i>Oxford English Dictionary</i> as a chair cushion at his dinner table, Plath and other poets are known to have ransacked their thesauruses and dictionaries. Not for ideas, but for words that were, so to speak, on their tips of their minds. <br /><br />Auden expressed it thus:</b><br /><br /><i>How can I know what I think till I see what I say?</i> A poet writes 'the chestnut's comfortable root', and then changes this to 'the chestnut's customary root'. In this alteration, there is no question of replacing one emotion by another, or of strengthening an emotion, but of discovering what the emotion is. The emotion is unchanged, but waiting to be identified, like a telephone number one can't remember. '8357. No that's not it. 8557, 8457, no, it's on the tip of my tongue, wait a moment, I've got it, 8657. That's it." <br /><br />(W. H. Auden. 'Squares & Oblongs.' 1948. <i>The Complete Works of W. H. Auden</i>. Edited by Edward Mendelson. Faber & Faber, 2002.345).<br /><br /><b>I have immortalised Lynne Truss’ <i>Eats Shoots & Leaves</i> in my poem 'Ophiuchos' as a (not too) hidden reference!<br /><br />I have been keeping a journal for the last 2 decades. I have also noticed that my writing is closely related to the course of my reading. The greatest writer in the west is Shakespeare who was not extremely literate. The greatest book of the east was revealed/inspired to one who could not write or read at all. <br /><br />You may find interesting my</b> <a href="http://rehanqayoompoet.blogspot.com/2011/04/parveen-shakir-reciting-vahy.html" rel="nofollow">adaptatation</a> <b>of an ode by the Urdu poet Parveen Shakir of how the revelation of Allah first came to Muhammad ﷺ. It is uncannily identical to how the English poet Cædmon was first inspired.<br /><br />Also, here are 2 related blogs. From</b> <a href="http://www.myspace.com/architectonica/blog/539598325" rel="nofollow">Hollace M Metzger</a> <b>and my friend</b> <a href="http://jen-campbell.blogspot.com/2011/03/why-i-write.html" rel="nofollow">Jen Campbell</a> <b>who writes because she's 'not supposed to be able to.'</b>Rehan Qayoomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02391797858691917631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-75687421054727254532011-04-20T01:20:49.493-07:002011-04-20T01:20:49.493-07:00LH,oh, absolutely. I wasn't for a moment sugg...LH,oh, absolutely. I wasn't for a moment suggesting an instrumental link between quantity of reading and quality of writing. It's possible to read heaps and still be a rotten writer.Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-71336667960661268972011-04-20T01:18:32.666-07:002011-04-20T01:18:32.666-07:00Yun Yi, you are tremendously kind. :-)Yun Yi, you are tremendously kind. :-)Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-12265126837877238332011-04-20T01:17:45.456-07:002011-04-20T01:17:45.456-07:00Jay, apart from fall in love for the first time! ...Jay, apart from fall in love for the first time! I've almost finished <i>Phineas Finn</i>, after which comes <i>The Eustace Diamonds</i>, the third in the series. I'm so glad to have headed you on this path. :-)Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-26694503245322991742011-04-20T01:14:07.763-07:002011-04-20T01:14:07.763-07:00Calvin, superbly put.Calvin, superbly put.Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-36767749476576437922011-04-20T00:30:40.276-07:002011-04-20T00:30:40.276-07:00Writing is a craft and as such, must be constantly...Writing is a craft and as such, must be constantly nurtured, nourished and developed by anyone who aims to be a good writer. Reading is essential in this, but it is how you read, not what or how much. I know intelligent people who are voracious readers, yet cannot write for toffee. I am a fan of self-help books of the Lynn Truss type. Among many, I would cite the Economist Style Guide as a very useful tool. Simon Heffer's recent book is unfortunately more schoolmasterly than masterly, unfortunately. George Orwell, in my view, is probably technically and stylistically the best writer in the English language ever. All would-be writers should read, at the very least, Why I Write.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-4325438933261271802011-04-19T18:38:02.202-07:002011-04-19T18:38:02.202-07:00I should say, also, that it was YOU who led me - i...I should say, also, that it was YOU who led me - indirectly - to Trollope, as his The Small House at Allington was what the heroine of William Trevor's short story, "After Rain" was reading on her holiday... :-)<br /><br />-JayAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-31209899779012694582011-04-19T18:26:41.568-07:002011-04-19T18:26:41.568-07:00influences are certainly very important, but i thi...influences are certainly very important, but i think the deciding factor for a good writer is come from inside, that innate "talent" on thinking and expressing with words articulately, which you certain possess.Yun Yihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06311104014692132715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-13358386002629108172011-04-19T17:58:18.462-07:002011-04-19T17:58:18.462-07:00It is indeed. I'm (sadly) near the end of his ...It is indeed. I'm (sadly) near the end of his autobiography and he's mentioned Phineas and Phineas Redux. AND Plantagenet Palliser was introduced in the first (and thus far only - soon to be remedied) Trollope novel that I've read, The Small House at Allington, although he had little to do with that story...<br /><br />-JayAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-50184291396025210792011-04-19T17:27:05.344-07:002011-04-19T17:27:05.344-07:00Yesterday I was ensnared in tax forms and had no t...Yesterday I was ensnared in tax forms and had no time to comment. There are over 71,000 pages in the US Tax Code - and an army of accountants and lawyers larger than the US military to interpret it. Is it any wonder the world of finance is in such a mess? <br /><br />I agree with you to a point, but must point out that language long predates writing, and much of the world's great literature was poem and song for uncounted generations before anyone thought to write it down. Writing is the voice made solid. Though it enters our perception through the eye, it is both 'seen' and 'heard' within the mind, where it can trigger the experience of a vastly more complex cascade of associations and nuances than are present in the bare print. Or not.<br /><br />Yes, writing is a craft, not in the mundane sense, but in its greatest sense. The encapsulation of images, ideas, memories in a breath of air, transfigured to scratches in clay or to squiggles of soot on goatskin or papyrus and passed across time and space to other eyes and minds far removed . . . that is a great magic that has built empires and recorded their fall. <br /><br />There is no other wand that carries so much power as the pen. One might almost fear to pick it up.Calvinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10640148105202971907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-77741715821488053502011-04-19T15:47:47.383-07:002011-04-19T15:47:47.383-07:00Jay, now here’s a coincidence: I’m now in what I’m...Jay, now here’s a coincidence: I’m now in what I’m referring to as my Trollope period! At present I’m working my way through the Palliser novels before moving on to the Chronicles of Barsetshire. There they are, all lined up in the shelf above my desk, staring at me balefully, patiently waiting their turn. :-)Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-52073531930050779652011-04-19T15:41:37.679-07:002011-04-19T15:41:37.679-07:00Jeremy, I don’t know these people, or their songs....Jeremy, I don’t know these people, or their songs. What I would say as a general principle, though, is that song-writing is a case apart, where the words may be driven by the music, where good prose and strict literacy is not absolutely necessary. “We don’t need no education”, the British band Pink Floyd sang in one of their songs. The rhythm’s good; the assonance is good; but it’s still illiterate.Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-81254210446179500972011-04-19T15:34:44.586-07:002011-04-19T15:34:44.586-07:00Meredith, thanks. You have also given me inspirat...Meredith, thanks. You have also given me inspiration, as you will discover in a bit. :-)Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-88124229930053736522011-04-19T15:33:50.718-07:002011-04-19T15:33:50.718-07:00E, I see it just as a hypothetical case. No matte...E, I see it just as a hypothetical case. No matter; I'm glad you liked the post. :-)Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-49184058266623941282011-04-19T15:31:06.996-07:002011-04-19T15:31:06.996-07:00Ketaki, thank you so much for the inspiration. :-...Ketaki, thank you so much for the inspiration. :-)Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-82322900064821141732011-04-19T15:30:17.613-07:002011-04-19T15:30:17.613-07:00M, the sentence is unexceptional and the meaning o...M, the sentence is unexceptional and the meaning obvious. It’s rather a pity that you can’t construe it properly. But there is more here, is there not? I do not mind criticism. What I do mind mean-spirited pettiness, which you clearly have in abundance.Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-68361996687010895262011-04-19T15:25:05.800-07:002011-04-19T15:25:05.800-07:00Mark, I just hope Text Speak is not the wave of th...Mark, I just hope Text Speak is not the wave of the future. If anything it's even worse than New Speak!Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-30339753769930771782011-04-19T15:23:30.020-07:002011-04-19T15:23:30.020-07:00BOb, you put it so well. I feel exactly the same....BOb, you put it so well. I feel exactly the same. I savour words.Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-85862111308942339922011-04-19T15:22:34.855-07:002011-04-19T15:22:34.855-07:00Anthony, they go hand in hand.Anthony, they go hand in hand.Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-20931380679231011942011-04-19T10:15:37.694-07:002011-04-19T10:15:37.694-07:00Hi Ana,
Very well stated (as always)! I remember ...Hi Ana,<br /><br />Very well stated (as always)! I remember your having mentioned Orwell in the past, and maybe this time I will actually look into the works you reference. :-) I hadn't heard of Eats, Shoots, and Leaves before, but the title alone is curious enough to make me investigate that one as well.<br /><br />I've been recently reading Anthony Trollope's autobiography, and was reminded that, without exception, autobiographies of famous writers have always fascinated me. How they go about their business, how they became skilled, how they improved, etc. Wonderful stuff.<br /><br />I still have yet to read Ulysses(!) - I know, I know; flagrant cultural literacy foul - and must get to it someday. I've only read Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, which I loved in spite of the opening paragraphs... :-)<br /><br />-JayAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-25571003094966015772011-04-19T07:17:46.183-07:002011-04-19T07:17:46.183-07:00"If it is good I can guarantee you that the w..."If it is good I can guarantee you that the writer in question is almost certainly a liar."<br /><br />What about the great songwriters of Country music? I'm thinking Charlie and Ira Louvin, Townes Von Zandt, Hank Williams Sr., Loretta Lynn among others. Also, have you heard of cowboy poetry?<br /><br />http://cowboypoetry.com/thorp1921.htm#Chisholm<br /><br />Still, I will agree that a certain kind of writer (and you are of this kind Ana) does have to be well-read, and without that certain kind of writer, the full tapestry of literature cannot be made.Jeremy Jansonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03218395232783877050noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-2112898333755325252011-04-19T06:59:12.145-07:002011-04-19T06:59:12.145-07:00You are right, your voice is very clear in your wr...You are right, your voice is very clear in your writing. I enjoy reading it.Meredithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04487570071978886397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-15639099712785083402011-04-19T05:27:10.899-07:002011-04-19T05:27:10.899-07:00don't see why the writer is being blamed for s...don't see why the writer is being blamed for somebody else saying he's good. also not sure what you mean by "clarity and example." i agree with everything else, though. good post!-E-https://www.blogger.com/profile/05375171079121062220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-65681251564033497442011-04-19T05:00:30.098-07:002011-04-19T05:00:30.098-07:00"I was taught to read by my mother before I s..."I was taught to read by my mother before I started school at the age of five."<br /><br />What started at the age of five? Being taught to read or school? It's amazing that we find such a sentence at the beginning of a post about good writing.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17189645902983419073noreply@blogger.com