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The Write Way 3 December 2004 When the Muse Strikes ... Greetings, I had a visit from Lavinia during the week; she was excited about a book she'd just read and wanted to lend it to me so we could discuss it. When she enthused about the marvellous writing style and said she would love to be able to write like that, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and made for the nearest exit.
We next meet our hero at a business meeting where he's trying to impress his new boss; the tension mounts as he decides whether or not to tell the boss about some insider information he has and then ... "Ethelred's anxiety exploded. He rose from his chair, like a mummy being unwrapped, and blurted out:... " (Now I don't know about you, but I visualise the unwrapping of a mummy to be one of those things that, by necessity, has to take place with the mummy in the horizontal, or even vertical position as opposed to the sitting-in-a-chair position. Or is it just me?) Come with me now as we accompany our hero to the boss's private beach house, where the writer shows evidence of a close encounter with the wrong end of his Muse ... "Everything was still and peaceful, yet nothing was stagnant. The land sloped from the house into reeds and cattails that shimmered their reflections in a quiet pond that licked the dunes, dunes pressed against dark sea and pale sky on the horizon. The elements blended and transformed endlessly in the evening light, while the crash and recession of the waves etched a sense of the eternal on the landscape. (No, we're not finished yet ... the paragraph continues.) He [Ethelred] observed how the house commanded the land, organically growing out of the earth in layers, like a giant elm tree, porch, living rooms, bedrooms, attic, and widow's walk rising gently, like the swell in the ocean in front of it." (Umm ... Does the term 'mixed metaphor' mean anything to you?) Several chapters later, here we are, back at the dunes, "The roofline disappeared in the thickness; trees and dunes were etched like particles that had lost their binding matter. A foghorn sounded so commandingly in the distance that one believed he actually saw the invisible tanker." (Sigh ... Where to begin?) And now the action hots up, and Ethelred's Fair Love, Eggberta (not her real name) tells him that the jam he's in isn't his fault. "Ethelred, it's not your fault, and it's not your decision." The writer explains, "Eggberta's exculpatory language seemed like a substitute for real feeling." A little later on the same page, she tries to tell Ethelred to snap out of his sudden attack of conscience and not to cross the boss and go back on the deal. He demurs, and how does she react? "Eggberta's psyche became more threatened with extinction; her nostrils dilated in panic." (A graduate of Over-acting101, I believe.) Lavinia finished her rendition with the final words of the book, "Ethelred's youth was a light shining faintly through the blackest night at the bottom of the abyss. A small voice deep inside him countered his despair .... 'Now I can begin.' " (A small voice deep inside me wondered if this meant a sequel was on the horizon or at the bottom of the abyss.) Dabbing at her eyes, Lavinia sighed and closed the book. "He's the most incredible writer," she said. Too true. It certainly passes my understanding how this book made it into print. Similes and metaphors, used with such reckless abandon by Ethelred's esteemed creator, are wonderful tools ... in the right hands. A simile is a comparison that formally likens one thing to another, and usually uses the words "like" or "as." I've got an idea! Let's play 'Spot the Difference' with the following figures of speech: "My love is like a red, red rose ... "(Robert Burns) "As virtuous men pass mildly away ... "I wandered lonely as a cloud "Then the whining schoolboy, with his
satchel OR "He rose from his chair, like a mummy being unwrapped ..." Did you pick the odd one out? Well done! Now try some metaphors. My 1877 Manual of Composition and Rhetoric claims that a metaphor "comes nearest to painting, enabling us to clothe at will the most abstract ideas with life, form, color, and motion, and to "give airy nothing a local habitation and name.' " "All the world's a stage, "Full many a glorious morning have I seen "The apparition of these faces in the crowd; OR "Eggberta's psyche became more threatened with extinction." Hmmm ... I'll leave it to you to assess the examples above. Read more about metaphors here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphor This week's quiz: See how you go matching these poetic terms with their meanings: alliteration, elegy, assonance, foot, onomatopoeia, personification, accent, epic, antithesis, apostrophe 1. the repetition of vowel sounds 2. words that are spoken to a person who is absent or imaginary, or to an object or abstract idea 3. the prominence or emphasis given to a syllable or word 4. the repetition of initial consonant sounds 5. a poem that laments the death of a person, or one that is simply sad and thoughtful 6. figure of speech in which words and phrases with opposite meanings are balanced against each other 7. the use of words which imitate sound 8. a figure of speech which endows animals, ideas, or inanimate objects with human traits or abilities 9. two or more syllables that together make up the smallest unit of rhythm in a poem 10.a long, serious poem that tells the story of a heroic figure 'Tis the season to be jolly, tra-la-la-la-la ... And to express my thanks to you for putting up with all my rambles through the year, I've reduced the price of all my writing courses and ebooks ... but just until the end of the Silly Season. Click below for details. Remember, you can now get your very own copy of the modestly named, A Word for Everything Quiz Book ... just in time for those rainy Holiday days. Click here: http://www.write101.com/orderform.htm While on the subject or Things Poetical, you may remember Double Dactyls ... No? Here's an example:
and Higgledy-piggledy If you'd like to try your hand at writing the odd double dactyl (the odder the better), start here: http://www.stinky.com/dactyl/dactyl.html Last week's quiz: All these are derived from Greek words ... match 'em up: hecatomb, boustrophedon, enchiridion, nepenthe, colophon, omphaloskepsis, diaglyph, miasma, panopticon, isypheans 1. a sunken or depressed engraving or carving on a stone or gem (as opposed to cameo) - DIAGLYPH 2. a publisher's emblem printed in a book (usually on the title page) - COLOPHON 3. unhealthy vapors rising from the ground or other sources - MIASMA 4. a great sacrifice; an ancient Greek or Roman sacrifice of 100 oxen - HECATOMB 5. an ancient writing system: having alternate lines written in opposite directions; literally `as the ox ploughs' - BOUSTROPHEDON 6. a concise reference book providing specific information about a subject or location - ENCHIRIDION 7. A drug used by the ancients to give relief from pain and sorrow (possibly opium or hasheesh); anything soothing and comforting - NEPENTHE 8. a circular prison with cells distributed around a central surveillance station; an area where everything is visible - PANOPTICON 9. contemplation of one's navel - OMPHALOSKEPSIS 10. extremely difficult and futile; endlessly laborious - SISYPHEAN Our Map of the World has some fascinating glimpses into the places our Merry Band call home. Drop by if you haven't been back for some time and don't forget to read the messages. (Just click List) : http://pub37.bravenet.com/guestmap/view.php?usernum=3170114826 A Little Something Extra Since we've been waxing lyrical and not so today, here's a bit of a leg-up for anyone who wants to pen a poem. It's a UK site that is a great resource centre, with pages of articles on both traditional poetry and modernist versions. You can choose from poetry as pleasure or poetry as therapy and all ports in between. Putting your thoughts and feelings
down on paper really does give you a sense of control, so if you're going
through a rough patch in your life at the moment, or if you're soaring on the
wings of happiness and want to express all this, write a poem! The poetry
magic site will help get you started. http://www.poetrymagic.co.uk/ It comes from the Latin afflare 'to breathe upon.' And this is the same root that has given us inflate, deflate, the French soufflé and that word you thought of before: flatulent! Oxymoron of the week: modern art And how could I go past this old favouritre Latin phrase, given this week's topic?
Regards, Jennifer P.S. Want to donate to the upkeep of this newsletter? Here's how: 1. Pay by PayPal:
2. Click here to subscribe for a full year OR 3. Use your credit card on my secure order form: http://www.write101.com/fund.htm (You can also access the PayPal subscription link from this page if the link above didn't work for you. With PayPal, you can use your credit card, PayPal account or pay online using your own cheque account.) OR 4. Send a cheque (made payable to Jennifer Stewart): http://www.write101.com/fund.htm To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: mailto:WritingTips-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com or go to the web site, at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WritingTips This menu will also let you change your subscription between digest and normal mode. Copyright 2004 Jennifer Stewart Individual articles copyrighted by
their authors.
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