Hope
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
I woke up this morning thinking about word choice. So, as you do, I looked up my favorite Emily Dickinson poem. Because I can't imagine anyone who knows more about word choice than Miss Dickinson.
When I was in college, I fancied myself a poet, and used to challenge myself by drawing the outline of a rabbit with one line. I tried not to lift the pencil from the paper or cross one line over the other, and the goal was to convey as much life as I could in the sparest of drawings.
Drawing and writing might not be an obvious link, but the connection is real. I picture drawing that rabbit when I'm writing short stories, as I'm pruning away anything that isn't essential. I googled 'word choice' and found a quote that I like. "With good word choice, the writer creates a mental picture for the reader by using words that are specific and accurate." (From: Kim's Korner 4 Teacher Talk)
Specific & accurate. Those are important concepts when you're trying to tell the truth about an imaginary situation. There's never any doubt the Emily Dickinson's words said exactly what she meant them to say, though for the rest of us, finding that level of discipline is a life-long process.
I don't really have any answers today. Mostly questions: how do you approach word choice? How do you know when the you're using the most specific and accurate words possible for a given situation?
Peace,
Liv
Flying Bird by Jiri Hodan
