Tag: words matter week 2011

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Words Matter Week 2011 Day 5: Most Captivating Writer

Moth or butterflyWords, like moths, are captured by writers who pin them to the page in various forms. What writer’s work most deftly captivates you? Why?

Difficult, difficult choice. However, I think I’ll go with Emily Dickinson, whose poetry captivated me from the very first encounter. Here are a few favorites:

I’m Nobody

I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Are you – Nobody – too?
Then there’s a pair of us?
Don’t tell! they’d advertise – you know!
How dreary – to be – Somebody!
How public – like a Frog –
To tell one’s name – the livelong June –
To an admiring Bog!
Much Madness is divinest Sense
Much Madness is divinest Sense —
To a discerning Eye —
Much Sense — the starkest Madness —
’Tis the Majority
In this, as All, prevail —
Assent — and you are sane —
Demur — you’re straightway dangerous —
And handled with a Chain —
“Hope” is the thing with feathers
“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
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 –
I’ve heard it in the chillest land –
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me.
The Bustle in a House
The Bustle in a House
The Morning after Death
Is solemnest of industries
Enacted opon Earth –
The Sweeping up the Heart
And putting Love away
We shall not want to use again
Until Eternity –
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Words

Words Matter Week 2011 Day 4: Mangled Words

Philichart elephantWords can be mangled, misused, or misunderstood. What is your funniest example of mangling, misuse, or misunderstanding?

Here’s a story that reaches far back into my childhood. I had a soft blue elephant toy, and his name was Philichart. One day my mother asked what “Philichart” meant.

“It’s from that song. You know, ‘Revive us again, philichart with thy love . . .'”

She wasn’t usually the hysterical type, so I was surprised when she laughed and laughed and laughed until tears ran.

“It’s not philichart,” she finally explained. “It’s ‘fill each heart.'”

Fill each heart or philichart, I still loved my little blue elephant.

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Words

Words Matter Week Day 2: Most Important Document in History

An illuminated text Words can change history. What speech or document do you believe to be most important? Why?

Since I’m writing a bit late on these prompts, I have the advantage of seeing what others have chosen. Many moving examples have been suggested, and most are or have been the “most important” speech or document of their age.

In choosing the one I believe to be most important, though, I think I will have to side with Hollee at HolleeDaze Ink who chose the Sermon on the Mount. It’s a concise outline of what Christianity looks like when practiced from the inside out, rather than from the outside in as the Pharisees had been doing.