Language Within A Language
Writing is A Lost Art form Like Music or Conversation
Recently while having coffee with a friend and fellow writer, we discussed the intricacies of writing and the use of “high language”. Although we didn’t quite land on a consensus definition of what constitutes high language, there was just a knowing. A knowing between two writers that says I can read between your lines and know what you mean.
- A knowing of where to focus an emphasis or a pause.
- A knowing of why you break up the paragraphs and sentences the way you do.
- A knowing that there is a hidden meaning behind the surface of your formal sentence structures and punctuation.
- A knowing that some rules aren’t really rules at all, but guidelines.
The writer who possesses the ability to use high language knows that it’s ok to color outside of the lines; or better yet that there are no lines.
Writing is a lost art form because we live in a generation where the destination is much more valued than the journey. Writing allows the writer and reader to journey together down a path with an equivalent value placed on the journey and the destination.
As a writer you can communicate the nuanced undertones of how you feel, how you want the reader to feel, or both at the same time. You can instigate thought in the smallest of phrases or use sentence structures to zoom in on a point or position while allowing room for your reader to come to their own conclusion.
“High language” as my friend called it, allows for you to communicate within a language — both verbally and nonverbally — without ever making a sound.
As a reader you might often hear others talk about how some book “changed their life”. How can a text have the power to change the life of its reader if it weren’t working on something greater than their intellect?
Words have power!
Properly strung together words can create and erase realities.
The art and science of writing is like the composition of music, or the arrangement of a speech. There’s a technique to it, but there is also a colorful display of genius that escapes most people.
My challenge to you is to write something, anything today.
Use the language you know and soon too will you be among those who communicate in high language.
