Weighing a word is the most important and most difficult function for a writer. Even more so for a poet. Meter dictates rhyme, and reason, while free verse holds a certain flow; an essence from the soul of the author, put in the narration like living magic into a world once believed to have none.
This Ain’t Easy:
According to Mark Twain:
Writing is easy, all you have to do is cross out the wrong words.
However, it’s quite the opposite. Finding the right word for the context is difficult. There’s an infinite number of ways to describe a raven colored night filled with balls of light. Which begs the question: Which word is right?
Well, that’s easy. First, one must look at the style in which they intend to write. If the author enjoys free verse, then rules are broken. However, if the author prefers structure, than any one of the classical forms: sonnets, limericks, haikus, rondeaus; dictates diction. From there, one must create a focused theme.
A Perfect Example:
In the Shakespearian Sonnet “18” the 14 lines of the iambic pentameter paint the picture of a love being compared to a summer day. Looking at the first line:
Shall I compare thee to a Summer’s Day?
There’s clear reason for why each word is within the sentence. First, Iambic Pentameter dictates five feet per line. But that’s the easy part…understanding the rules…next comes the hard part.
The Breakdown:
This’s where a writer must ask themselves, what does “SHALL” do within the sentence? What does the word do in general? Well, the word itself is a Modal Axillary Verb: which implies a future suggestion.
Once that’s established, a writer should ask themselves why the word “shall” cannot be replaced with “can” or “will”? While each one is a Modal Auxiliary, sure, each one is used for a specific reason: “can” implies an ability in the main verb, where “will” is definitive.
Between these three Modal Auxiliaries, there’s only one that holds promise for the context of the sonnet. That word is “Shall”, unequivocally. It creates longing within the narrative, implying the idea of togetherness…rather than an ability in the “self” or the affirmative “I”.
From there, the subject, verb, and object come in order, I compare thee, which leaves the prepositional phrase: to a summer’s day. It does all work. However, understanding why the prepositional phrase does all the work is to understand what the preposition modifies. Here, it’s the verb: compare. This means the adverbial now holds the weight because, without the adverbial, the entire sentence doesn’t make sense.
Redundancy:
This is why diction is important for poets. A single word changes the entire context of the line, which changes the tone of the stanza, which then rearranges the mood of the poem.
Written by Gregory Gonzalez
Writer Bio: Gregory Gonzalez graduated from Sierra Nevada University, where he earned both a BFA and an MFA in Creative Writing. He's studied under and many other wonderful artists, and his works can be seen in the San Joaquin Review Online, Hive Avenue: A Literary Journal, the Dillydoun Review, Wingless Dreamer Publishing, Bridge Eight: Film & TV, Drunk Monkeys: Literature and Film, Causeway Literature, Nat 1 LLC, Vermilion Literature, Writing Workshops, and Havik Literary Journal.