I have returned - and Reflections on the Value of Words

Proud to announce that I'm back!

Yes, after a long hiatus, I have returned to my blog, ready to keep up the work and try to churn out thoughts, reflections, and commentary on a regular basis once again.  I hope you missed me!  But even if you didn't notice that I was gone, I will still submit my thoughts to the vast world of the internet for whatever it's worth.

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As I sit here in my favorite coffee place (Hail, O haven of the dual-finned mermaid!), the rainy atmosphere behind that sheer wall of glass bids me reflect upon a very enjoyable pastime.

That is, cuddling on the couch with a good book. 

I have been reading one lately, compiled and introduced by Michael Ravitch and Diane Ravitch (a mother and son team) entitled The English Reader: What every literate person needs to know.  It's been a very intriguing read thus far.  Essentially, the Ravitch team has brought together under the shelter of a single cover a brief survey of essential English literature, spanning the period between Queen Elizabeth's speech before the invasion of the Spanish in 1588 and Winston Churchill's speeches before the House of Commons in 1940.  In between, the book offers explorations of poetry, fiction, essays, and more from the most enduring works to come out of England.

It drew my eye as a way to expose myself to more literature without having to pore through entire works.  This way, I can get a sampling of great literature and take notes about the authors and works I really get into to look up later. 

I bring this up because in my reading of this book, I have reflected on the importance of classic literature.  I used to believe that the best books to read were fiction works, because if you live every day in reality, why would you want to read about it too?  But I realize now that this is a flawed outlook on literature.  I was reading an essay by Thomas Hobbes (it was an excerpt from his seventeenth century work Leviathan) the other day.  I read a paragraph and I had to reread it because it was just so deep! 

With these essays and even the poetry of some authors such as Alexander Pope, Thomas Gray, and Oliver Goldsmith, I realized that words have value.  And just like merchandise, values change.  Three and four hundred years ago, writing and publishing were much more difficult and costly than they are today (as evidenced by the ease at which I write and publish this blog presently).  I believe the words that people wrote in the past had more value and weight.  Therefore the works written were perhaps denser than things we may read today.  This could also be a product of today's "skimming" society.  You can't afford to skim over Pope's An Essay on Criticism.  It's very deep, thoughtful, and meaningful writing because it had to be.  Today, we can afford to just type away our thoughts and superficialities.  Paper is ubiquitous, digital media offer unlimited space for writing... in short, it's a different world to write in.

I say this because perhaps we should read the literary classics of our language not only to stimulate our minds and take part in timeless wisdom and commentary, but also to realize the immense value words used to have. 

Do we appreciate our words today?  I submit that we do not.  Think about it.

I close today's post with a fitting quote from Bacon's essay Of Studies, which I found extremely interesting: "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested... Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.  And therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit: and if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know, that he doth not."

May your quills ever be inspired,
J Cole