Thursday, October 27, 2005
Vivid words/phrases
One vivid word and phrase I chose came from Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. The vivid word is lackluster. I took this word from the sentence: “On a dark day, or a hazy one, everything’s washed out and lackluster but the water.” I took this word because I think it gives a great depiction of a dark and looming day. It’s a grey and dark word that sets a great tone. I chose the ending phrase “The breeze is the merest puff, but you yourself sail headlong and breathless under the gale force of the spirit”. I chose this because I think it gives great life to the words. It gives a flowing sense of freedom, which livens up the work. The other vivid word and phrase I chose are from Diane Ackerman’s An Alchemy of Mind. I chose the vivid word voluptuous, in the sentence “Its blunt as a skunk, and real gossip hound, but also voluptuous, clever, playful and forgiving.” I chose this vivid word because I think it has a great effect of giving the brain characteristics of a human. Even further it sounds almost sexual, and scandalous. It’s a female personification of something that is nothing like a woman. It’s a great effect and really sets off this sentence, and makes it appeal to me. I chose the phrase: “Sometimes it’s hard to imagine the art and beauty of the brain, because it seems too abstract and hidden an empire, a dense jungle of neurons. This phrase has two really good parts. First saying the brain is an “empire”. I think that’s a great word to describe the brain. The second is calling the brain a dense jungle of neurons. The word “jungle” is a great word that makes you think of the brain as a dense and unpredictable jungle. It has a great effect to bring life to the phrase.