Language

Words are like music. 


In music, as in writing, you have melodies- you have bars (sentences) that soar and swoop. String together bars and you have songs (stories, poems). Music tells stories, using sounds; you have long notes and short notes, high and low, loud and quiet, staccato or soft and gentle. You have all of these in words; you have sharp fricatives,   smooth vowels and so much more. You can hear a language that you don't understand a word of, but just the sounds of the words and the voice of the speaker tell you everything the speaker is saying. 


There is little that gives me greater joy than writing, then reading aloud the words I have written, as long as it turned out the way I hoped; the feeling of words flowing, the tongue hitting the top of my mouth and my teeth and producing sounds that express far more than just the words on a page, which express so much already. The natural way words are said, shouted, whispered, that tell you so much; the way you need no musical talent to produce something musical and lyrical and beautiful. 


So much is hidden behind the black and white shapes on a page. There's always so much more underneath the ink that you can find simply by reading, not just seeing but hearing the words too; hearing the way the sounds of the words can bring about feelings that the meanings alone can only tell you about. A great poet uses rhyme and rhythm, alliteration and stanzas, isn't confined by them. A great poet takes a feeling, an idea, a simple observation, and expresses it in a form that's beautiful and amazing. When you can read a story and see all of it, imagine the characters and the setting in such detail that you finish the book almost believing you are that character, and it makes you see the world differently- that's a sign of great writing.


Words are music. With words you can build empires of stories. You can both enlighten and conceal, you can provoke any emotion you wish. With words you can express anything you like, and understand the minds of any other person. Words are beautiful and wonderful and are as much a force to be harnessed as they are a tool, and they are there for anyone to use and enjoy.