Dirda on Language

Peter Edman

Relating to the item below from Stephen Talbott on the potential decline of language, there is a fascinating piece from critic Michael Dirda in the Washington Post Book World.

W. H. Auden used to warn against those who read the Bible for its prose. Ignore this advice. The hoopla of the next few weeks should be interrupted from time to time with quiet moments when we reflect on our lives and the years past and to come, and one of the best ways to do this is by meditating on grave and noble sentences.

Dirda is highlighting a new edition of the Book of Common Prayer (1559). He offers a spirited defense of oratory, a rejection of the idea that efficiency in language is the only virtue. Even for those in business, leadership is more than decision-making; it is casting a vision for your organization, and that type of communication requires both practice and a deep well to draw from. 

In English there are five main sources for this kind of religious eloquence: The King James version of the Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan, the hymns of writers like Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley and others, and the classical traditions of oratory and homily. What links them all is a Shaker plainness and cleanness of diction, just barely covering profound spiritual conviction and emotion. This is, in short, the speech of men and women doing the Lord’s work, honoring him and praising him with due reverence, ceremony and fervor. . . .

In our era of so much bland speech-making, we sometimes forget about this sheer power of oratory. Great preachers even now preserve its tradition, one in which human elocution alone, backed by passionate conviction and a desire to save souls, can bring people to tears, to their knees or to their feet. Think, for a supreme example, of Martin Luther King Jr.

One thinks, too, of Abraham Lincoln, so steeped in the Bible and the rhythms of the language that his speeches were nearly seamless in their imagery and evocation. More recently, the writing of Frederick Buechner, who draws from these wells, exhibits similar characteristics. Those of us who do not have a regular interaction with the Book of Common Prayer (which even in its current editions retains some power) would do well to spend the occasional free moment with materials from these traditions.

The Pilgrim’s Progress is available in paperback or as electronic text. The Book of Common Prayer in several editions, with commentary, is available here among other places.

Gleanings, Mon 05 Dec 2005