THE METRE, THE MUSIC AND THE MASTER

THE METRE, THE MUSIC AND THE MASTER

The loading of language with a hyper-alliteration is a stylistic fault that ought to be eschewed if one is to mature into good writing. Writing should be soft and silky with a musical balance in metre that gives a caress to the words as they are released unto life. Lyricism must be there but mere jingling of words can never be the soul of expression. There must be meaning to what one says and just the right choice of words, natural and unloaded, so to say, that gives a fair mass to the phrases and the lined expression. Else, the worded sapling, too heavy for upward rise, fails to catch the air and withers by its own inertia.

Balance is then the key to writing as it is in every other form of artistic expression. Conciseness, clarity and correctness of diction must go hand in hand with syllabic balance. The sprightly dance of words will be only when words are well-set to form a perfect framework of articulate expression that is neither too long not too short but is just of the right length for their optimum coordinated conjoint existence. This is a natural sense that cannot be learnt and is simply there with the writer as an innate attribute and this is what constitutes genuine style which is the hallmark of great writing.

Mere display of vocabulary is not literature. Verbosity is not good writing. Balance is the key. If the sense be not there as to where to begin and where to stop, then such unbridled expression spells disaster for the printed piece. Also, there must be no attempt to impress the reader beyond seeking one's own satisfaction as to the effect produced by the juxtaposition of words that naturally flow out without any induction or application of force involved, for the writer himself is his first reader.

Naturalness, balance and flow are then the three attributes of good writing with a fair amount of depth of thought and factual content added to it which goes without saying it. The rest is the skill of communication. Here also there are two classes of writers -- one that caters to the audience largely and simplifies the mode of writing to an extent that it is accessible to a vast number of readers and the other that writes to oneself in self-communion and leaves the work for the select few to absorb or for posterity to cherish or, if fate so destines it to be, for its sinking into the ocean of oblivion amidst the tempest of time. These latter ones are truest to their trade for theirs is the act of spontaneous expression that compels them to write and then leave the stage for the next higher pursuit of inarticulate truth. These are the real writers of the word, the giver of life to literature.

The rest is for you, my reader, to reflect. So, I spare you with your precious moment for the same and seek your leave.

Written by Sugata Bose