Home

Politics Decaying Writing in Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language”

According to the author of “Politics and the English Language”, George Orwell, our level of English is declining due to politics. Although politicians may have started the trend of being vague, modern English writers have adapted the same bad habits as well. By doing so, what politicians do becomes generally accepted and continues to be found in modern writing.

There are many ways to see that the English language is going downhill. Using excerpts from five different pieces of writing, it was demonstrated that these modern pieces did not exhibit imagery or clearly express what may have been intended. Orwell goes on to present examples of how authors try to save time and use shortcuts in their writing while still trying to appear knowledgeable. Instead of coming up with new metaphors to help explain ideas, authors may use old phrases even if their meaning and original context are not fully understood. Phrases are now favoured over single words, even with verbs; modern writers would rather use pre-made combinations of words than search for the appropriate term that provides greater meaning. Diction is often chosen in an attempt to make sentences sound greater than they actually are; many writers believe that biased statements may not come across as so if they sound scientific and intelligent. Therefore, big words are stuck in sentences and foreign expressions are used because these writers think they are better than English ones, even when there is an English equivalent. In comparison to these pretentious words, some writing is full of words that are meaningless or have multiple meanings. For some writers, it may be convenient not to have set definitions for the words they choose to use; readers are allowed to interpret messages themselves.

To show another example of these shortcuts in use, Orwell translated a sentence from Ecclesiastes to modern English to demonstrate how writing has changed. The first sentence, from Ecclesiastes, contained more words but fewer syllables and the words are common in everyday use. It was full of vivid imagery that portrayed a clear and descriptive message. The second sentence, the translated one, was composed of fewer words but more syllables and almost half the words were from foreign roots. Images and descriptors were removed and condensed which makes the sentence vaguer.

The idea of politics as the source of poor writing in English was further examined. When watching politicians address the public, they may appear to be spewing out words like a machine, somewhat unconscious of what they are saying. Political discussions tend to be vague, because details about negative decisions, such as war, may be too much for some to handle. By trying to eliminate bad images and consequently undesirable opinions, politicians defend their decisions by creating discrepancies in between the truth and what is said. These habits become widely imitated by others and cause the use of the language to suffer.

Although many people have taken on a political style of writing, Orwell claims it is possible to save the decline of the English language. A set of rules were laid out in the essay that individual readers should use to improve expressive writing. The reader is encouraged to not use metaphors or phrases regularly seen in other writing, use short words wherever possible, remove unnecessary words, use an active voice, and replace foreign or scientific words with common English ones. Some sayings are no longer used because they have been criticized by journalists; the reader could easily do the same. It may not be possible to change the way political messages are written or to change everyone all at once, but it would be good for some of us to take action and perhaps others will follow.

The Battle between Logic and Faith in the Words of Robert Kendall

In the poem “Faith”, Robert Kendall expresses his opinion that faith is ultimately greater than everything and cannot be destroyed by logic. Through five different stages, the electronic poem has text that moves and rearranges itself as new words or letters appear. His ideas are presented in a creative and thought-provoking manner.

At the first stage of the poem, the word “logic” falls down and collides with the title “Faith”. It does this multiple times, but “logic” is unable to move the title or change its shape in any way. Instead, it simply bounces off and fades away. This section shows that faith is stronger than logic.

There is an attempt to push logic out of the mind. At the same time, the narrator questions whether or not the mind can continue to move forward and have faith, even if it has some twists and turns to get around. It is difficult to avoid giving into logic when it is so apparent and in front of you. The words “red”, “winking”, and “neon” flash on the screen in the third stage which causes attention to be focused on them. These adjectives are used to describe logic. Although it is tough, the narrator continues to resist giving in. The state of mind presented is positive and willing to hold onto hope and faith. However, there is an easy option to allow the mind to go to the dark side and be corrupted by logic.

There is an edge that the narrator then approaches, the division between logic and faith. No longer able to make sense of why faith is being held onto, it seems as though it would be best to surrender to logic. But instead of giving in, the narrator no longer listens to whatever his mind is telling him. He takes a jump, a leap of faith, into the unknown. It can be interpreted that the narrator is not sure where he will land, but that he has faith he will end up in a good place. Others may not agree with such a decision and could consequently perceive the individual as being foolish. Not many words can necessarily explain why this action was taken, but the reader is told that “leap” is faith’s defining word as it zooms in and becomes the largest item on the screen.

In the last stage, a summary is given of how the message of the poem should have been perceived. All the words that were distributed on different places of the screen fell to the bottom. The last word to gracefully move down is “faith”, which sits atop all of the other words. This shows that no matter what, even when everything else falls down and logic tries to break you, your faith will still prevail. It can also be noted that the biblical style font used for “faith” is older than that of the modern text throughout the rest of the poem. Perhaps Kendall used different fonts to demonstrate that faith has been around for a while and nothing new, like logic, can replace it.