150. To Communicate A Feeling

To write a text that communicates information is relatively straightforward. Provided I understand the rules of grammar and the accepted meanings of words, I can write sentences that carry whatever information I want to share. The reader can extract the information from my text just by comprehending the literal meanings of its sentences.

But to share a feeling or sense that cannot be directly communicated, I need to expand my approach. I need to use language in ways that bend and perhaps even break the rules of grammar or the norms of meaning. I need to use metaphor to allow language to do more than it is literally able to do.

At this point, I enter the domain of poetry. This is the case even if the text I am writing does not appear to be a poem. For writing in this domain is an aesthetic practice. Here, a text succeeds only when its beauty conveys the intended feeling or sense to the reader. To get there, I have to use words creatively so that they coalesce into a form that stretches past their literal meaning. But I cannot break every rule at the same time, because this will only alienate the reader. If I take the reader too far from what they already understand, they will be unable to grasp any meaning at all.

To be successful, I must both contradict and match the reader’s expectations. I must take the reader into a mysterious labyrinth and risk their possible disorientation, while also providing them with reassuring imagery and structures that conform to the norms of writing. To do both of these things at the same time is no easy feat. I might begin with the reader’s attention, but it can be quickly lost if I fail to supply enough of what is needed.

When the interplay between mystery and norms is successful, a feeling or sense that exceeds the literal can be communicated through metaphor. And when it is most successful, the beauty of the text is enough that the experience of it also creates joy for the reader.