Sometimes I wish that people still wrote like this

[veritas]

 The following (in green) is an excerpt from a letter written by Alexander Hamilton to his father:

 

 

 

"It began about dusk, at North, and raged violently till ten o'clock. Then ensued a sudden and unexpected interval, which lasted about an hour. Meanwhile the wind was shifted round to the South West point, from whence it returned with redoubled fury and continued so 'till near three o'clock in the morning. Good God! what horror and destruction. It's impossible for me to describe or you to form any idea of it. It seemed as if a total dissolution of nature was taking place……

 

Thus did I reflect, and thus at every gust of wind 'till it pleased the Almighty to allay it. Nor did my emotions proceed either from the suggestions of too much natural fear, or a conscience over-burdened with crimes of an uncommon cast. I thank God, this was not the case. The scenes of horror exhibited around us, naturally awakened such ideas in every thinking breast, and aggravated the deformity of every failing of our lives. It were a lamentable insensibility indeed, not to have had such feelings, and I think inconsistent with human nature. 

 

Our distressed, helpless condition taught us humility and contempt of ourselves. The horrors of the night, the prospect of an immediate, cruel death – or, as one may say, of being crushed by the Almighty in his anger—filled us with terror. And every thing that had tended o weaken our interest with him, upbraided us in the strongest colours, with our baseness and folly. That which, in a calm unruffled temper, we call a natural cause, seemed then like the correction of the Deity. Our imagination represented him as an incensed master, executing vengeance on the crimes of his servants. The father and benefactor were forgot, an in that view, a consciousness of our guilt filled us with despair."

 

 

 

 

This passage is so emotional and introspective, and the language is remarkably florid and compelling. 

 

Now, don't get me wrong--I don't think that modern writing is necessarily bad. But I do think that, in a sense, it is missing something and  that is often too matter-of-fact. It just doesn't connect with me--emotionally and intellectually--as much as older works. I also think that modern writings don't explore the human condition as deeply as older writings.

 

I made these observations after reading dozens of older works over the past few years---and not just the above passage. 

 

 

What about you? Do you think that--in any sense--writing has declined?

 

 

 

[MamaBearTeacher]

We are just listening to Little Men as an audiobook after a couple of contemporary novels. Each sentence is so rich! Are there contemporary writers who use language so nicely?

 

I love the excerpt you posted!

[sbbulliv]

Writing and thinking have declined. It is sad. I was just reading some essays by Mary Oliver and thinking "we're never going to have thoughts like this again".

[Lang Syne Boardie]

If you teach your children Charlotte Mason-style narration techniques and provide them with excellent literature, they will take on the "voice" of the authors they are reading. It's fun to watch them move through these styles as they grow and develop their own voice.

I rather admired my son's Dallas Lore Sharp era but went ahead and bought a modern writing program later when he persisted in writing like a Bronte sister. Turns out flowery speech is nice and impressive but a little dab'll do ya.

[Kalmia]

I'll admit loving flowery language over spare; Strunk and White be darned! I especially love the way nature books used to be written in a conversational tone with plenty of anthropomorphism. Sue me.

 

My favorite contemporary author is Sherman Alexie (particularly Reservation Blues and The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven). His language is not flowery per se, but his use of pacing, literary devices, and poetics in his sentences is masterful. His work is a little inconsistant, but when he's on, he's impressive. Be aware that some of his books (especially his short stories) contain disturbing and mature themes. He writes about the struggles of life. 

[Mama Geek]

I bought a copy of the Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh for dd probably about a year ago.  We have read most of the stories and a few of the poems.  There is such a stark contrast between that modern day books that dd has.  There is no comparison.  We read to her a lot and include classic children's lit in that.  I have not found any current little kids books that compare to Winnie the Pooh.  

 

I quit reading adult fiction and am so much more into nonfiction and have been for probably the last 10-15 years.  A few years ago about the time dd was born, I decided to start reading the classics that I had never read.  I still really enjoy nonfiction, and I now read more variety since adding in the classics.  I have enjoyed a lot of them.  I don't know of any modern day authors that I would pick up, because so much of it I just don't enjoy.