When if they saw it in isolation, they'd realise it's just rubbish.
Of course. All language is just rubbish. Transient sound waves in the air. Scratches of ink that will fade. Tomorrow's trash.
Try traveling to a country where you can't read the language. (China or Japan work, for me.) It reminds one, forcefully, that all words are arbitrary. I can stand in the middle of a Chinese bookstore, surrounded by great literature, yet unable to see anything but well-ordered squiggles. To someone who otherwise tends to forget that he wasn't born knowing how to read, it is a dizzying experience.
What matters in language is what it evokes in the listener. A lot of it is about context: Who is speaking, and who is listening. _Why's poems are better than yours because they remind me of _why, a genuinely nice and optimistic guy. Your poems remind me of someone who would crash a party in order to spit on the guest of honor. In other words, it's all in the delivery.
Of course. All language is just rubbish. Transient sound waves in the air. Scratches of ink that will fade. Tomorrow's trash.
Try traveling to a country where you can't read the language. (China or Japan work, for me.) It reminds one, forcefully, that all words are arbitrary. I can stand in the middle of a Chinese bookstore, surrounded by great literature, yet unable to see anything but well-ordered squiggles. To someone who otherwise tends to forget that he wasn't born knowing how to read, it is a dizzying experience.
What matters in language is what it evokes in the listener. A lot of it is about context: Who is speaking, and who is listening. _Why's poems are better than yours because they remind me of _why, a genuinely nice and optimistic guy. Your poems remind me of someone who would crash a party in order to spit on the guest of honor. In other words, it's all in the delivery.