Looking for a place to feel inspired and challenged? Like to share a smile or a laugh? Interested in becoming more familiar with Canadian writers who have a Christian worldview? We are writers who live in different parts of Canada, see life from a variety of perspectives, and write in a number of genres. We share the goal of wanting to entertain and inspire you to be all you can be with God's help.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Avoiding Sentimentality - Martin
This is the third installment in a series, based on the sessions I taught at Write! London, last March. We were discussing things to avoid in our writing — particularly when we’re writing poetry; in all good writing it is important to avoid sentimentality.
What is sentimentality? We are being sentimental when we paint pictures of people that only include their good attributes, especially when we exaggerate those qualities. Christians might give in to sentimentality when talking of Biblical characters, or more recent Christian leaders and organizations, or even when we’re talking about God. The Bible never does this. We see Jacob as a schemer, David as a murderer, and Peter as a loud-mouth. Think of Mother’s Day cards: they aren’t trying to tell the truth, but say what we think we are supposed to say. Sentimentality is dishonest. James Joyce once said, “Sentimentality is unearned emotion”. Any emotion coming through in our writing needs to come from the deep investment of our lives.
One of the most potentially sentimental of all subjects would be the memory of a pet dog. In his poem “Landscape With Dog”, Paul Mariani in the first half tells of years going by, his dog being faithful, yet how he did annoying things such as chewing on furniture. The second half talks about one day the dog was wanting his attention, but he was too busy — so his dog wandered off alone into the woods to die. He doesn’t tell us that Sparky was the greatest dog ever, or how much he regretted neglecting him that day. He gives us enough so we know he valued his dog, and we can feel his regret without being told.
Sentimentality is always a danger, that must be avoided, when we’re writing poetry about either God or love. The temptation is to say what we think we’re supposed to say. In Habakkuk, the prophet begins with his complaint: “How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen?” In the end it’s the prophet’s honesty that makes his book ring true. Specific details, presented with honesty, will make our writing ring true too.
(The earlier installments “Avoiding Clichés” and “Avoiding Didacticism” first appeared here on March 20th and May 27th respectively.)
D.S. Martin is Music Critic for Christian Week; his poetry chapbook So The Moon Would Not Be Swallowed is available at www.dsmartin.ca
His full-length poetry book, Poiema (Wipf & Stock), will be available in September.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts
-
Write Canada is more than a professional networking conference. It’s a safe place where beginning and intermediate writers can learn ...
-
Inspiration hardly strikes on an empty stomach. For this, and other reasons, writers must eat. And if you like minced beef (and you...
-
by Rev Ed Hird One of the best loved Christmas Carols is the 146-year-old carol: Good King Wenceslas. In 1853, John Mason Neale chose Wences...
-
By Rev. Dr. Ed & Janice Hird We hear a lot about essential workers and essential services in these COVID-19 times. At 7 pm each ...
-
There are many things I fear. Having a flat tire on a freeway. Or worse, having a flat tire at night. The result of this fear is that I avoi...
-
As an author, I take great pains to choose the right name for all my characters. Even the animals in my stories get the same careful deliber...
-
What a gorgeous day for a round of golf amidst a beautiful setting! The course, while close to town and nestled between several roads, is...
-
By Rev. Dr. Ed & Janice Hird Corrie ten Boom once said: “I’ve never had the joy of bringing to birth a child, but I’ve often had th...
-
Love and chocolate—I can’t think of a better reason to declare February 14 as an official winter holiday. For the moment, I’ll skip over div...
-
A phrase I do not remember hearing frequently, has surpized me in the last three days, at least twice, in totally unrelated con...
No comments:
Post a Comment