and the Dylan Thomas effect.........
I have recently upgraded my Microsoft office package. The current page layout for word is clear and simple to use, the save option provides a detailed itinerary that records all the necessary information as word count, spell check and page layout. Spelling and grammar are not my strengths, the spell check option is essential for me to produce documents that are accurate and eliminate grammatical errors. These are simple to use, saves much time and as it is not necessary to have to convert essays and documents into online word count and spell check programs.
Paste and copy options are simple to use, there is plenty of variety of text sizes and fonts.
Word has a referencing tool that is suitable and meets the acceptable requirements of Harvard referencing, throughout academic institutions.
Blah, Blah, Blah.
However, all these simple little things seem to have become so important to an increasingly technologically advanced world. Nobody is expected to get it wrong or make a mistake, we are not judged on our hand writing skills and our prowess in language but on our technological abilities. Can I use spell check.
But are we loosing something here?
What about the Dylan Thomas effect, Have you ever been to Laugharne and peered across the estuary looking out to sea, I don't think there is another more peaceful place in the world, the serenity and magic of the place are breath taking.
When you peer into Dylan's writing shed, isn't it the screwed up lists, the ink and paper on his desk, the lists of words all over the floor that echo a mind collating and collecting words, inventing phrases, pushing grammar to it's limits, brainstorming and challenging the breadth of language and it's boundaries, not with the idea of being grammatically incorrect far from it, Dylan was being imaginative, he purposely invented new words to broaden our grasp of language, for us to think out of the box to view the world differently and from an individual perspective, so that language would effect us, or move something within us.
Now add this to the scenario, Dylan in his writing shed with an I Pad, uploading Microsoft word for his next brainstorming session and having to pace the sheds four corners looking for a wifi connection, So he can retrieve his musings from the so called cloud.
And do you know what the rest of the world is busy doing exactly that, looking for a connection. Is this advancement or globalization, big business convincing us they know what is good for us, or is it more about economics than learning.
In My Craft Or Sullen Art.
In my craft of sullen art
exercised in the still night
when only the moon rages
and the lovers lie abed
with all their grief in their arms,
I labour by singing light
not for ambition or bread
or the strut and trade of charma
on the ivory stages
but for the common wages
of their most secret heart
Not for the proud man apart
from the raging moon I write
on these spindrift pages
nor for the towering dead
with their nightingales and psalms
but for the lovers, their arms
round the griefs of the ages,
why pay no praise or wages
nor heed my craft or art.
Dylan Thomas
