Blog Post #1: Quotation On Writing

"One of the obligations of the writer is to say or sing all that he or she can, to deal with as much of the world as becomes possible to him or her in language." - Densie Levertov

This quote about writing from Denise Levertov encompasses many different aspects of writing. It states that it is each writer’s responsibility to use language to the best of their individual ability and describe the world as they see it using the language that they have a firm grasp of and understand. The quote also discusses how varied writing can be. It describes how diverse language is and how people utilize language differently to cater to different audiences and communities, convey purpose, and construct an effective argument. This means that in order for writing to be effective and enjoyable everyone needs to employ the use of the best language that they can. That doesn’t always mean using the most sophisticated language, but language that is accessible to the author and relevant to their audience.

In writing, no matter what the understanding of language, it is important to consider who your audience is and write in a style and context that will help them best understand you. In Compose, Design, Advocate, it is stated that, "Everything you do or say not only conveys information to your audience, but it sets up a relationship between you and them, and that relationship influence how things go" (p. 80) So everything that you say and how you say it matters. So as Levertov describes, when you are talking about and dealing with the world around you, you must describe it using the most appropriate language.

This also ties in with the context in which someone is writing. Once the audience has been determined, the pretense under which you are writing and the context of the writing will greatly effect the language that is used to form an argument and convey it’s purpose. Compose, Design, Advocate explains this by stating, "The audience is always feeling something, but what you say and do can redirect their mood and build a set of emotional responses that influences in turn how the audience hears your words." (p. 82) This is in essence saying that the audience will find some meaning in whatever you write, but how you write and the context of that you write it in directly effects what they are going to react and understand what you are trying to convey.

This quote from Denise Levertov states that it is the responsibility of a writer to convey all that they can and use the best language that is available to them. She encompasses not only the idea that we should write everything we can about the world, but that when we do it we need to consider our audience, our purpose, our context, and our argument.