Elizabeth is still considering the creative process in this post.
“One should study the mechanical part of the art, as nearly all that there is to be studied—for the more one sits and thinks over the creative process, the more it confirms itself as ‘inspiration,’ nothing more nor less. Or, at worst, you write down old inspirations, what you remember of them … but with that it begins.
‘Reflection’ is exactly what it names itself—a re-presentation, in scattered rays from every angle of incidence, of what first of all became present in a great light, a whole one. So tell me how these lights are born, if you can!
But I can tell anybody how to make melodious verses—let him do it therefore—it should be exacted of all writers.”
One way to learn to write melodious verses I borrowed from Christina Rossetti and her brothers. It worked for teenage pupils, even if it did not produce much high art: the pupils are given sheets with blank lines split into syllables, with the last word alone given, thus:
____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ cloud
____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ hills
____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ crowd
____ ____ ____ ____ ____ daffodils.
I don’t think I ever used that verse though! My point is that the discipline that EBB advocates enables the creative process to get under way; not necessarily smoothly, but surely. And that applies in other areas of life as well.
agnellusmirror 