In the Gloaming

Meaning is important, but so too is insinuation and association.

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Not many say, "in the gloaming", these days. Too bad. Gloaming is a fine old Scottish word for twilight, with a poetically mystical cadence in its very pronunciation. Glowing and gloaming are linguistic cousins. The gloaming is the magical glow that fills the sky before darkness descends with its dark aura of mystic portent.

Twilight, doesn't capture anything beyond the dimming of the day. Twilight, doesn't have the poetry of, gloaming. The word, twilight, barely hints at the brooding uncertainty inherent in the word, gloaming.

Uncertainty is inherent in transitions. The gloaming, can be metaphorical for any transition as in: "What good or evil does this gloaming portend"? If, instead, you say: "What good or evil does this twilight portend", the meaning remains, but not the drama.

So what? That’s just a difference of semantics. Meaning is more important.

Meaning is important, but so too is insinuation and association. If meaning was the only important part of a word, poetry would have no purpose. Words used in poetry mean what they say while they also insinuate more than they say.

Poetic words invite association beyond the literal meaning of the words. Gloaming is a poetically useful word because of its aural association with words like, gloomy, and glowing.

A great many words have subliminal implications that color the intended literal meaning. Listeners and readers react to this coloring, even when they don't know why.

Good wordsmiths, whether of prose of poetry, do know why.

"Four score and seven years ago", packs a lot more punch than, "Eighty-seven years ago". Lincoln used the archaic phrase because its antiquated color added a patina of venerable age to what was really not such a particularly long time at all.

Skillful writers paint with words that resonant with other words. My poet wife, Joyce, wrote wisely, "Words have ideas of their own". You should work with words, not against them. Joyce has a simple poem about the Seasons, titled: The Seasons, that shows how it's done:

"I am fickle!",

Cries the earth,

"I change my lovers

Soon enough!"

Those twelve words say more than twelve words should be able to accomplish. Joyce says less to say more. She managed this by choosing the right words, with the right associative insinuations. She finished with an alliterative grace that makes the poem memorable.

Perhaps you'll remember Joyce’s little poem in the next gloaming between the Seasons.

By K. L. Shipley

Website: https://www.eclecticessays.com