More on how the core words transcend time
1. Voyaging
There are many words that speak of journeying. And many of these words come from the means of going, and as such they all spring out of the technology of that means:
- I drove my (coach, chariot, car, SUV, lorry, Segway) to London
- I motored to London
- I flew to London
- I helicoptered to London
- I sailed to London
- I entrained for London
- I rode to London
- I hitch-hiked to London
There are other words that speak to no one kind of technology:
- I went to London
- I journeyed to London
- I voyaged to London
- I made my way to London
- I wended my way to London
- I passed on to London
- I traveled to London
- I jogged to London
- I ran to London
- I hastened to London
Some of these terms have fallen out of use in English, and so they take on a taste of the time or place when they were first coined, or when they were most in use, or at least when we in the audience have an idea they were most in use.
But the rest of the ‘tech free’ terms can be said to stand out of time and place, and are free of any reference to the technological achievement of the culture in which the tale is set.
The more basic one of these terms is, the closer it stands to the center of the core-group of English words. The most basic of all these is the original ‘to go’ which comes up as past-tense ‘went’ in the list.
A man could ‘go’ to London 1500 years ago (let us say for now that the town was then called ‘London’), or 1000 years ago, or 500 years ago. He could ‘go’ to London to see the Crystal Exhibition in the 19th century, or to see the Millennium Wheel early in the 21st. He could ‘go’ to London a thousand years from now and use whatever form of conveyance then was available to him.
2. The Far-sighted William Morris
One of the dangers you find when you use only these core words is the tale starts to seem allegorical, archetypal, mythical … and unreal. When the talesman does without the words that speak of specific places and times, he creates a tale that might happen any time and any place, and thus it might seem to happen at no-time and no-place.
Every sight is glazed over and blurred, every sense is numbed, and we feel we stand a far sight from what goes on in the tale. For example I quote a few passages from the Project Gutenberg Etext of The Well at the World’s End by William Morris (wwend10) which are not wholly without time thanks to the archaic flavor with which Morris spiced his language. All the same the characters and events seems hard to grasp for us:
Long ago there was a little land, over which ruled a regulus or kinglet, who was called King Peter, though his kingdom was but little. He had four sons whose names were Blaise, Hugh, Gregory and Ralph: of these Ralph was the youngest, whereas he was but of twenty winters and one; and Blaise was the oldest and had seen thirty winters.
Now it came to this at last, that to these young men the kingdom of their father seemed strait; and they longed to see the ways of other men, and to strive for life. For though they were king’s sons, they had but little world’s wealth; save and except good meat and drink, and enough or too much thereof; house-room of the best; friends to be merry with, and maidens to kiss, and these also as good as might be; freedom withal to come and go as they would; the heavens above them, the earth to bear them up, and the meadows and acres, the woods and fair streams, and the little hills of Upmeads, for that was the name of their country and the kingdom of King Peter.
Later the youngest son, Ralph, rides into the Wood Perilous, where he finds adventure:
Then lightly he got into the saddle and gathered the reins into his left hand, and sat peering up the trodden wood-glades, lest he should have to ride for his life suddenly. Therewith he heard voices talking roughly and a man whistling, and athwart the glade of the wood from the northwest, or thereabout, came new folk; and he saw at once that there went two men a-horseback and armed; so he drew his sword and abode them close to the want-ways. Presently they saw the shine of his war-gear, and then they came but a little nigher ere they drew rein, and sat on their horses looking toward him. Then Ralph saw that they were armed and clad as those of the company which had gone before. One of the armed men rode a horse-length after his fellow, and bore a long spear over his shoulder. But the other who rode first was girt with a sword, and had a little axe hanging about his neck, and with his right hand he seemed to be leading something, Ralph could not see what at first, as his left side was turned toward Ralph and the want-way.
Now, as Ralph looked, he saw that at the spearman’s saddle-bow was hung a man’s head, red-haired and red-bearded; for this man now drew a little nigher, and cried out to Ralph in a loud and merry voice: “Hail, knight! whither away now, that thou ridest the green-wood sword in hand?”
Ralph was just about to answer somewhat, when the first man moved a little nigher, and as he did so he turned so that Ralph could see what betid on his right hand; and lo! he was leading a woman by a rope tied about her neck (though her hands were loose), as though he were bringing a cow to market. When the man stayed his horse she came forward and stood within the slack of the rope by the horse’s head, and Ralph could see her well, that though she was not to say naked, her raiment was but scanty, for she had nought to cover her save one short and strait little coat of linen, and shoes on her feet. Yet Ralph deemed her to be of some degree, whereas he caught the gleam of gold and gems on her hands, and there was a golden chaplet on her head. She stood now by the horse’s head with her hands folded, looking on, as if what was tiding and to betide, were but a play done for her pleasure.
So when Ralph looked on her, he was silent a while; and the spearman cried out again: “Ho, young man, wilt thou speak, or art thou dumb-foundered for fear of us?”
But Ralph knit his brows, and was first red and then pale; for he was both wroth, and doubtful how to go to work; but he said:
“I ride to seek adventures; and here meseemeth is one come to hand. Or what will ye with the woman?”
Said the man who had the woman in tow: “Trouble not thine head therewith; we lead her to her due doom. As for thee, be glad that thou art not her fellow; since forsooth thou seemest not to be one of them; so go thy ways in peace.”
“No foot further will I go,” said Ralph, “till ye loose the woman and let her go; or else tell me what her worst deed is.”
The man laughed, and said: “That were a long tale to tell; and it is little like that thou shalt live to hear the ending thereof.”
This is a sad loss, that such a tale seems so far from us. The way to get past this, I feel, is to stress the sensations of the characters, most of all the main character, in such a way that the audience feels his body and all his sensations. More than this, the talesman might keep in mind that the kinds of sensation we hear tell of are not all of the same weight. What I mean by this is that Ralph here in Morriss’s tale does not sweat or piss or shit, his flesh does not itch or pinch, his head does not ache. Such senses are not only intimate but they belong as well to a class of senses that true flesh is heir to. This is commonly called ‘gritty’ by many, although when they say this, they also mean a sort of baseness or meanness or lowness in the characters — a cynical sense of life. That is not needed for what I mean.
(Composed on keyboard Monday, February 11, 2008)
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