To read or to write? That is the question.
Since I consider myself a writer, my natural response to this question is definitely to write! Why waste time reading someone else’s work when you can create your own!
I guess I am a bit Emersonian in this sense; I am partial to writing over reading any day. I would much rather create my own writing than read someone else’s creation.
Like Emerson stated, poets, writers, authors, fall short. Poets cannot fully capture the essence of nature and this higher spiritual reality in words. But they try- I try. And fail.
But the important thing is- is that the attempt is there. And poets can point the way to capturing the world in writing.
So all in all, I guess reading others work isn’t to be ruled out completely. The human species needs to see where we have come, what we have thought, what we have felt over the years. We need a guide of where we have been so that when we put the pencil in our own hands to write we know where to go.
So, to read or write? How about a mixture of both as the answer…
1 comment:
It was kind of humorous that today in senior seminar Dr. Lake suggested that as writers we must read as much as possible. There were of course a few snickers from those in our lit. crit. class and whispers of "not according to Emerson"- haha. I think it is important to read bc. I think in some essence it advances our writing particularly when we read genres books written with a style that we hope to achieve in our own work. Though I too generally would rather write any day over read- particularly bc. to be honest we don't read the kind of information I am passionate about within the English major- but w/e I do reading on my own that I choose- anyway, I am rambling on- but I suppose I would agree with you that there needs to be a balance between reading and writing- both are of importance- though it is difficult, like most things we to balance to really achieve such.
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