We were talking about images in my beginning creative writing class today. I started talking about abstract nouns like love, hate, justice, etc.. I compared these to nouns I like that are more concrete. Well, the students didn't like to hear what I had to say about abstract nouns. One particular student flat-out disagreed with me. *sigh* It's the same battle I have every year. What is it with abstract nouns, anyway? Why are they so appealing to the younger writer? Of course, I'm pretty sure that it's because folks are not quite equipped with the tools they need to go beyond their reliance on these abstractions and that it's a matter of time and exposure to work, but it's always a divisive point. It's the big speed bump that slows down the progress of a creative writing class as a collective.
More on this later.
4 days ago
5 comments:
I told my students the diff between abstract nouns and concrete nouns is this:
Concrete nouns are like saying, "I live at 166 Meadow Lane: the fourth driveway on the left after you pass the old maple tree with the hole in it."
Abstract nouns say, "I live ten minutes from where you are."
indeed, this is why i am enjoying our writings on the sins and the mercies. we have to give them substance, something tangible, visual. some*thing* for the reader to latch onto.
i smell a writing assignment here...
love, barb
Interesting--I had thought young folks like abstract nouns just based on their writing, but I didn't realize they would be so adamant of holding onto them as a tool, even once you explained their limitations. I find that fascinating. I used "greed," "joy," and "guilt" in some poems lately and it was painful painful painful. I think if they are used sparingly, they might be okay, but young poets seem to go overboard.
That's exactly the trouble. That they use the abstractions because they're not equipped to actually describe something. Instead, they use abstraction as shorthand. Another contention is that they seem to think the abstract word would make what they're trying to express MORE obvious.
What I've heard consistently from students is "if I use general abstract words, my reader can interpret it the way *they* want to... and isn't that the point of poetry? for it to mean what the reader wants it to mean?" Makes me want to walk into Target and tell the cashier I want to buy this bar stool for ten cents, so they should sell it to me for ten cents. O, I'm sympathetic... all you can do is fight the good fight and keep using good examples (I love the address example above). --Sue
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