Unlike the possession of many things, which may prove perilous to the mind and the soul, the possession of more words only makes us richer. The wealth that words bestow upon us is the power to better understand who we are and where we fit into the wider scheme of things: our purpose and our place in the cosmos.
One of the most powerful lessons that J.R.R. Tolkien teaches in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings is that the things possessed can possess the possessor. This addictive possessiveness, or what might be called crass materialism, is known as the dragon sickness in The Hobbit. It afflicts not only the dragon Smaug but several other characters. In The Lord of the Rings this dragon sickness manifests itself in the power of the Ring, in which those who covet the Ring’s power become subject to the very power they hope to obtain, possessed by their possessiveness so that they become possessed by their possession of it. This lesson is a reiteration of the lesson that Christ teaches that where our treasure is, there our heart will be also. It is, therefore, important that we learn to desire those treasures which are truly good for our souls, and not those which will imperil them.
One of the most important treasures to desire is the possession of words. Words are necessary because they are the very things with which we do our thinking and liberate us from the slavery of ignorance. We can only make sense of the world, and our place within it, if we have the vocabulary to articulate our thoughts. It’s not simply that we need words to communicate with others; we need words, first and foremost, to communicate with ourselves. If we are unable to make sense of the complexity of our situation because we do not have the words in our mind to articulate what’s going on in our lives, we are doomed to the sort of frustration which leads to despondency and despair, and rage and violence which are their toxic fruits.
Since this is so, one of the primary goals of education should be the enrichment of students through their acquisition of words. The goal should be to encourage them to increase their vocabulary, or, to employ the language of the Anglo-Saxons, to add to their word-horde. The more words they possess, the more they will be able to understand the goodness, truth, and beauty of reality. And this means that the acquisition of new words should be an integral part of education at all levels, and not merely at the elementary level. As an illustration of this, one of the pieces of advice that I give to those wishing to improve their writing skills, is that they should read good books. The fact is that you write as well as you read, not least because good books exhibit a rich and grandiloquent vocabulary, enabling us to acquire the wealth which each new word bestows upon us. And what is true of the ability to write well is true of the ability to think well. It is a fact that we think as well as we read. And since the ability to communicate with others is dependent on the ability to communicate with ourselves through the eloquence of our thoughts, we might also say that we speak as well as we read.
All of the foregoing illustrates that an ongoing part of all education should be the reading of the Great Works in one’s native tongue. For English-speakers, this means reading Shakespeare, whose grandiloquence is unequalled, and also other great masters of the language: Donne, Herbert, Crashaw, Milton, Dryden, Pope, Dr. Johnson, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Austen, Newman, Dickens, Hopkins, Chesterton, Belloc, Eliot, Tolkien, etc. It’s not only the wisdom to be found in these works that will enrich us but the gift of new words which we will add to our own personal word hordes.
Unlike the possession of many things, which may prove perilous to the mind and the soul, the possession of more words only makes us richer. In short and in sum, the wealth that words bestow upon us is the power to better understand who we are and where we fit into the wider scheme of things: our purpose and our place in the cosmos.
To conclude on a metaphysical note, we can say that the beauty of words is that they give us access to the goodness of truth. In the beginning was the Word and words are the way that the Word can be better understood and communicated. It is for this reason that the learning of words should be at the heart of all true education.
Republished with gracious permission from the Journal of the Cardinal Newman Society.
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I am in complete agreement Mr. Pearce. The power of language is our greatest power; it can move the world- change history. .
I have a quotation from Sir Francis Bacon on my desk: “Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing, an exact man,” All require words. Words make communication possible in those forms, but only if we agree on what the words mean. Unfortunately, we live in an age when many want to alter the meaning of words to suit their own agenda. For the last few years before I retired, I had a note on the white board in my office that caused many to pause and ponder. “When it comes to pass that everyone I encounter means to have my words mean what he means them to mean rather than what I mean them to mean, we will all have become idioglotts!” (my own concoction I’m afraid. Please see “Idioglossia for the root of that word.) We’re very near that unfortunate place where words fail for deliberate defiance of common understanding and communication is only possible by force of one’s will over another — which is the essence of communication in the animal kingdom.
This essay is so pertinent today as so much of the wisdom of the ages has either been forgotten or never taught while some of the writers of these timeless works of wisdom are now being “canceled” as if nothing but the present is of any importance. Add to that, today’s revolutionaries are creating a new language which eliminates words they find offensive or making up new and insane meanings of words that all but obliterate their true meanings. It is shameful that we believe we are such an educated people when so many can’t read, won’t read anything except their social media posts, and believe they are more intelligent than people in any other time.
This is a thought-provoking reminder. I had forgotten (for some odd reason…) that words exist for the purpose of expressing ourselves and our thoughts. We think in words, as you said. It never occurred to me (also for some odd reason) that reading great works only enhances this. As a bonus, reading those words in literature allows the reader to see the word in its context–thus he remembers it better than if he learned it merely on a word list.
Thank you for this timely essay. I have just embarked on a journey of reading Easton Press’s 100 Great Books. You’ve given me several more reasons to do this that are new to me and my motivation has deepened. I’m grateful.
I can heartily recommend Father John Hardon’s The Catholic Lifetime Reading Plan. Each chapter gives a context for the author and work. And Hardon was a communicator like no other. Also, parents and grandparents should visit the website for Institute for Excellence in Writing. For decades they have taught how to nurture the loop of Thinking, Seeing, Reading, Writing, Speaking. And back again. Also the value of poetry in memorization. Most all of this was robbed from us in the public schools. We cannot afford to lose another generation.