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Finding Balance Between Modern Brevity & Classical Richness
Keep it short
The current push for brevity, what we might call the “Twitter-ization” of language, seems at odds with Waugh’s luxuriant descriptions and careful metaphoric constructions. Consider his famous “Oxford, in those days, was still a city of aquatint” – a metaphor that doesn’t just describe but evokes an entire aesthetic and emotional world in a way that “Oxford was pretty” or “Oxford was old school” simply cannot achieve.
And Waugh’s similes often extend beyond simple comparison to create complex emotional landscapes. When he writes “like a wind in the house of a widower death has chilled their hearts,” he’s not just saying people are sad – he’s creating a complete sensory and emotional experience that requires us to pause, to inhabit the image.
This intentional slowing down, this invitation to linger, serves several purposes:
- Depth of Experience: Elaborate metaphors and similes create psychological and emotional depth that quick, surface descriptions cannot.
- Memory Formation: Complex imagery tends to stick in the reader’s mind because it requires more processing.
- Cultural Preservation: Rich description preserves not just what things looked like, but how they felt, smelled, sounded – the full sensory experience of a moment in time.
Consider this teaching metaphor: Modern writing often resembles a series of photographs – clear, immediate, but two-dimensional. Classical writing, with its developed metaphors and similes, is more like a hologram – you can walk around it, see it from different angles, discover new aspects with each viewing.
The challenge for contemporary writers then isn’t to choose between these approaches but to master both. We might think of it as having two gears. Fast gear: Clean, direct prose for action, plot advancement, and immediate impact. Slow gear: Rich, developed imagery for emotional depth, character development, and lasting resonance.
The key is knowing when to shift between them. Even Waugh, master of the elaborate description, knew when to write with stark simplicity. His famous line “I loved her, Charles, did you?” carries power because it comes unadorned.
For modern writers, the solution might be to think of rich description not as ornament but as necessity – to use it when the emotional or psychological weight of a moment demands it. A character’s first view of the ocean might merit a developed metaphor; their morning coffee routine might not.
The goal isn’t to write like Waugh – our world isn’t his world. Rather, it’s to understand why his techniques worked and how we can adapt them. We might use a single, well chosen metaphor where he used severa, or compress what he expanded but we can maintain that essential ability to slow the reader down when the moment demands it, to create those islands of contemplation in our rushing modern narrative streams.
This isn’t just about style – it’s about preserving our capacity for deep thought and feeling in an age of increasing superficiality. When Waugh describes Brideshead’s architecture or Sebastian’s first appearance, he’s not just showing off his descriptive powers – he’s training us how to see, how to feel, how to remember.
The challenge for us, as inheritors of this tradition, is to find ways to maintain this depth while acknowledging our era’s demands for efficiency. We might think of it as precision richness – knowing exactly when and how to deploy these more developed literary techniques for maximum impact.
Defining Terms:
Metaphor, which directly equates one thing with another without using “like” or “as,” creates immediate emotional and intellectual connections. M.H. Abrams in “A Glossary of Literary Terms” defines metaphor as, “…a word or expression that in literal usage denotes one kind of thing is applied to a distinctly different kind of thing, without asserting a comparison.”
Simile, which makes explicit comparisons using “like” or “as,” allows for more extended or nuanced parallels. As defined by Chris Baldick in “The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms,” simile is “an explicit comparison between two different things, actions, or feelings, using the words ‘as’ or ‘like.'”
Notable metaphors:
- “Oxford, in those days, was still a city of aquatint” – equating the university with a specific artistic style, suggesting both its aesthetic quality and its feeling of being preserved in time. Here’s the full quote: “Oxford, in those days, was still a city of aquatint. In her spacious and quiet streets men walked and spoke as they had done in Newman’s day; her autumnal mists, her grey springtime, and the rare glory of her summer days – such as that day – when the chestnut was in flower and the bells rang out high and clear over her gables and cupolas, exhaled the soft airs of centuries of youth. It was this cloistral hush which gave our laughter its resonance, and carried it still, joyously, over the intervening glamour.”
- “The languor of Youth – how unique and quintessential it is! How quickly, how irrecoverably, lost!” – making languor itself youth’s essence
- “Sebastian’s faith was an axiom in his life” – equating religious belief with mathematical certainty
Striking similes:
- “Like a wind in the house of a widower death has chilled their hearts”
- “The shadows of the leaves moved on her dress, like water”
- “Memory is like a box that sometimes opens itself and spills its contents unbidden”
🧐 Exploring Literary Richness in Modern Writing
- Find a Significant Object: Choose an object that holds deep emotional meaning for you. First, describe it in “fast gear” – the way you might in a text or tweet (2-3 sentences). Then, slow down and write about it using Waugh’s technique of layered metaphor and detailed observation (2-3 paragraphs). How does the meaning change between these two versions? What emotional truths emerge in the longer form that might be lost in the shorter?
- The Architecture of Memory: Select a building that has shaped your life (childhood home, school, place of worship, etc.). Following Waugh’s example in Brideshead, write a description that captures not just its physical features but its emotional and spiritual impact on you. Use at least one extended metaphor and one simile. Remember how Waugh used architectural description to preserve not just the structure but the meaning it held.
- The Modern Feast: Write about a memorable meal, but here’s the challenge: Write it twice. First, write it as an Instagram post or TikTok script. Then, write it in Waugh’s style, where food becomes a vehicle for memory, relationship, and meaning. Consider not just the food itself but the context, the company, the emotional resonance. What can you express in the longer form that gets lost in the social media version? How might you blend elements of both approaches to create something that speaks to modern readers while maintaining literary depth?
Remember: The goal isn’t to merely imitate Waugh’s style but to understand how his techniques of rich description can serve your own authentic voice and contemporary subject matter. See you in class!
