Language is a method of communication: a way for people to share information and ideas. But language has other uses as well, including serving as a means of making sense of the world and providing a framework within which to think and dream, organize and create. There’s various types of language, of course. There’s instructional language: words used to convey a body of knowledge. And there’s inspirational language: words used to galvanize others to action.
And then there’s descriptive language: words used to describe a person, place, or object. But an accurate description of even the simplest thing can be maddeningly difficult to get right. Describe an object, say, a lamp. Should the focus be on its components, its physical structure? Or on its capacity to shine? Or on the shadow it casts? Describe a physical place, say, a garden. Should the focus be on its general dimensions, its outline? Or on what’s contained within? To describe something accurately actually requires it to be creatively re-conceptualized so that the words used create images that become as real in the listener’s mind as what’s being described.
Lawyers often use descriptive language, but at their peril. In the midst of battle, the tendency is to exaggerate to make a point. But in most cases exaggeration tends to backfire. The listener instantly recognizes that the speaker is not impartial, and thus to be treated with at least some degree of skepticism. Exaggeration is the method artists use when creating a caricature. The end result is risible, not sincere or convincing. A truthful description marshals facts to depict a complete image—all the rough edges, the marks and hollows, the complete setting forth of the smallest, and largest, details. And a truthful, sincere depiction arises not only from sight and sound, but from the heart—and is tied to strong emotion.
Descriptive language, carefully and accurately set forth, can change our way of thinking about the world. The best writers describe places and people in ways never before imagined. The best speakers can move others to action simply by describing reality in such a way so as to create a reawakening, a breakthrough. And in many instances, descriptive language is a persuasive tool—perhaps the ultimate persuasive tool. It enables the listener to see things correctly, to visualize reality without distortion or deformation.
“Now and in the time to be I think it will pay for you to zero in on being precise with your language,” said Joseph Brodsky in his 1988 Michigan commencement address. “The purpose,” he continued, “is to enable you to articulate yourselves as fully and precisely as possible; in a word, the purpose is your balance. For the accumulation of things not spelled out, not properly articulated, may result in neurosis.” Brodsky was suggesting both a return to origins as well as a new way of living—and he knew perhaps better than anyone that the words one chooses to describe reality can make all the difference in the world.
