I find Pico Iyer's essay quite humorous and full of irony. The author brilliantly approaches the importance of punctuation as it is necessary in our writings to give a natural flow, rhythm and order to express our ideas or statements. Iyer wisely compares a period to a red light when the ending comes whereas commas are like yellow lights which flash asking us to slow down. Besides he states that life without punctuation could be chaotic and to exemplify this idea he makes a connection with Victorian Age strict rules and corsets that later Modernists got rid of.
In the end, Iyer reinforces his idea of punctuation to say, that in order to achieve important things in life we have to care about the little ones. And taking the time to punctuate where it is necessary, though it may seem a harsh job, it is the way to highlight a text as a whole.
I would highly recommend reading this essay. As a reader I felt invited to read it from the very first line. But the most enjoyable passages are especially the ones where the author uses imagery, comparisons and personifications as literary resources to state his ideas clearly and humorously.
Spoon
This essay you write about seems to be very interesting. Sometimes, we do not take into account the importance of punctuation. Many people think that it is a boring issue, or is not as essential as others writing features, but it really is. So, if there is an essay that treats this theme in a humorous way, it could be a very good idea to attract people who do not feel appealed by other kind of material about this issue.
ReplyDeleteÇalra
I also remember the first time I read the panda’s story “Eats, shoots and leaves”. I was in language and written expression class discussing how a “humble” comma can completely change the meaning of a simple phrase, and thus cause a disaster. In “In praise of the humble comma”, Pico Iyer also points out the importance and role of the comma by using a number of analogies, such as punctuation is “a labour of love” and punctuation as a means of keeping up “law and order”. Personally, I consider his work amazing and full of imagination. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteAbby.
I have recently seen Pico Iyer's interview at the New York PUblic Library's Live from NYPL, and I am now reading his books, essays etc., It seems that his essay on the Humble comma, humanizes the comma, and the imagery does make writing a pleasure. Cheers! Hyacinth, NYC
ReplyDelete