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September 27, 2006

How to Make Your Writing Unforgettable — Using the Music of the Gettysburg Address

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 12:03 pm

What Makes Writing Unforgettable?

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When people tell me I write well, it’s because I do something extra. After I finish writing and revising a piece, I go back again to listen. I listen to the rhythm and sounds of the words. I listen and make small tweaks. It’s like being a technician at a sound board. I’m mixing the music of the language. I say that seriously.

One guy who understood what I mean, who really had it down, was Abe Lincoln, the 16th U.S. President. He understood that fewer words and more music would deliver more meaning. To me, that’s the reason his Gettysburg Address — less than 300 words — is considered the most remembered American speech in our history.

Listen to the Music of the Language

Read the first paragraph of The Gettysburg Address below. Read to see what the words say.

Now read to hear the music, don’t think about what the words mean. Read them aloud slowly, evenly. Listen to how they sound. Read the paragraph aloud two or three times this way.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. — Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address

Do you hear the rhythm, the rat-tat-tat of the syllables? It’s kind of fun to say the words, especially liberty,. dedicated, and proposition. Those words seem to stand out at the right spots.

Can you hear the difference that occurs when you change that last word equal to the term the same. The sounds change too. The two syllables of equal have more stress on the first syllable — E-qual. That difference in stress doesn’t happen with the two words — the same. It doesn’t sound like an ending.

Without that ending, without the feeling of closure, the impact of the whole sentence is lost. The final word doesn’t ring and stay in our ears — or our minds if we’re reading silently. Unconsciously we’re waiting for the next word, the way we wait for the next shoe to drop. The sentence feels incomplete rhythmically.

Abe Lincoln understood how words make meaning and how they make music.You could almost sing the Gettysburg Address. It wouldn’t surprise me if folks already have.

It’s not hard to do what Abe did.

Adding Music to What you Write

Just like playing a guitar, writing musically takes practice. You can do that. Here’s how you tweak your writing to bring out the music of the language.

    1. Write in your usual process. Edit and revise as always.

    2. Be certain your message is clear and ready to publish.

    3. Read your work aloud saying every syllable slowly, evenly, and paying attention to the sounds only. Listen for

      a word or phrase that just doesn’t sound right
      a word or sentence that seems too short or too long
      a word or phrase that makes you lose your reading rhythm
      a sentence seems to stop abruptly
      an unintentional rhyme
      a place that feels like something is missing

    4. Edit to correct for those issues you found. This is the fun part. Choose more powerful and more precise words than those you replace.

    The more you do it the better you’ll be at adding the natural music of language to what you write. Once you get used to listening for it, you’ll write more musically too. Putting meaning and musical language together is about as compelling as a writer can get. It can move a whole nation to think, as Abe did.

    But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. — Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address

    Go ahead, tell me that’s not music.

    I love the music of the language.

    –ME “Liz” Strauss
    If you think Liz can help with a problem you’re having with your writing, check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

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    22 Comments to “How to Make Your Writing Unforgettable — Using the Music of the Gettysburg Address”

    1. September 27th, 2006 at 1:08 pm
      Jim Turner said

      Lately I have been writing way off key!

    2. September 27th, 2006 at 1:10 pm
      ME Strauss said

      Sorry to hear that, Jim. Maybe I can send over a word tuner. :)

    3. September 27th, 2006 at 1:23 pm
      Tony D. Clark said

      Great advice, Liz. Churchill is another who always had a wonderful cadence to his speeches and writing.

      Reading aloud really helps to get a feel for the rhythm of a piece. I started doing this several years ago, and found that it greatly improved my writing. I’ve also found that some of the best writers I’ve know in the business world were speech writers, where they had to be in tune with a well flowing rhythm and pacing.

    4. September 27th, 2006 at 1:28 pm
      ME Strauss said

      Hi Tony,
      I can hear it in your writing.

      You’re right about Churchill. He did it too. You make a great point about speech writers. Pacing has a great deal to do with how people feel about what they read. They sense how they are being moved down the page, and they like it when they’re moved naturally.

      I think that reading aloud the words gives a writer a new sense of how words work together.

    5. September 27th, 2006 at 2:33 pm
      TechZ said

      Good writing, as yours is, just flows. You demostrate this on a daily post by post basis Liz.

      I never write something and just post it, I have an old habit of review…and it’s a good one I might add.

    6. September 27th, 2006 at 2:36 pm
      ME Strauss said

      Hi Techz!
      Great to see you!
      Yeah, I don’t always get to spend the time that I want to and when I don’t it shows.

      But your writing always flows when I’m over there reading it. You can tell that you spend time making sure the words go together.

    7. September 27th, 2006 at 3:34 pm
      Joe said

      Liz,
      One thing that some might not know, Lincoln wrote that speech on the train on his way to Gettysberg.
      He was one of my favorite presidents, not as much for the cause he fought for (although it was the right thing to do), but that he really cared for the nation and the people therein.

    8. September 27th, 2006 at 3:38 pm
      ME Strauss said

      Hey Joe,
      I forgot about that. That’s right! Being from the “Land of Lincoln,” as Illinois likes to be called, I should have remembered that.

      Yeah, he’s one of my favorite Presidents too. For the same reasons as you like him

    9. September 27th, 2006 at 3:50 pm
      Kammie K said

      Hey Liz,

      I LOVE your tips. I pretty much follow that same format myself. If someone were sitting in my office as I edit they’d think I was off my rocker!

      I’m kind of a lyrical gangster ya know? Rhymin’ and stealin’ words to fit my moods…

      Thanks for reminding me that the music IS in me. I did always want to BE a rock star…music and words are delicious soul food.

      Yours in magical musings & melodies,
      Kammie K.

    10. September 27th, 2006 at 3:54 pm
      ME Strauss said

      Hi Kammie!
      Welcome.
      Yeah, hearing the music in the language is a special kind of way to write. You got it!

    11. September 27th, 2006 at 3:55 pm
      Whimspiration said

      I had never thought of cadence and flow as musical, but you’re correct. *nod* You put the most interesting words together to make the songs you write, Liz, opening up a whole new way to think of language. Thanks!

    12. September 27th, 2006 at 4:05 pm
      ME Strauss said

      Hey, Whims,
      You’ve got it. Thanks for thanking me, but you knew it all along. :)

    13. September 27th, 2006 at 4:20 pm
      Johanna said

      Onomatopoeia
      was discovered eons ago
      google is your friend

    14. September 27th, 2006 at 6:15 pm
      ME Strauss said

      Hi Johanna!
      Welcome. Great point. I should have known.

    15. September 28th, 2006 at 4:16 am
      Hans said

      Listening to what I read dipped with the rhythm allows me to remember things, words, phrases, sentences more easily. That’s a nice idea when applied to blogging, making people remember things through those nice musical sentences.

      But the one thing that get me away from doing this is actually to use words that visitors might not understand at first glance. Yes, that sounds too great but would that mean getting a dictionary to read it.

      I’ll follow the path of practice, I think that’s how one can find beautiful rhythmic words yet so easy to understand like you do so well Liz.

    16. September 28th, 2006 at 5:50 am
      ME Strauss said

      Hans,
      That’s very insightful. Unless you write for a crowd who loves to be expanding their vocabulary, it’s better to be making the music of the language with familiar words not ones they must look to figure out.

      Anything that gets between the reader and your message is usually not good.

      Thanks for those nice words at end. I wish I was always so effective.

    17. September 28th, 2006 at 7:22 am
      Links 09-28-2006 - Orbit Now! Troy Worman’s Weblog said

      […] Make Your Writing Unforgetable.  ME “Liz” Strauss tells you how Posted in Blinks + Thursday September 28, 2006 + permalink […]

    18. September 29th, 2006 at 10:18 am
      Fergus O'Rourke said

      C’mon now, Liz, admit it: you’ve been listening to the soundtrack of “Hair !” again.

    19. September 29th, 2006 at 10:21 am
      ME Strauss said

      Ah Fergus,
      Now what would be making ya think it was Hair and not the Doobie Bros?

    20. January 11th, 2007 at 5:52 am
      Designers who Blog: Design, Illustration, Photography, Web, Advertising, Branding … said

      […] Successful Blog: How to Make Your Writing Unforgettable — Using the Music of the Gettysburg Address […]

    21. February 18th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
      Ros said

      Thanks! Now I know why I still so enjoy anything written to me by members of my immediate family. Now I get why I’ve gotten unexpected rounds of applause after speaking, when, “I haven’t said much”. Thanks to this President’s Day activity, my tweens will be better encouraged in their natural ability to produce works that are both rythmic and memorable.

    22. February 18th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
      ME Liz Strauss said

      Hi Ros!
      Welcome!
      The music of the language is meaninggul and beautiful in its own right. Yeah, folks recognize it. It resonates. :)

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