Yesterday I started a new job tutoring English at IUK. Should be a good way to get me thinking about students and their requirements on the college level. Looking forward to a new challenge.
I told you that I'm starting back to college in the Fall, didn't I? Well, it's true. I will be taking 9 hours of graduate coursework as I kick off my master degree program. A little nervous. A little excited. Please pray. More on that later.
This summer I'm studying material in preparation to teach next year's high school/jr. high English classes. Recently, I came across a quote by Laurence Sterne that exposes our shallow attempts to write and points us to the true source of eloquence.
Thusly it follows:
Thusly it follows:
There are two sorts of eloquence;
the one indeed scarce deserves the name of it,
which consists chiefly in laboured and polished periods,
an over-curious and artificial arrangement of figures,
tinselled over with a gaudy embellishment of words ...
the other sort of eloquence is quite the reverse to this,
and which may be said to be the true characteristic
of the Holy Scriptures;
where the excellence does not arise from a laboured and far-fetched elocution,
but from a surprising mixture of simplicity and majesty.
the one indeed scarce deserves the name of it,
which consists chiefly in laboured and polished periods,
an over-curious and artificial arrangement of figures,
tinselled over with a gaudy embellishment of words ...
the other sort of eloquence is quite the reverse to this,
and which may be said to be the true characteristic
of the Holy Scriptures;
where the excellence does not arise from a laboured and far-fetched elocution,
but from a surprising mixture of simplicity and majesty.
- Laurence Sterne
The prose and poetry of the Bible have never been equaled.
Let's become saturated in this sea of beauty and wisdom.
