The Poetry of Worship: Diction (2)

Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash

In my last post, I introduced my project to help songwriters and worship leaders to write and select more meaningful songs for corporate worship.

Words are the poet’s primary tool so let’s start with diction–the author’s choice of words.

Denotation and Connotation

Words can carry meaning beyond the definition(s) we find in the dictionary, the denotations.  Many words also have strong connotations–the associations, or imaginative meanings they carry.  Connotation can be a very effective tool for writing powerful lyrics, but they can mess up a song too.  When choosing words for your song, consider not just what the words mean, but also what they suggest.

Word Choice: A Literary Example

What can a sensitivity to diction do for my songwriting?

We will start by looking at a poem and discussing the effect of diction.  Then we will look at a popular worship song that does a pretty good job with diction.

“Desert Places” by Robert Frost

Snow falling and night falling fast, oh, fast
In a field I looked into going past,
And the ground almost covered smooth in snow,
But a few weeds and stubble showing last.

The woods around it have it–it is theirs.
All animals are smothered in their lairs.
I am too absent-spirited to count;
The loneliness includes me unawares.

And lonely as it is that loneliness
Will be more lonely ere it will be less–
A blanker whiteness of benighted snow
With no expression, nothing to express.

They cannot scare me with their empty spaces
Between stars–on stars where no human race is.
I have it in me so much nearer home
To scare myself with my own desert places.

In this poem, the speaker is walking past a field on a winter evening.  But the speaker is lonely.  The words of the poem don’t simply explain the speaker’s loneliness–they allow us to imaginatively experience them.

In the first line, the words “falling” and “fast” are repeated.  Consider the effect of repeating these words in such close proximity–doesn’t it hint at a sense of alarm, even panic?  The rest of the first stanza partially allays this impression with a peaceful description of the snow-covered field.  But we can’t shake the disturbing effect of the first line, even in the peaceful context of a snowy evening.

[click_to_tweet tweet=”When selecting worship songs, look for where the words are used in unexpected or unusual ways–these can make think again about what we know and reconsider meanings. #praiseandworship #worshipleader” quote=”When selecting worship songs, look for where the words are used in unexpected or unusual ways–these can make think again about what we know and reconsider meanings. “]

After the first line of the second stanza, where the trees take possession of the field, we read, “All animals are smothered in their lairs.”  This line really shows the power of diction in the hands of a master.  Consider how different the effect would be if Frost had written, “All animals are cozy in their dens.”  Big difference.  The connotation of “smothered” is to murder someone by suffocating them with a pillow.  A “lair” where beast and monsters live.  Frost’s lines are disturbing, and this is the work of his choice of these particular words.

After this comes “The loneliness includes me unawares.”  This line, occupying the central position of the poem, carries the central idea.  The waves of loneliness come in four recurrences of the words lonely or loneliness. Then, another group of words reinforces the idea of absence:  “absent-spirited,” “blanker,” “no expression,” “empty,” “desert.”   It is clear, the speaker doesn’t just lack friends.  We are talking about existential loneliness.

The word “scare” is an intriguing word near the end of this poem.  It lacks the sophistication of the other words–it’s like he’s scoffing at the vastness of space, (“You can’t scare me!”) claiming his interior loneliness is far more profound.

This is not all we could say about this poem, but it’s enough to illustrate that the author’s choice of words can have a tremendous effect in bringing the reader into an imaginative experience, even while they sit in the wingback chair before the fire.

[click_to_tweet tweet=”The best praise and worship songs will have words that excite our imaginations. #praiseandworship #worship” quote=”The best praise and worship songs will have words that excite our imaginations.”]

Word Choice: A Worship Song Example

When I went looking for a praise and worship song that provided a good example of diction, I went to the list of most popular songs from CCLI.  I found very little until I got to the twenty-second on the list.  And this contained lyrics from an old hymn. I did not expect to find anything close to the density of effective word choice that we find in Robert Frost’s poem above, but it is clear that selecting words for effect is not a priority for praise-and-worship songwriters.

Here are some lines from Stuart Townsend’s “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us.”  This song provides us with some examples of how diction can be used in a worship song.

My desire is that almost every song we sing in church gets more powerful every time we sing it, rather than less.  Diction is the first, but it is not the only step toward this end.

Posts in this series:

The Poetry of Worship: The Sacrifice Of Praise (1)

The Poetry of Worship: Developing a Poetic Ear (3)

The Poetry of Worship: Unity and Focus (4)

The Poetry of Worship: Avoid the Abstract (5)

The Poetry of Worship: The Magic of Metaphor (6)

The Poetry of Worship: Sound (7)

The Poetry of Worship: Symbol (8)

The Poetry of Worship: Engaging the Heart and More (9)