Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Do we need to make consistent use of archaic English in our poem/novel?

+0
−0

If you use an old expression like "by a many", do you need to make it consistent and use old expressions throughout the poem, or is it ok to just use it in one verse or sentence?

“The spring is coming by a many signs.”

I was wondering if we can for example use an old archaic expression one time and then never use any archaic word or expression. I am pretty sure the answer is different depending on whether you're writing a poem or novel.

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/43130. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

1 answer

+0
−0

Regardless of what you're writing, if you use an archaic form readers will notice, and if you use an archaic form only once and not everywhere it applies, readers will notice that too. If you're doing it for effect, you've achieved your goal. This is sometimes the case in poetry. On the other hand, if you're doing it because that one phrase sounds neat but you don't want to dive in to archaic forms more broadly, readers will wonder why you made the decisions you did.

It might be that one character talks this way (perhaps it's an affectation). In that case readers will (rightly) tie the usage to the character. If a character, including the narrator, is inconsistent, however, that's likely to stand out in a not-so-good way.

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

0 comment threads

Sign up to answer this question »