Awe in Language

Invested in language is an amazing power: the ability to create awe.

 In his book Civilization and its Discontents, Sigmund Freud describes awe as an "oceanic feeling."  To Freud, awe is produced by a small person's view of vastness.

 We can feel in awe of something as immediate and direct as a thunder and lightning storm...

 Or from something more pensive, like trying to comprehend the universe's vastness.

 There are endless possibilities as to where and what awe derives from.

So how does language go about creating the same feeling of awe that a storm can create? 

 In language, words act as building blocks.  They perform and work together, 

helping to transfer our thoughts to grander ideas.

Words can offer incredible imagery, which can put amazing pictures in our mind.

Words can also be used to offer us new and exciting perspectives.

Shakespeare wrote of a snail, "for though he comes slowly he carries his house on his head,"

taking a seemingly helpless creature and turning it into something strong and fortified by altering the perspective by which we view it.

 Metaphor can also be used to engage us.

Aristotle said that the discovery and understanding of a metaphor brings pleasure to an audience, much more so than being told the same point directly. 

Rhythm is especially influential in the process of creating awe through language. 

Rhythm creates a tune, a song to the words, a sense of building and building... 

And all of these devices come together and build upon each other to create a sense of climax .

In language, awe is that climax.