He Belly
Methinks the lad doth protest too much?
There are a lot of practical reasons that speak for standardised spelling & grammar, but it nevertheless, it restricts people's acceptance to language when used freely to create art.The great William Caxton himself pleaded for some form of standardisation. I can't remember where I read it, but he written the equivalent of an essay on the inconsistencies in English, flavoured with an anecdote about the differing use of 'eggs' versus 'eyren'.
Whilst I appreciate that art is often wonderful when not straitjacketed by hidebound conventions, I also believe that this explosion of expressiveness almost always comes from someone who is already a master craftsman, and is then pushing the boundaries. I cannot think of great art being created by anyone without an intimate knowledge of, and deep love of, the structure of the medium - be it painting on canvas or writing plays.
Even famous 'non-representational' artists like Picasso or Matisse, if you look at their early work, were superb draughtsmen first.
Even the ol' Bard of Avon, while creative, was not arbitrary in his use of the language. The inconsistency in his spelling is down to the fact the printing had not yet fully standardised the conventions of spelling. His pronunciation, from what we can tell, was reflected in his spelling - and would probably be a kind of Midlands-modified-to-London speech.
Ah well... let's have a heated debate.
cheer
the sunshine warrior
