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English Purisms
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William Barnes’ lifelong concern with restoring and renovating English was something of key importance to him. His work should not be dismissed as eccentricity, at least not before serious examination. But such examination need not involve taking him exclusively on his own terms. Indeed, he is better seen as one of a group of language reformers, and his work is best seen as one example, provisional and clumsy-beautiful, of the several English purisms. This essay attempts to bring this out by placing his work in the comparative context of those with similiar ideas, such as John Cheke, Nathaniel Fairfax, and Percy Grainger. Seen so, we recognise that although purists claim to be restoring an original, their work creates a new language, and it is the artistic nature of their work that is its greatest strength, one of the many ironies associated with purism (and anti-purism).
Title: English Purisms
Description:
William Barnes’ lifelong concern with restoring and renovating English was something of key importance to him.
His work should not be dismissed as eccentricity, at least not before serious examination.
But such examination need not involve taking him exclusively on his own terms.
Indeed, he is better seen as one of a group of language reformers, and his work is best seen as one example, provisional and clumsy-beautiful, of the several English purisms.
This essay attempts to bring this out by placing his work in the comparative context of those with similiar ideas, such as John Cheke, Nathaniel Fairfax, and Percy Grainger.
Seen so, we recognise that although purists claim to be restoring an original, their work creates a new language, and it is the artistic nature of their work that is its greatest strength, one of the many ironies associated with purism (and anti-purism).
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