Friday, December 26, 2008

To make rhythmical

Francine Prose delves into "cadenced sentences" in her book Reading Like a Writer. She says James Joyce gave us "some of the most well known cadenced sentences" at the end of The Dead. Like these:
Yes, the newspapers were right: snow was general all over Ireland. It was falling on every part of the dark central plain, on the treeless hills, falling softly upon the Bog of Allen and, farther westward, softly falling into the dark mutinous Shannon waves. It was falling, too, upon every part of the lonely churchyard on the hill where Michael Furey lay buried. It lay thickly drifted on the crooked crosses and headstones, on the spears of the little gate, on the barren thorns. His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead. 
In corporate work, cadenced sentences read like this:
We institutionalized the concept of listening by building it into 50 million customer touchpoints. The voice on the phone listens. The face at the door listens. The website reflects good listening, and invites more dialogue. The value proposition is a result of having listened, and heard, and responded. The delivery comes on time. The installation goes as planned. The service is reliable. The bill is accurate and easy to understand. None of which would have happened without active listening in the right places. The promise is kept. The commitment is met. The question is answered. The intention is honored. Every interaction at every point of contact -- bent and shaped, for the better, by listeners at their posts. 

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