Perspective Matters

In writing, perspective matters. Writers can look at a topic from an overview perspective, skating across the surface, something appropriate for some genres and situations. This distant perspective can help establish a mood or theme.

In other types of writing, writers want to get in closer and share important details. In this way, writers help readers know the topic through both breadth and specificity. Again, there are certain situations and genres when this is more appropriate. Newspapers , for example, often report with this middle view.

Sometimes writers want a more intimate perspective. Extreme close-ups focus on a detail that would be almost invisible from a distance. In these instances, the detail should be something significant to the story or topic.

Besides distance, we might also choose different angles from which to view a topic. We might look at it from above or below, from the outside or the inside. If we are assigned to write about the themes of Romeo and Juliet, for example, we might choose the perspective of those who are outside the play, maybe from today’s perspective.

Or we might choose an inner angle, examining the inner workings of a topic, perhaps writing from the perspective of the characters in the play.

Whatever distance or angle writers select, the perspective they choose will make a difference to the writing. And, although one perspective may be the overall choice for a piece of writing, effective writers also move among the different perspectives and views, enriching writing by doing so—as the selection that follows shows.

First come the high clear notes of the ceremonial trumpet. Then the Buddhist pilgrims, gravitating toward the sound. The sun has slid behind the mountains looming over Thimphu, capital of the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, and the day’s final ritual is set to begin. Along the edge of the crowd, in pageboy haircuts and tattered robes, stand peasants who have traveled three days from their remote villages on their first visit to the big city, likely the only capital in the world without a traffic light. Near the center of the plaza clusters a group of Buddhist monks, arms linked, their betel-nut-stained teeth matching their burgundy robes. Together the monks and peasants and townspeople press forward to catch a glimpse of the main attraction: a small boy standing in the center of the circle, his bright orange shirt hanging down to his knees.

~ Brook Larmer, “Bhutan’s Enlightened Experiment”

First come the high clear notes of the ceremonial trumpet. Then the Buddhist pilgrims, gravitating toward the sound. The sun has slid behind the mountains looming over Thimphu, capital of the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, and the day’s final ritual is set to begin. Along the edge of the crowd, in pageboy haircuts and tattered robes, stand peasants who have traveled three days from their remote villages on their first visit to the big city, likely the only capital in the world without a traffic light. Near the center of the plaza clusters a group of Buddhist monks, arms linked, their betel-nut-stained teeth matching their burgundy robes. Together the monks and peasants and townspeople press forward to catch a glimpse of the main attraction: a small boy standing in the center of the circle, his bright orange shirt hanging down to his knees.

DistantIntermediateIntimate

~ Brook Larmer, “Bhutan’s Enlightened Experiment”

SlidesAll taken by author

• 1. Atlanta skyline at sunset• 2. Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy• 3. Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy• 4. Villefranche, France• 5. Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy• 6. Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy• 7. Inside Atlanta Marriott Hotel