Joan Didion’s Holy Water (1979) and Philip Larkin’s Water (1964) present two contrasting images of spiritualized water. Though both writers focus on the same subject matter, their tone and use of language differ greatly as Didion takes a highly personal stance while Larkin chooses to be more distant. While the title Holy Water immediately suggests a spiritual connotation, Didion’s writing is for the most part concerned with an almost obsessive tracking of water. This has become her spirituality – to worship the journey and process in order to pay homage to such a precious resource. By contrast, Larkin uses the succinct language of poetry to communicate the idea of water sanctified and treated as a religion similar to Catholicism.
Holy Water is written as prose, and the extract is taken from a more extended piece. Didion’s language is clear and descriptive, almost conversational. She immediately gives the impression of being on an equal footing with the reader – opening a momentary door into her mind rather than setting herself up as the more knowledgeable or worldly. Her opening gives a sense of pathos, using direct, emotive language to appeal to the reader. “Some of us who live in arid parts of the world think about water with a reverence others might find excessive” includes both those who do live in arid parts of the world through the use of “us” and those who do not through a literary promise to elaborate further. Her return to the phrase “I like to think about exactly where that water is” draws the reader further into this narrative.
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The images that Didion presents are real examples of water projects, showing her very keen knowledge of them. She uses specific technical terminology – “aqueducts and siphons and pumps…” – as well as individual project and places names to support this, setting herself up as an expert on the topic. Furthermore, the frantic, breathless way in which she lists them all lends the writing a sense of urgency. “I know….I know….I keep…” uses repetition to support this urgency, focusing the reader on her personal experience of the water obsession. Didion’s use of varied sentence length is another indication of her urgency; the opening sentence of the second paragraph from “as it happens my own reverence for water…” to “…plumbing on a larger scale” is more than five lines long. This stacking up of clauses and the repeated use of “and” in lists rather than a comma draws the reader into the motion of the narrative. In effect, they are being drawn into the author’s mind as she runs through lists of projects, names and water destinations.
The final sentences of Didion’s piece reflect not on her knowledge but on a memory of “being deliriously happy”. This highly personal snapshot appeals to the emotions of the reader, as one would hope all have an almost sacred memory of being happy as a teenager. It focuses Didion’s water passion, showing that it is longstanding and unlikely to leave her any time soon, drawn out of a deep-seated desire to know where and how this precious resource is governed. Though it is not explicitly stated, the episode creates a strong impression of the writer being cradled by the water.
By contrast, Water by Philip Larkin maintains a level of emotional distance between the writer, reader and subject matter. This piece is a poem, and its short form requires a level of focus in the language that Didion’s writing does not. Rather than the longer, rambling sentences of Holy Water, Larkin uses only thirteen short lines of prose arrange in three three-line stanzas and one of four lines. As a result, his choice of words is more economical and descriptive – in two or three words he creates complete and beautiful images. However, the reader might initially feel lost if they are not familiar with words such as “fording” and “sousing”. This choice of a more literary, poetic language gives a sense of distance between the writer and reader, as the writer comes across as more learned and authoritative.
Here, water is part of a “religion” that the writer would construct, something to be upheld and revered as one would the sacraments. Larkin uses religious vocabulary such as “liturgy” and “raise in the east” which aligns his religious views with Christianity and more specifically the Roman Catholic Church. These images play on the reader’s understanding of religion, prompting them to see a logic to Larkin’s meditation and also perhaps to imagine their further implications.
Other language used by Larkin reflects the more obsessive, fervent side of his love for water. The “images of sousing” and a “furious devout drench” paint the picture of water as something in which one must indulge to excess. Rather than being used to absolve the worshiper of sins as in conventional baptism, the water itself becomes the ritual, and the language suggests a frenzied rush as if one were dying of thirst. As with Didion, this image shows an almost desperate desire for and attraction to the water – almost as if the writer must be totally immersed in it to be assured of its presence.
The final paragraph, however, is calmer as Larkin describes the erection of a glass of water in the manner one might a cross. The parting image, of “any-angled light” congregating endlessly, appeals to the timelessness of water and its capacity for renewal and rejuvenation. Though still powerful, this is a calmer image, one prompting reflection. As with Christ, the water is bestowed with the image of a savior. One can imagine the Church being full of rippling, refracted light as the water at once draws the sun’s rays and sets them dancing round the space.
