Nonsensical Sense Abilities
A Fruitful Still Life by Caravaggio (1571-1610)
Sophia: Alexander, you once observed, “Words are like leaves; and where they most abound, much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found.” How should we discern substance from mere ornament in speech or writing?
Pope: Sophia, it is a matter of attentiveness. Words can dazzle like the brightest leaves, rustling with sound and color, yet hide emptiness beneath. True expression bears fruit — meaning, insight, nourishment — rather than mere decoration.
Words are like leaves; and where they most abound,
Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found.
— Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
Sophia: So the abundance of words is no guarantee of understanding. One must look deeper, like examining the composition of a still life: the light, the shadow, the objects themselves.
Pope: Precisely. Consider a Caravaggio canvas: shadows, textures, and the simplest objects convey profound presence. In the same way, concise, deliberate words reveal more than torrents of empty verbosity.
Sophia: Then eloquence is not about quantity, but depth. Leaves may attract the eye, but fruit feeds the mind.
Pope: And one must cultivate judgment, knowing which words bear nourishment and which merely flutter in the breeze. Only then can language fulfill its purpose — to instruct, to delight, to endure.
Sophia: So wisdom in speech is akin to mastery in art: restraint, clarity, and the ability to illuminate the essential amidst abundance.
Pope: Indeed. Let the mind savor the fruit, and not be seduced by the endless rustle of leaves.
They sit together before a painting of ripe fruit and shadowed drapery, contemplating how the beauty of language, like Caravaggio’s art, achieves fullness not by excess, but by the deliberate arrangement of what truly matters.
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