In writing a poem about heights, it struck me that we have no word for the love of them, as we do for their fear, acrophobia.
In other words, is the draw of height and its description itself a poem if there is no word for it?
What does this mean?
In writing a poem about heights, it struck me that we have no word for the love of them, as we do for their fear, acrophobia.
In other words, is the draw of height and its description itself a poem if there is no word for it?
What does this mean?
…is the draw of height and its description itself a poem if there is no word for it.Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earthAnd danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirthOf sun-split clouds–and done a hundred thingsYou have not dreamed of–wheeled and soared and swungHigh in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring thereI’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flungMy eager craft through footless halls of air.Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,I’ve topped the windswept heights with easy graceWhere never lark, or even eagle flew-And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trodThe high unsurpassed sactity of space,Put out my hand and touched the face of God.Pilot Officer Gillespie MageeI would say that you can still write a poem without an official word for “love of heights.”But I don’t believe it, there’s gotta be an official word for the love of heights…even if it’s slang.Perhaps someone should organize a fieldtrip out to North Hampton to skydive. I think that to write about heights from a positive perspective, there has to be an awesome experience associated with it.
But wait Rina, diving goes down and it’s not the same. I like the feeling you get when you’ve reached Mt. Washington. The air so thin, clouds in your presence and nothing grows the same up there as it does down below. The only life is your own, faced upon the elements.
There is that temporary feeling too. How long can you stay on top? It brings so many possibilities to life from the overall conquering aspect. There is control and divine inspiration you get from experiencing height. The World trade centers were a good place to take you from the hustle and bustle of the city into your own quick fix, the scheming of little ideas you could manifest in your mind. We built them, we loved them, and they were a symbol of prosperity.
One more height that invigorates me is when I run. I strive to run up hills for the climax waiting at the top in comparison to the calm ordinary concentration when going on flat turf or downhill. With this perspective, I see the love of height as how you view life. Not everyone sees the hill in the same way.
As for finding one word to descibe the “love of heights,” I’m speechless.
Beverly
Hold on.Acrophilia.Wouldn’t that be the word for ‘love of heights’?I know, I know. I checked the dictionary and it doesn’t technically exist…and then I did a google search and saw links to fetish sites…leave it to the pervs to ruin what could be a perfectly fine word.Hi Beverly, I’m partial to mountains myself…my people are mountain-folk so I have a natural affinity for them. However, I prefer Colorado to say…Mt. Washington…although I’ve never visited the latter…too cold…any temperature under 75 degrees requires layers…lots of layers…brrr.