Williams' Deliberate Place Writing

Terry Tempest Williams employs a number of expressive and rhetorical strategies in his collection of works that makes up An Unspoken Hunger. The first device I noticed that played a prominent role in his writing was his use of imagery. From the first lines in Yellowstone it is evident that Williams is trying to paint a picture for us. He bombards us with visuals we can relate to and helps transport us to this unbridled place. The subtitle: The Erotics of Place indicates how he feels about the power of place on human emotions and he wastes little time trying to evoke scenes that can move us in such a manner. In some prose classes I was taught somewhere along the way that the use of ing words should be limited. Obviously Williams did not pick up the same lessons or chose to ignore them. His repeated use of 'ing' action words present a deliberate and purposeful approach to transporting the reader to this world of wildness.

The other device that is obvious is the presence of extensive repetition. His works are full of them. He returns to ideas to help connect them and also to pound them home into the minds of readers. Everything has a way of coming full circle. The paragraph of visuals I mentioned previously is repeated word for word at the conclusion of the piece to bring the reader back to this place that he is trying to bring to life. His continual use of central terms and themes like Pan, pansexual, echos and erotics show his desire for the reader to grasp the importance of these ideas and their meaning within the works.

There is also a general touch of deliberateness to much of his writing. Short, forward sentences come at the reader and present plainly some new and bold ideas. His matter of fact delivery, in my opinion, is employed to bring the reader to his level. These jarring strands of words are aggressive and show his passion and desire for humans to change the way they think. He plainly attacks some of the fundamental human institutions almost in passing and I think this style of delivery is purposeful. It shows the readers he is not merely musing but is steadfast in his views on nature and what it should mean to others as well.