Paul Bogard, born during 1966 and works as a journalist and an editor. He edited the anthology “Let There Be Dark”. He published the article on December 21, 2012 on the Los Angles Times. Paul Bogard’s aim in writing this letter was to persuade the readers that natural darkness should be preserved. Paul Bogard article was important because preserving natural darkness is essential, it affects plants to wildlife, dark nights are vital for sleep, migration, hunting, feeding, reproduction, and much more. Through the use of emotive language, personal anecdotes, listing of both positive and negative effects and rhetorical devices, Bogard strengthens the emotional and logical appeal of his argument that Americans should preserve natural darkness.
Bogard starts his article of by recounting a personal story which was when he spent a summer on a Minnesota lake. Quoting “woods so dark that my hands disappeared before eyes.” While expressing himself with this brief personal anecdote, Bogard challenges the audience to remember a time where they could fully picture themselves in natural darkness instead of artificial light. By making his audience picture their personal encounter with night darkness, the author means to establish the potential beauty that genuine darkness can process. Bogard knows the power of darkness and through his childhood memories, his audience will listen and think twice about what he is saying. By using a personal story Bogard allows his audience to connect to him. If his audience can relate or even understand his story they will be more willing to agree with him.
The aim of using emotive language in boards article is to make the reader feel involved with the point of preserving darkness, and keen on doing so. The use of emotive language causes Bogard to appeal to pathos with his audience. Bogard also used many words from his own vocabulary which appeals to emotion, to add more power to the ideas he is trying to express. Bogard uses personal pronouns to make the readers see that he is talking directly to them. His use of personal pronouns draws his audience into considering preserving natural darkness. Bogard uses words such as “ we will never truly…”, “ until we become aware “ “ we are loosing “ and “ I worry we are rapidly loosing nights natural darkness before realizing it’s worth”. Bogard strikes the people who disagree with him when he says, “Our bodies need darkness to produce the hormone melatonin, …” Bogard’s statement dissolves any doubt, but builds up new feeling. “Those of us over 35 are perhaps among the last generation to have known truly dark nights.” This statement appeals more to the younger generations emotion. Bogard involves himself with the his audience. Through these words Bogard shows the audience that there is a much more complex and deeper meaning g behind his words.
Through the use of rhetorical devices Bogard allows the reader to stop, think and reflect about what is actually being said. Bogard used rhetorical devices from the passage saying that we should remember the irreplaceable and important values of darkness that we see every night. The use of rhetorical questions was used when Bogard made his audience think about the future generations. “In a world awash with electric light…how would Van Gogh have given the world his ‘starry night’? Who knows what this vision of the night sky must inspire in each of us, in our children or grandchildren?” Using these questions Bogard is trying to emphasize on the point that we need to think more about the future, and the effects that we will be facing if we do not preserve natural darkness. Bogard asks the question in order for it to have an effect on the reader.
Throughout the article Bogard uses listing both positively and negatively to ensure that the reader understands that there is more than one to do what is being asked. He lists the diseases that might occur if we do not preserve natural light. Bogard states that “ Sleep disorders have been linked to diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and depression ”, he tries to tell people about the negative effect that they will face, if natural darkness wasn’t preserved. “ including nocturnal and crepuscular species of birds, insects, mammals, fish and reptiles. ” he is convincing his audience that most living creatures need to migrate at night, if natural darkness is not present they won’t able to migrate. Finally, Bogard states how natural darkness is going to benefit us when he says “ in todays crowded, louder, more fast paced world, nights darkness can provide solitude, quiet and stillness, qualities increasing in a short supply. ”. By listing both the positive and negative effects of preserving natural light it appeals to logos that will help the audience get more convinced.
Overall, in his article, ‘Let There Be Dark,’ the well knows and respected editor and journalist Paul Bogard, effectively appeals to his author’s emotions and elevates his credibility by using listing, rhetorical devices, emotive language and personal anecdotes to persuade people to preserve natural darkness. According to Bogard we can still save our world. Light can be acceptable, but too much of it can prove worse than permanent darkness.
