Evocative writing style from another era

Wordsmith: The late George Mackay Brown.

I'm currently reading George Mackay Brown's Northern Lights. It is a collection of writing that was put together many years after his passing in 1996.

Mackay Brown was a storyteller, journalist, dramatist and perhaps most of all a poet. His visually rich language so readily found in his poems, is also a hallmark of his prose. There is a depth of description and thought, a capturing of place, atmosphere and feeling that is so dense and powerful - like an exceedingly rich cake - that it must only be consumed in small doses if it is to be properly savoured and enjoyed.

His prose burns brightly and hails from a different era; an era before today's increasingly simplistic forms of expression and communication that are ever more watered down, unfulfilling and bereft of characteristics. It seems the overwhelming need now is to cater for shortening attention spans and social media "shortcuts" that render words into woefully butchered versions of their original, even into single characters, pictograms or emojis.

When I read a piece of descriptive work by Mackay Brown, I feel uplifted. My mind is emboldened and inspired to search for its own greater artistic expression.

I am left to wonder if the style and depth of writing that Mackay Brown so magnificently mastered, and that is fading to a twilight ember in the face of today's throwaway blandness, might be revived. Could we see a reversal of the trend and with it a lifting of our spirit - a sensory renewal, through the written word, of the world around us?
I hope so.