“Awe, the Small Self, and Prosocial Behavior”
Paul K. Piff et al. 2015
Sentence length average (Academic): 15.9 words
Highly technical, impersonal (limited first person “we” in intro and conclusion only), full of statistics and citations, passive voice, zero contractions
Maximum hedging language:
- “may help situate”
- “it is possible that”
- “suggests that”
- “could be attributed to”
- This signals academic caution and invites further research
Conceptual metaphors only
- Spatial “small self” / “diminishment” / “vastness”e of reference”
- Vertical “elevated thoughts” / “above and beyond”
William Wordsworth 1798
Sentence length average (Lyrical Poetry): 37.8 words
Elevated/archaic language (“thou,” “’tis”), philosophical meditation, flowing blank verse with very long periodic sentences
Bold metaphysical claims
- “Nature never did betray / The heart that loved her”
- Direct assertions about ultimate reality
Vesper Flights
Helen Macdonald 2020
Sentence length average (Literary Nonfiction): 24.1 words
Rich sensory detail, abundant contractions (“I’d,” “didn’t”), personal and intimate, blends scientific precision with lyrical beauty
Metaphor-saturated
- Swifts as “aliens,” “devil birds,” “creatures of the upper air”
- “The warm blanket of the troposphere”
- “husk of a bird,” “wings crossed like dull blades”
Absolute certainty about personal experience
- “I knew what I had to do”
- “They are magical”
- No hedging on subjective truth
Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life
Dascher Keltner 2023
Sentence length average (Popular Science): 19.4 words
Accessible first-person narrative, uses metaphors (“field guide”), explains concepts for general readers
Moderate certainty
- “Awe is the feeling…” (definitional)
- Still some hedging: “seems to resist”
Strategic metaphor
- “field guide” for Ekman’s work
- “revolution” for paradigm shift
- Makes concepts memorable
“Mont Blanc: Lines Written in the Vale of Chamouni”
Percy Shelley, 1816
Sentence length average (Sublime Poetry): 42.5 words
Most complex, philosophical questions, archaic spellings, sublime imagery, syntax inversions
Extended conceits
- Wordsworth: Nature as nurse, guide, guardian
- Shelley: Ravine as voice, Mountain as power
Voyant Tools for “distant reading” or digital humanities
