The Power of Punctuation

Here is a lesson in creative writing. First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college. (Kurt Vonnegut, A Man without a Country)




Kurt Vonnegut may not necessarily be right. The semicolon can make all the difference.
In his essay “Vorticism,” Ezra Pound credits the Japanese Haiku for helping him to capture a “metro emotion.” The first version of this short poem was published in 1913

The apparition    of these faces    in the crowd:
Petals             on a wet, black bough. 

Three years later, Pound revised it.

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough. 

Besides closing the spaces that indicated a pause or a moment of musing, Pound changed the punctuation. The colon in the first version indicates that the second part explains the first or restates it in a different way. Thus the 1913 version suggests that the faces in the crowd remind the author of petals on a dark branch. The semicolon used in the 1916 version changes the meaning of this two-liner completely. Both, faces and petals, are now independent although closely related objects, each an individual image connected to the metro. Now Pound limns an image of ghostly faces coming out of the dark subway tunnel into a misty spring morning with trees still leafless but just starting to bloom.



Here are a few rules for using the colon or the semicolon:

When to use a colon (:)

After an independent clause to introduce an explanation, expansion, or elaboration
~ All her writing focuses on suffrage: the right to vote in national elections.

After an independent clause to introduce a list
~ Her portfolio included three different pieces of writing: a short story, a poem, and a film script.

No colon, however, directly after a verb …
~ Her portfolio included a short story, a poem, and a film script.

.. or a preposition
~ Her portfolio consisted of a short story, a poem, and a film script.
~ Her portfolio included three different pieces of writing such as a short story, a poem, and a film script.
~ Her portfolio included all kinds of writing except a film script.
~ Her portfolio included different pieces of writing, for example a short story, a poem, and a film script.

When to use a semicolon (;)

Between two independent clauses that are closely connected.
~ I like solving complicated math problems; it is aerobics for the mind.

When two independent clauses are connected with a transitional expression such as however, moreover, in fact, nevertheless, therefore, accordingly etc.
~ I like solving complicated math problems; however, it makes me tired.

But NOT when the two independent clauses are connected by a conjunction such as and, but, or ,nor, so , for, yet, while, whereas etc.
~ I like solving complicated math problems, but it makes me tired.

In a list ONLY when the items listed require the use of a comma
~ I like brain games, especially Sudoku because it challenges my logic; optical illusions, which trick my senses; and paradoxes, which force me to think analytically.