The Point of Punctuation (or Blame it on the Christians)

in ancient greece eloquent persuasive speech trounced

written language words were written in a continuous stream

to perfect rhetoric

to recite in public

written words had to be to read over and over again

until aristophanes had a dream

of annotating and relieving

the unbroken stream

with dots of ink

to mark each pause

and punctuate the written word

although the romans tried the system

the cult of rhetoric was strong

they decided they would get along

with reading aloud

Then the Christian church,

With pen and sword,

Decided they must spread the word

Of God in gospels and in psalms

With capitals and other marks.

Punctuation became part

Of writing:

Creating

Structure and meaning;

And transforming

Letters into imagery.

Image from the Malmesbury Bible found on en.wikipedia.org