composition (/kɒmpəˈzɪʃ(ə)n/)

I’ve been coming across this word so often. In itself, it’s like a jack of all trades, with applications to many different areas.

My first occurrence with this word is probably the same as most Singaporeans – in primary school. You’re told to write “compos”, which are basically little kodomo essays. Those were probably the most fun essays to write. I used to get the terms “composition” and “comprehension” mixed up. Maybe now I still do, that’s why I’m writing this 🤔.

The next time I heard the word is likely with reference to music. Like, Hans Zimmer is the composer of the Interstellar soundtrack. Please listen to this masterpiece.

And after that, in art. To be honest, it’s still a little abstract to me, but I think the composition of a piece of art is how the different elements come together to form a whole. Like in the Last Supper, where the movements and equality of disciples on both sides of Christ are composed to form a balance. I might or might not have made this up.

Similarly, in film. I was taught in a module that the composition of a shot is the arrangement of elements in relation to one another in the particular camera frame. Here’s a really cool read on it. Like this scene from Spiderman.

Likewise, in photography. The arrangement of elements in a scene, including balance, depth of field, and colors.

But it’s not just the creative stuff.

Composition is used in sciency stuff too.

In chemistry – the arrangement, type, and ratio of atoms in a molecules/compound. The chemical composition of H2O is a 2:1 ratio of hydrogen to oxygen atoms.

In physics – the resultant of different forces at work. Like composing the vertical force and horizontal force of an object to derive its net force.

In mathematics – the composition of a function is an operation where two functions f and g generate a new function h in such a way that h(x) = g(f(x)).

So if f(x) = 2x and g(x) = 3x +1, h(x) = 3(2x) +1

I’ve also been encountering the term a lot in my coding work.

When using Relay / GraphQL, I will say that a query is composed of fragments. Or a React app is composed of its many different React components. And in Tailwind, an element is composed of its infinite utility classes.

I found the word in a cooking recipe the other day. A dish is basically composed of its various ingredients.

But I think the most interesting context where the stem of the word is used is in relation to our emotions.

Keep your composure. Compose yourself.

We say this when we’re trying to remind ourselves (or others) to not emotionally overreact to situations. I was trying to figure out why we use this particular word, and here’s my theory.

Looking at the etymology of the word, the oldest definition of the word compose seems to be derived from the Latin elements(?) com (“together”), and pose (“to put”). In other words, putting something together.

And looking at humanity, we’re always trying to put things together. Whether it’s the origins of our universe, a piece of art, a React application, a random child’s essay, or even our own emotions.

So when we tell ourselves to keep our composure, what we’re really saying is – put your emotions together in one place, don’t let them run amok. That’s pretty rad.

Thank you for reading my composition of compositions.

What are you composed of?