Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree.
Ezra Pound

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Quotation analysis - The God of Small Things

Choose a short quotation from the novel.  Give a little context (speaker, situation), then explore the meaning and significance of the quotation (how it reveals or develops elements such as plot, character, atmosphere, theme...).  Be literary!

Monday, January 12, 2015

Voice lesson #2 on imagery

Consider this extract from Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner:
The many men, so beautiful! 

And they all dead did lie:
And a thousand
thousand slimy things
Lived on; and so did I.
[...]
Within the shadow of the ship
I watched their rich attire:
Blue, glossy green, and velvet black,
They coiled and swam; and every track
Was a flash of golden fire.

 

Think of a cat or a dog you can describe easily.  First, write a description which reveals a positive attitude toward the animal.  Then think of the same animal and write a description which reveals a negative attitude.  Remember that the animal’s looks do not change; only your attitude changes.  Use imagery rather than explanation to create your descriptions.

Monday, October 13, 2014

Voice lesson #1 on imagery

Consider:
She looked into the distance, and the old terror flamed up for an instant, then sank again.  Edna heard her father’s voice and her sister Margaret’s.  She heard the barking of an old dog that was chained to the sycamore tree.  The spurs of the cavalry officer clanged as he walked across the porch.  There was the hum of bees, and the musky odor of pinks filled the air.
-Kate Chopin,
The Awakening


Write a paragraph in which you create a scene through auditory imagery.  The purpose of your paragraph is to create a calm, peaceful mood.  Use one olfactory image to enhance the mood created by auditory imagery.