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to explain a poem s use of specific literary devices or discuss its theme. But no matter how detailed or spe-
cific your assignment, you should not begin until you feel confident that you know what the poet is trying
to say. You must first connect with the poem s message before you can comment on its methods or its suc-
cesses. For example, if you had not known that Emily Dickinson was talking about using her poetry as her
voice to reach out to the world, would you have appreciated the way she chose her metaphor or expressed
her need for recognition? If you had not stopped to consider that Whitman s spider was just his way of help-
ing us to understand his vision of poetry, would you have been able to see beyond a spider and his web? And
if you do not appreciate the irony in Crane s claim that war is kind, you will not be able to compare and contrast
his vision of war as the awful consequence of politicians sending young men to die for causes they know or
care little about.
In short, writing in response to poetry should begin with your careful and thoughtful reading and re-
reading of a poem. You should start by identifying what the poem is about and then try to identify the details
that support your interpretation. Ultimately, you should be able to bring your own experiences and attitudes
to your reading so that you can fully agree or disagree with the poet.
Writing in response to prose, specifically fiction such as short stories, novels, parables, myths, and fables,
is not unlike responding to poetry. You must first understand the literal significance of a story and then you
can begin to probe its deeper meanings. In the next chapter we will look at two short stories to see how to
respond to them.
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EXPRESS YOURSELF WRITING ABOUT POETRY
C H A P T E R
ELEVEN
WRITING ABOUT
PROSE (FICTION)
JUST AS writing about poetry requires that you
read carefully and thoughtfully, so does writing
about fiction. You must concentrate and ask
questions as you read. You may have to make a
list of important vocabulary words as you go
along, or you may have to underline or take
notes in the text of words and phrases you think
are important to the story s meaning. This chap-
ter will show you some important reading strate-
gies that will help you become a better writer
when responding to fiction.
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WRITING ABOUT PROSE (FICTION) EXPRESS YOURSELF
efore we even begin to examine a short story or novel, it is important to remember the four key ele-
B
ments of all fiction:
B
¡' plot
¡' characterization
¡' setting
¡' theme
The plot is the sequence of events that delivers the story. Characterization is how the characters of the
story are portrayed. The setting is the place in which the story occurs. The theme is what the author is saying
about the subject of the story. All four of these elements contribute to the story, but it is the theme of the
story which is its heart and soul. Read the following short story by Kate Chopin. It is a very short story but
it contains all the elements of good fiction. As you read, identify where the story takes place; underline the
word or phrases that identify it for you. Next, underline the major characters names and the words that
describe them. Finally, try to tell what the story seems to be about. What is it saying about marriage? About
love? About loyalty?
The Story of an Hour
By Kate Chopin
Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break
to her as gently as possible the news of her husband s death.
It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences: veiled hints that revealed in
half concealing. Her husband s friend Richards was there, too, near her. It was he who had been
in the newspaper office when intelligence of the railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mal-
lard s name leading the list of killed. He had only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by
a second telegram, and had hastened to forestall any less careful, less tender friend in bearing the
sad message.
She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability
to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister s arms.
When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one
follow her.
There stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair. Into this she sank,
pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul.
She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with
the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was
crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and
countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves.
There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and
piled one above the other in the west facing her window.
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EXPRESS YOURSELF WRITING ABOUT PROSE (FICTION)
She sat with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite motionless, except
when a sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who has cried itself to sleep contin-
ues to sob in its dreams.
She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain
strength. But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one
of those patches of blue sky. It was not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated a suspension of
intelligent thought.
There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She
did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reach-
ing toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air.
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