Author Archives: sdgibson
The conventions of literary fiction
I’ve mentioned Robert Boswell’s excellent The Half-Known World: On Writing Fiction here before. One of his essays includes this paragraph: This could be material at the heart of a literary story. It makes the events the result of motivated action rather … Continue reading
Franklin as text
•What models does Franklin encounter? How do they influence him? •What texts did Franklin find compelling? Why? “Texts” might include behaviors. •List differences between Franklin’s values and those of the people around him. List commonalities. •How does Franklin understand the world? … Continue reading
Character (three sets of prompts)
Characterization Techniques (three sets of prompts) To begin developing a character, answer these questions. What does the character look like? Describe him or her. Where was the character born? What was his or her upbringing like? What do the character’s … Continue reading
Found freewriting
Revise this material into a poem. Remember that revision often includes the addition of new material and the cutting of old. Consider revising toward a formal poem or recall the characteristics of free verse. We will try this at least … Continue reading
Definitions of rhetoric
“’Rhetoric’ has come down to us today simply as high-flown, windy and empty talk. It had a completely different meaning to the Greeks. Rhetoric was a crucially important technical discovery of the way language actually works and can be manipulated: … Continue reading
Robert Hass on Edward Taylor
Two quotations from Hass’ “Edward Taylor: What Was He Up To?” in the March/April 2002 issue of The American Poetry Review: The term baroque was introduced into critical discourse about art by the German scholar Heinrich Wolfflin. He used it to … Continue reading
Becoming Puritan
Edmund S. Morgan’s Visible Saints: The History of a Puritan Idea is one good place discover the process Puritans expected from each other as they started and joined congregations and took communion. This process has its own history, of course, … Continue reading
Changes to the MLA documentation system
The online writing lab at Purdue University summarizes the most important changes this way: No More Underlining! Underlining is no more. MLA now recommends italicizing titles of independently published works (books, periodicals, films, etc). No More URLs! While website entries … Continue reading
English 3510 readings . . .
will be posted in links to the right, by title. I may group them together as the semester continues. The first is “The Cultural Dynamics of American Puritanism” by David M. Robinson.
Metaphor by Metaphor 