Descriptive Writing...

O.  Attendance

1.  Journal:  

The poem below has a secret.  It's really about writing.  What can you learn about descriptive writing from this poem?  Why?  It's called "The Red Wheelbarrow" and is by Williams.

so much depends
upon a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.

2.  Hanging, discussion and reviewing answers to questions....

3.  Poem, for description purposes... thinking skill questions

Funeral Blues

TS questions:

1.  Explain which image is most powerful to you.  Why is it?
2.  Some infer that the speakers love is timeless.  Why?
3.  Identify how the speaker is feeling.
4. Connect this poem to your own life.
5.  Analyze what the images do for the poem.  How do they work?
6.  Synthesize this poem into your own consciousness by taking away an image from the poem and replacing it with one of your own.



4.  Some notes about descriptive writing...

Concrete v. Abstract.
Show don't tell.
It's a narrative, so the premise is the same.


Homework:

Read "Storm Country" and ask and answer 5 thinking skill questions about the reading plus my questions below.  Please bring those to class along with your ideas for your descriptive story.  Be ready to tell your story to another.

1. Which tornado story is better?  "Storm Country" or "Mother Nature?"   Why?
Link to "Mother Nature" is in a previous post.

2.  What details will you remember from "Storm Country?"   At least three.

3.  Why is this considered a good example of descriptive writing?