Art Can Be Written

Art can be Written

As students begin to develop a sense about how a writer writes, there should be, and are, written pieces of work that they can enjoy and retrieve interesting information form, all while being demonstrated the possibilities of writing in a poetic perspective. Diane Ackerman, a poet and essayist, writes an intellectual, crafted compilation of words using figurative language called, “We Are Our Words”. The essay will help students in ENGL 1301 to write good stories using figurative language, dashes, items in a series, and a good realization.

Diane uses figurative language in this essay to explain herself and to give examples, telling us what she knows and rephrasing her words with dashes of art. She writes “Refine the words and you refine the thought. But what that sometimes means is pushing a square thought into a round hole and saying what you can instead of what you mean.” As Diane could have completed the sentence without figurative language, she decided not to, however. Students will learn that writing is free and they’re not tied down to “matter of fact” writing or boring writing. Another well constructed sentence, is, “...the ability to decipher complex rules of language is woven to our genetic suit.” Instead of writing “...woven into our nature,” for example, Diane made poetry.

Diane makes effective use of dashes. While making a complex sentence, Diane combines two interrupting elements, two which interrupt different subjects, “There’s a prime timeвЂ"the first few yearsвЂ"during which the brain is so plastic, so busily restructuring itself, that one can almost inhale the language.” Students will notice the heavy job the dash is handling. They can also observe the different elements that made the sentence. Another good sentence is when Diane uses a dash to combine an introductory element, a tagged-on element, and a prepositional phrase in one sentence. She writes, “Instead of straining to remember everything, we can deploy our attention to toil at other jobsвЂ"coining new games and ideas, for instance. Students will notice that commas can be replaced for dashes.

Diane uses items in a series effectively, with nouns and verb phrases to expand her sentences. She writes, “We use words to label and categorize, to discern subtle differences, to group related things, to build endless lists.” Instead of separating