1. How do prose writers use poetic elements?

2. Rhythm  Pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables  Iambic: composed of iambs (da-DAH)  Trochaic: composed of trochees (DAH-da)  Anapestic: composed of anapests (da-da-DAH)  Dactylic: composed of dactyls (DAH-da-da)  Spondaic: composed of spondees (DAH-DAH) (This is rare)  Exercise: Figure out the rhythmic pattern of your name.

3. Examples  “Virtue”  What rhythm is he using? Does the rhythm change? Where and why? What’s the effect?  Macbeth  What is the rhythm? What atmosphere does it create? How is it different from the iambic rhythm?

4. Exercise  Write a sentence that captures the rhythm of water using anapests.  da-da-DAH  What is the effect?

5. Pacing  Writers can control the speech with which readers go through a passage.  Length of words: one syllable words can slow things down  Line length: Prose writers can vary line length for impact.

6. Examples  Discuss how Creech uses line length and to what effect.

7. Exercise  Describe a car crash. Convey the chaos by making a chaotic rhythm, putting short and long sentences together, and using a mix of one syllable and multisyllabic words.

8. Sound  Vowels and Consonants  Alliteration (repeated consonant sounds) and Assonance (repeated vowel sounds): Has a chiming effect; echoes, creates connections within the text  Vowel length: short and long vowels, vowels of different kinds create different moods  Rhyming:  Full rhyme: moon, June  Slant rhyme: vowel sounds are not exact

9. Example  How is Walsh using alliteration and assonance to effect in this passage?

10. Exercises  Write a sentence describing a sunset. Create a slow pace and a darkening mood by using repeated long vowels such as “o.”  Write a sentence describing a sunrise. Create a lightening mood by using repeated long “i” sounds.

11. Commentary Practice  Do a close reading of the passage from Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Pay attention to how McCarthy uses: Rhythm; Line and word length; Sounds (Vowels and Consonants)to create a mood and impact meaning.  Also consider how he uses other poetic techniques such as powerful images with compressed meaning.