Exercises

19. Stay in the right tense: keep to the same tense and the present in analysis

In summarizing action in a narrative always use the present tense. When writing about a literary text, always use the present tense.

1. "Shifting from one tense to another gives the appearance of uncertainty and irresolution."

2. "In summarizing a poem, short story, or novel , a writer should always use the present tense."

-use present tense when describing an action in a narrative or a scene in description

-use consistent verb tense when summarizing narration

- use present tense when referring to quotations in a poem, short story, novel, or

critical essay: Robert Frost writes, "...." or As Robert Frost expresses, nature's beauty

is ephemeral.

Directions: Rewrite the following sentences / paragraphs so the sentence stays in the same tense or is in the correct tense

1. In the 1836 version of "Nature," Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy into the era of manhood." (Emerson 189).

2. When Huck Finn told Aunt Sally he was Tom Sawyer, I realized that the novel was all about mistaken identities: the king wasn't a king and the duke wasn't a duke, Huck wasn't George Jackson nor Sarah Mary Williams, and Jim wasn't the racial epithet he was called throughout the novel.

3. The squirrel twitched its tail tantalizingly and scampers halfway down the trunk, while Samson was barking in a frenzy and races around the tree.

4. NONFICTION: After minutes of musing and listening, there isn't even a rise or the slightest interest in my flies. They were immensely interested in the naturals all around my flies. Frustrated yet hopeful, I can feel myself unusually attune to the creek this morning. The repetitive rhythm of casting the flies mixed with the slowed calm of the forked tongues of clear water, which subsided into the deeper water of the dark, emerald pool below me. This reminds me of the way time tries to keep all events in motion to prevent everything from happening at once. The white swirls from the jaded water split by the island recirculated and created a mixed expression of ease and resistance that eventually gave way to the draw of time and floated downstream toward unwatched water. But for that brief moment, when the whorls of white are suspended from the flow of the creek, there is hope that time's draw can be held at bay. This resistance from moving on to unknown water was hope incarnate. As I am mesmerized by the river's flow, I was left with the feeling that I wanted to stay where I was for the rest of my life. I wanted to remain fixed in this dreamlike state of cool, green jade and hold off the unknown forever.

5. ANALYSIS: While William Wordsworth's ideals on poetry often earn him the nickname of "the father of Romantic poetry", it is in William Blake's Songs of Experience that the idea of Romanticism first started. Blake believed that innocence and experience were the two contrary states of the human soul, and thought that innocence led, invariably, to experience. He wrote many of his poems in "pairs" in which he took the same or a similar subject and wrote first on its innocent state and then on its experienced state. While the Songs of Innocence explored the uncorrupted, pristine, and pure, the "Songs of Experience" delved into the conflicting, the powerful, the lustful, and oftentimes the cruel. While the ordered calm of innocence is often considered in his poems to be better than the power and chaos of the experienced, the state of experience is considered better than that of innocence in a few of his poems. The perfect example of this can be found in the poem "The Tyger," which is the embodiment of the power, energy, and awe of experience. Expressing his ideas on these subjects, Blake wrote:

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?. . .

. . .And what shoulder, and what art,

Could twist the sinews of thy heart,

And when thy heart began to beat,

What dread hand? and what dread feet?

(lines 1-4 and 9-12)

As the opening lines of the poem begin with rhetorical questions, this questioning is maintained in the middle of the poem as well. "The Tyger" projects an image of such might, power, and energy that the speaker felt as if God loved to create the destructive energy in the world more than the meek and mild. The Tyger, in all its ferocity and vigor, is far too grand a thing for even immortals to conceive. The Tyger is so powerful that nothing can "twist the sinews of" its heart, because it is such a mighty creature. Blake contrasted the boldness and ferocity of the Tyger with the purity and meekness of the lamb, and it was obvious that through experience, the creature gained a command and mastery of the world that it could not have had even conceived of in its innocence. The Tyger, with all its chaotic fury and might, tells us that the orderly and stable state of the Lamb might not be so desirable after all. After reading about both the Tyger and the Lamb, it was easy for the reader to make the choice of which beast he would wish to be. The Tyger, through its complex experience, was a far more commanding and awe-inspiring figure than the Lamb, and while the beauty of purity and innocence was interesting, the might and chaos of power in its most complete and natural form was captivating.

ANSWERS:

1. In the 1836 version of "Nature," Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy into the era of manhood." (Emerson 189).

1. In the 1836 version of "Nature," Ralph Waldo Emerson writes about the need to retain the awe associated with childhood. He writes, "The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy into the era of manhood." (Emerson 189).

2. When Huck Finn told Aunt Sally he was Tom Sawyer, I realized that the novel was all about mistaken identities: the king wasn't a king and the duke wasn't a duke, Huck wasn't George Jackson nor Sarah Mary Williams, and Jim wasn't the racial epithet he was called throughout the novel.

2. When Huck Finn tells Aunt Sally he is Tom Sawyer, I realized that the novel is all about mistaken identities: the king isn't a king and the duke isn't a duke, Huck isn't George Jackson nor Sarah Mary Williams, and Jim isn't the racial epithet he is called throughout the novel.

3. The squirrel twitched its tail tantalizingly and scampers halfway down the trunk, while Samson was barking in a frenzy and races around the tree.

3. The squirrel twitches its tail tantalizingly and scampers halfway down the trunk, while Samson barks in a frenzy and races around the tree.

4. NONFICTION: After minutes of musing and listening, there isn't even a rise or the slightest interest in my flies. They were immensely interested in the naturals all around my flies. Frustrated yet hopeful, I can feel myself unusually attune to the creek this morning. The repetitive rhythm of casting the flies mixed with the slowed calm of the forked tongues of clear water, which subsided into the deeper water of the dark, emerald pool below me. This reminds me of the way time tries to keep all events in motion to prevent everything from happening at once. The white swirls from the jaded water split by the island recirculated and created a mixed expression of ease and resistance that eventually gave way to the draw of time and floated downstream toward unwatched water. But for that brief moment, when the whorls of white are suspended from the flow of the creek, there is hope that time's draw can be held at bay. This resistance from moving on to unknown water was hope incarnate. As I am mesmerized by the river's flow, I was left with the feeling that I wanted to stay where I was for the rest of my life. I wanted to remain fixed in this dreamlike state of cool, green jade and hold off the unknown forever.

4. NONFICTION: After minutes of musing and listening, there isn't even a rise or the slightest interest in my flies. They are immensely interested in the naturals all around my flies. Frustrated yet hopeful, I can feel myself unusually attune to the creek this morning. The repetitive rhythm of casting the flies mixes with the slowed calm of the forked tongues of clear water, which subside into the deeper water of the dark, emerald pool below me. This reminds me of the way time tries to keep all events in motion to prevent everything from happening at once. The white swirls from the jaded water split by the island recirculate and create a mixed expression of ease and resistance that eventually gives way to the draw of time and floats downstream toward unwatched water. But for that brief moment, when the whorls of white are suspended from the flow of the creek, there is hope that time's draw can be held at bay. This resistance from moving on to unknown water is hope incarnate. As I am mesmerized by the river's flow, I am left with the feeling that I want to stay where I am for the rest of my life. I want to remain fixed in this dreamlike state of cool, green jade and hold off the unknown forever.

5. ANALYSIS: While Wordsworth's ideals on poetry often earn him the nickname of "the father of Romantic poetry", it is in William Blake's Songs of Experience that the idea of Romanticism first started. Blake believed that innocence and experience were the two contrary states of the human soul, and thought that innocence led, invariably, to experience. He wrote many of his poems in "pairs"in which he took the same or a similar subject and wrote first on its innocent state and then on its experienced state. While the "Songs of Innocence" explored the uncorrupted, pristine, and pure, the "Songs of Experience" delvedinto the conflicting, the powerful, the lustful, and oftentimes the cruel. While the ordered calm of innocence is often considered in his poems to be better than the the power and chaos of the experienced, the state of experience is considered better than that of innocence in a few of his poems. The perfect example of this can be found in the poem "The Tyger", which is the embodiment of the power, energy, and awe of experience. Expressing his ideas these subjects, Blake wrote:

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?. . .

. . .And what shoulder, and what art,

Could twist the sinews of thy heart,

And when thy heart began to beat,

What dread hand? and what dread feet?

(lines 1-4 and 9-12)

The Tyger projects an image of such might, power, and energy that the speaker felt as if God loved to create the destructive energy in the world more than the meek and mild. The Tyger, in all its ferocity and vigor, is far too grand a thing for even immortals to conceive. The Tyger is so powerful that nothing can "twist the sinews of" its heart, because it is such a mighty creature. Blake contrasted the boldness and ferocity of the Tyger with the purity and meekness of the lamb, and it was obvious that through experience, the creature gained a command and mastery of the world that it could not have had even conceived of in its innocence. The Tyger, with all its chaotic fury and might, tells us that the orderly and stable state of the Lamb might not be so desirable after all. After reading about both the Tyger and the Lamb, it was easy for the reader to make the choice of which beast he would wish to be. The Tyger, through its gain of experience, was a far more complex, commanding, and awe-inspiring figure than the Lamb, and while the beauty of purity and innocence was interesting, the might and chaos of power in its most complete and natural form was captivating.

5. ANALYSIS: While Wordsworth's ideals on poetry often earn him the nickname of "the father of Romantic poetry", it is in William Blake's Songs of Experience that the idea of Romanticism first started. Blake believes that innocence and experience are the two contrary states of the human soul, and thinks that innocence leads, invariably, to experience. He writes many of his poems in "pairs"in which he takes the same or a similar subject and writes first on its innocent state and then on its experienced state. While the "Songs of Innocence" explores the uncorrupted, pristine, and pure, the "Songs of Experience" delves into the conflicting, the powerful, the lustful, and oftentimes the cruel. While the ordered calm of innocence is often considered in his poems to be better than the the power and chaos of the experienced, the state of experience is considered better than that of innocence in a few of his poems. The perfect example of this can be found in the poem "The Tyger", which is the embodiment of the power, energy, and awe of experience. Expressing his ideas these subjects, Blake writes:

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?. . .

. . .And what shoulder, and what art,

Could twist the sinews of thy heart,

And when thy heart began to beat,

What dread hand? and what dread feet?

(lines 1-4 and 9-12)

As the opening lines of the poem begin with rhetorical questions, this questioning is maintained in the middle of the poem as well. The Tyger projects an image of such might, power, and energy that the speaker felt as if God loves to create the destructive energy in the world more than the meek and mild. The Tyger, in all its ferocity and vigor, is far too grand a thing for even immortals to conceive. The Tyger is so powerful that nothing can "twist the sinews of" its heart, because it is such a mighty creature. Blake contrasts the boldness and ferocity of the Tyger with the purity and meekness of the lamb, and it is obvious that through experience, the creature gains a command and mastery of the world that it could not have had even conceived of in its innocence. The Tyger, with all its chaotic fury and might, tells us that the orderly and stable state of the Lamb might not be so desirable after all. After reading about both the Tyger and the Lamb, it is easy for the reader to make the choice of which beast he would wish to be. The Tyger, through its complex experience, is a far more commanding and awe-inspiring figure than the Lamb, and while the beauty of purity and innocence is interesting, the might and chaos of power in its most complete and natural form is captivating.