33. Vary Your Introduction to the Quotation

33. Vary your Introductions to the Quotation:

-Three components to introducing a quotation for the first time in an essay:

1) author’s full name*

2) text name*

3) necessary information about the quote to allow reader to gain access to the passage

*unless you are only writing about one text

-Introductions to quotes can be:

-One complex sentence at the beginning of the quotation

-Two sentences

-Two sentences joined by a semicolon

-Tag at the end of the quotation

For example:

-Complex Sentence:

Concerned with the loss of awe and spirituality in humans, Thoreau writes, “I have always been regretting that I am not as wise as the day as I was born.” (Thoreau 34).

-Two sentences:

“In his nonfiction book, Walden, Henry Thoreau is concerned about the loss of awe and spirituality in humans. He writes, “I have always been regretting that I am not as wise as the day as I was born.” (Thoreau 34).

-Tag at the end of the quotation (end of quote):

Henry Thoreau celebrates a youthful perception of nature in his nonfiction book Walden. “I have always been regretting that I am not as wise as the day as I was born,” writes Thoreau about his reverence for youth, awe and innocence. (Thoreau 34).

-Two sentences joined by a semicolon:

“In his nonfiction book, Walden, Henry Thoreau is concerned about the loss of awe and spirituality in humans; he writes, “I have always been regretting that I am not as wise as the day as I was born.” (Thoreau 34).

Quote Tag commentary:

-notice how first sentence develops some of the necessary information to allow the reader to gain access to the quotation

-notice how the parenthetical notation always comes at the end of the whole sentence.

-use introductory tags at the beginning and the end of quotations in order to vary the pattern of your paragraphs

A sample analysis paragraph:

Henry Thoreau celebrates a youthful perception of nature in his nonfiction book Walden. (Topic Sentence) Thoreau strove for a youthful, innocent, awe-inspired perspective of nature while he lived at Walden Pond for two years. At this point in the book, Thoreau has removed himself from society, from dependence on the economy, and built his cabin and garden by Walden Pond. (linking sentences) Concerned with the loss of awe and spirituality in humans, Thoreau writes, “I have always been regretting that I am not as wise as the day as I was born.” (Thoreau 34) (Introduction to Quote and Quote and Citation) In this chapter of “Where I Lived, What I Lived For” Thoreau is justifying his reason for leaving civilization and living at Walden Pond.(condense) Clearly, this is a hyperbole, for Thoreau values his adult intellect but nonetheless laments the loss of his youthful innocence and youthful connection to nature. Returning to the woods became a means of returning to his more original self, a self that was concerned with sensation and perception and not the daily concerns of societal life. (connection)

After a text, author and quotation have been introduced in an essay, you only need to introduce the necessary information needed to understand the quotations. For example,

For example: In addition to urging us to incorporate awe into our lives, Thoreau also urges us to recognize how pathetic our lives are; he writes, “All men lead lives of quiet desperation.” (Thoreau 17).

DO I USE A BLOCK QUOTE (center,tab over twice, and retain double spacing) OR KEEP THE QUOTE IN THE TEXT OF THE ESSAY?

-As a general rule, quotations of three or fewer poetic lines or three or fewer sentences of prose are preceded by a comma and enclosed in quotation marks:

Principle: When quoting three or fewer lines of poetry:

- keep the lines or sentences within the essay,

-introduce with a comma,

-place in quotation marks,

- indicate the line breaks of a poem with a slash /

-parenthetical citation is placed after the passage or at the end of the

sentence if the passage occurs within commentary and receives a

period after it

For example:

Describing the New Hampshire woods in winter, Robert Frost ‘s speaker states, “When I see birches swing from left to right / Across the lines of straighter, darker trees / I like to think some boy’s been swinging them.” (lines 1-3).

-Principle: Quotations of more than three lines of verse or sentences of prose are:

- introduced by a colon,

-placed on a new line,

-double-spaced,

-each line is tabbed over twice,

-extend to the right margin,

-not enclosed in quotation marks

-parenthetical citation is placed at the bottom right hand corner of the passage and does not receive a period after it

For Example:

Describing the first of a series of images about a campfire in his poem “A Riddle,” Richard Wilbur writes:

Where far in a forest I am laid

In a placed ringed round by stones

Look not for melancholy shade

And have no thoughts of buried bones.

(lines 1-4)

-notice how the parenthetical citation (lines 1-4) is below the right hand corner of the blocked quote.

Sample Default Analysis Paragraph (Context, Condense, Connect) with a block quotation:

STANDARD PARAGRAPH: transitional topic sentence, linking sentence, introduction to the quotation, context, condense, connection.

THESIS: Ernest Hemingway’s In Our Time is not just against war; it is against all cruelty, violence, and immorality.

Ernest Hemingway’s Nick Adams sees and rejects violence in the everyday world after World War I (WWI). (Topic Sentence) At this point in In Our Time, Nick is a spectator at a bullfight after he has been a participant in and witness to the excessive violence in WWI. (Linking sentence with context) Describing the bloody and horrifying death of the matador, Hemingway writes: (Introduction to the passage)

He felt warm and sticky from the bleeding…Sometimes the bull

only bumped him with his head. Once the horn went all the way

through him and he felt it go into the sand…They were swearing

at him and flapping the cape in his face.

(131)

At this point in the text Nick has left home, enlisted, and been shot in the spine to earn him leave from the war. After the war he stays on in Europe and explores. (more context) In the above passage the violence toward the bull and the matador is horrifying. The matador has been gored to death. The details are gruesome and brutal, but the people in the stands actually enjoy the experience. (condense) This so called entertainment would chill anyone to the bone. How can anyone live to be a kind or at least empathetic person in a world where we turn to the agony and torture of animals and other human beings? In Our Time is arguing that because we live and have always lived in a culture where cruelty is common, malice will continue to be an acceptable and unnoticed occurrence in the world. (connect)

-commentary: Notice how the block passage is tabbed over twice, appears without quotation marks, and extends to the right hand margin.

Also, notice how the context of the passage occurs in the linking sentence and in the sentences after the passage. Both places are excellent opportunities to establish the context of the passage within the text.