PILGRIM AT TINKER CREEK By Annie Dillard Journal

PILGRIM AT TINKER CREEK By Annie Dillard

Journal 1 Answer the following journaling prompt: The thing that bums me out the most about summer ending is. . . The thing that I am most excited for because summer is ending is. .

Journal 2 Answer the following journaling prompt: Something I hope to accomplish this year is. . . (Explain why: what do you hope to gain from accomplishing this? Why is this important? )

Who is Annie Dillard? Recently 1974 www. anniedillard. com

Pilgrim Summer Assignment 1. Get out your 10 quotations and responses that you completed this summer. 2. Re-read through your work and identify one quote that you think is more significant or interesting to you than the others. 3. Be prepared to share that quote and it’s significance.

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Influences and Genre: How can we categorize Pilgrim at Tinker Creek? American Transcendentalism (philosophy meets nature). . . • The transcendentalists were a generation of well educated people who lived in the decades before the American Civil War and the national division that it both reflected and helped to create. These people, mostly New Englanders, were attempting to create a uniquely American body of literature. They were struggling to define spirituality and religion in a way that took into account the new understandings their age made available. They emphasized the individual’s ability to apprehend truths that lay higher or deeper than mere experience could garner. . mixed with Postmodernism, . . . • Post WWII • A postmodernist novel is often and “anti-novel” in which the traditional social, cultural, and literary norms, structures and relationships are broken down, in order to cause a purposeful disorientation. The goal of this is to guide the reader to reconstruct their own narrative, theme, or purpose. • Often there is uncertainty as to setting, narrative persona, and plot.

Influences and Genre: How can we categorize Pilgrim at Tinker Creek? . . . Environmentalism, . . . • any explicit concern for the effects of human activity on the natural world • a widespread 20 th century movement to limit, mitigate, or solve problems cause by the human degradation of nature galvanized by concerns about pollution. . and Nature Writing. • nonfiction essays written after the late 18 th century • characterized by profound concern for a particular place and its biota (plants and animals, ecosystem of living things) • generally accompanied by spiritual or theological reflections

Terms and Rhetorical Devices associated with Pilgrim at Tinker Creek • Creative Nonfiction—nonfiction writing that uses the craft of the fiction writer or novelist, including such techniques as personification (especially of animals), anthropomorphism (nearpersonification), the development of narrative persona, episodic narration, irony, apostrophe, symbolism, and so on. • Narrative Persona—In creative nonfiction the voice we identify behind the words IS the writer, but the writer assumes a particular role. Sometimes this is called a mask but that term is somewhat misleading because it implies that the writer is pretending to be something s/he is not. Most of the time, in personal essays at least, this is not the case. The writer is truly as s/he presents him/herself, but we only get a part of the complex personality that makes up a human being. Thus, the Persona is genuinely but not completely the writer. Persona use to describe the reader’s perception of the speaker in a personal essay.

Terms and Rhetorical Devices associated with Pilgrim at Tinker Creek • Irony— 1. the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect 2. a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result • Paradox-- paradox is a statement that apparently contradicts itself and yet might be true. • Apostrophe--a digression in the form of an address to someone not present, or to a personified object or idea, as “O Death, where is thy sting? ”. • Symbolism--A symbol is an object that represents, stands for, or suggests an idea, visual image, belief, action, or material entity. Symbols take the form of words, sounds, gestures, or visual images and are used to convey ideas and beliefs

Journal 3 Answer the following journaling prompt: If there’s one thing I’ve learned about life, it’s that ________. I learned this when. . . (Where were you? Who were you with? What happened? Was there an “ah-ha” moment? )

Journal 4 Answer ONE of the following journaling prompts. Please take your time, you will have 15 minutes. You should not be doing anything other than journaling during this entire time: 1. One experience that helped make me the person I am today was… or 2. The most important thing that ever happened to me was ______

Journal 5 Getting Started on Your Personal Narrative: Go back and re-read your writing from journals 3 and 4. Decide whether you are going to write your personal narrative about something you have learned about life or if you are going to write it about an experience and its importance to you. Why did you make this choice? What do you want people to learn or understand about you when they read about this event? How do you want to make your reader feel?

What is Syntax? “it is syntax that gives words the power to relate to each other in a sequence, to create rhythms and emphasis, to carry meaning—of whatever kind—as well as glow individually in just the right place. ” -Virginia Tufte Definition: Syntax is the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.

Syntax • Syntax is sentence structure. It is not about singular words, but the way in which an author constructs a sentence to create meaning for the reader. • Sentence structure, syntax, affects tone and theme

Words that describe sentence length • Telegraphic: shorter than 5 words; usually passionate, flippant, or emphatic • Short: approximately 5 words in length • Medium: approximately 18 words in length; suggest a writer’s more thoughtful, deliberate response • Long/involved: 30 words or more in length; gives a narrative a rambling, meditative tone.

4 sentence functions • Declarative: makes a statement “The king is sick. ” • Imperative: gives a command “Cure the King. ” • Interrogative: asks a question “Is the king sick? ” • Exclamatory: provides emphasis or expresses strong emotion “The king is dead!”

4 sentence structures • Simple: contains one independent clause “The singer bowed to her adoring fans. ” • Compound: contains two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction or semicolon “The singer bowed to her audience, but she sang no encores. ” • Complex: contains an independent clause and one or more subordinate clauses “Because the singer was tired, she went straight to bed after the concert. ” • Compound-complex: contains two or more independent clauses and one or more subordinate clauses “The singer bowed while the audience applauded, but she sang no encores.

Patterns of Sentences • Loose/cumulative makes complete sense if brought to a close before the actual end “We reached Edmonton that morning after a turbulent flight and some exciting experiences, tired but exhilarated, full of stories. ” The sentence could end before the modifying phrases without losing its coherence. • Periodic makes sense fully only when the end of the sentence is reached. “ That morning after a turbulent flight and some exciting experiences, we reached Edmonton. • Balanced occurs when the phrases or clauses balance each other by virtue of their likeness of structure, meaning, or length “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside still water. ” • Natural order involves constructing a sentence so the subject comes before the predicate “Oranges grow in California. ” • Inverted order occurs when the predicate comes before the subject “ In California grow the oranges. ” Creates an emphatic or rhythmic effect.

Patterns Within Sentences • Juxtaposition is a poetic and rhetorical device in which normally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to each other, often creating the effect of surprise or wit “The apparition of these faces in the crowd/Petals on a wet, black bough. ” • Parallel structure refers to a grammatical or structural similarity between sentences or parts of a sentence. It involves an arrangement of words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs so that elements of equal importance are equally developed and similarly phrased “He loved swimming, running, and playing tennis. ” • Repetition : words sounds, and ideas are used more than once to enhance rhythm and to create emphasis “…government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. ” • Rhetorical questions require no answer. It is used to draw attention to a point that is generally stronger than a direct statement “Are we men or are we mice? ” • Rhetorical fragments are sentence fragments used deliberately for a persuasive purpose or to create a desired effect “Just saying”

Advanced Syntax Techniques • Anaphora: repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses • Asyndeton: deliberate omission of conjunctions in a series of related clauses • Chiasmus/ Antimetabole: the arrangement of ideas in the second clause is a reversal of the first • Polysyndeton: deliberate us of many conjunctions for special emphasis – to highlight quantity or mass of detail or to create a flowing continuous patter • Stichomythia: dialogue in which the endings and beginnings of each line echo each other, taking on new meaning with each new line • Zeugma: the use of a verb that has two different meanings with objects that complement both meanings

Practice with a Passage • She remembered a visit she had once made to some Mexican border towns – the hot days, the endless crickets leaping and falling or lying dead and brittle like the small cigars in the shop windows, and the canals taking river water out to the farms, the dirt roads, the scorched seascape. She remembered the silent towns, the warm beer, the hot thick food each day. She remembered the slow, dragging horses and the parched jackrabbits on the road. She remembered the iron mountains and the dusty valleys and the ocean beaches that spread hundreds of miles with no sound but the waves – no cars, no buildings, no nothing.

Journal 7 Developing Your Personal Narrative: Go through and answer the questions of Burke’s Pentad about the event/experience/lesson you chose for your personal narrative. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. What was done? When or where was it done? Who did it? How was it done? Why was it done?

Why do People Write? With your group, discuss the different reasons people write. Make a list and prepare to share. Reasons People Write:

Writing Domains

Narrative Writing and Burke’s Pentad What is a Narrative? What is Burke’s Pentad? Burke’s Pentad is a formula for make sense out of a text by questioning it. The 5 key questions of Burke’s Pentad are: 1. What was done? (the act, that which took place in thought or deed) 2. When or where was it done? (the scene, the background of the act, the conditions (social, that time and place) 3. Who did it? 4. How was it done? 5. Why was it done? situation in which it occurred; the context— the time and place and the economic, political) of (the agent, the person or kind of person who performed the act) (the agency, what means or instrument was used) (the purpose, the apparent purpose vs. the real purpose)

Practice with Burke’s Pentad Use Burke’s Pentad to analyze “Remembering Mr. Sweet” by Alice Walker: 1. What was done? (the act, that which took place in thought or deed) 2. When or where was it done? (the scene, the background of the act, the situation in which it occurred; the context— the time and place and the conditions (social, economic, political) of that time and place) 3. Who did it? 4. How was it done? 5. Why was it done? (the agent, the person or kind of person who performed the act) (the agency, what means or instrument was used) (the purpose, the apparent purpose vs. the real purpose)

Journal 8 “Setting Up” Your Personal Narrative: Establish a CONCRETE SPECIFIC SETTING keeping in mind the effect you want to produce in your reader. Jot down descriptive words and phrases that have the right connotations for your mood. In your "mind's eye", place yourself in that place & time. Exactly where & when are you? What do you see around you? What do you hear, taste, feel, smell? What are you doing there or how did you get there? What time of year is it? What time of day? How old are you?

Journall 9 How many ways can you find to say no? Write 10 sentences that say no in various ways, but without using the word no.

Journal In one paragraph, describe a scene from any sport. Use these words somewhere in the paragraph: • bounced • struggled • roared • collapsed • giggled (yes, giggled!)

Journal Create a much more interesting version of this sentence: The dog barked. What kind of dog was it? Where was it? Why was it barking? How would you describe the barking? Make the sentence as interesting as possible by choosing your words and details carefully.

Sentence Leveling by Francis Christensen analyzed the polished sentences of professional writers. He found that: • Most pro's combine several thought units (a. k. a T-units) in one sentence. • When writers add material to a sentence, they usually add detail that gives more specific information about some idea that is already in the sentence. • Writers tend to subordinate more than they co-ordinate. • Subordinate: give primary emphasis to one idea in a sentence and add details to describe the main idea • Co-ordinate: give equal emphasis to two or more ideas in a sentence • While there is LOTS of variation (deliberately), the average length of sentences in modern prose is 25 to 50 words. Pre-modern writers tended to have longer sentences. • Individual writers tend to use certain syntactic structures a lot while never, or hardly ever, using others. These preferences become part of a writer's style.

What is Sentence Leveling? In Sentence Leveling, we start with the finished, polished sentences and break them apart to see how the ideas relate to each other. At the same time, we can still look at the kinds of surface structures the writer has used and study the effects of his choices. While it is theoretically possible to look at each individual word as a unit of thought, this is not what Christensen did.

What is Sentence Leveling? Words are combined into other units of meaning smaller than the sentence, namely phrases and clauses. Phrase: a collection of words that may have nouns or verbals, but it does not have a subject doing a verb ex. running to the store Clause: a collection of words that has a subject that is actively doing a verb ex. because she smiled at him It is possible to give descriptive labels to different KINDS of phrases and clauses. Phrases are usually named according to the main word--e. g. noun phrase, verb phrase, etc. while clauses are usually named according to their function in the sentence--e. g. noun clause, adjective clause, etc. Christensen did NOT use independent and dependent/subordinate to identify clauses because he used subordinate in a different way.

What is Sentence Leveling? Christensen used co-ordinate & subordinate to describe the relationships between phrases and clauses in the same sentence. Co-ordinate elements carried equal "weight" in the sentence--they might modify the same thing, perform the same function or be members of the same list. Basically, Christensen said, they operate on the same level of generality. Subordinate elements have less "weight” than some other element in the sentence, although it is still possible to have several elements all subordinate to the same thing. An element is subordinate to the thing it modifies or adds more specific information about.

What is Sentence Leveling? Christensen used the term modifiers for all levels other than level one. If you think about it, this makes sense in terms of their function within the sentence. Each level 2 TUnit refers in some way to something in Level one--and most of the time it provides more information about its referent. In other words, it modifies the reader's understanding of the level one T-Unit. Each level 3 T-Unit modifies our understanding of some element in a Level 2, and so on. He then categorized all the modifiers according to where they are placed in the sentence, relative to the Level One TUnit. Initial modifiers come in front of the Level One unit. Final modifiers come after the Level One unit. Medial modifiers interrupt , or come in the middle of, another TUnit. (see Examples sheet & section below)

How It Works Christensen analyzed the structure of a sentence by assigning levels to the different T-Units he identified--co-ordinate structures are given the same level number while subordinate structures have different numbers. Note that a T-Unit can be either a phrase or a clause. Every English sentence has at least ONE T-Unit, which is called the main clause. Christensen used this as the basis for his diagram, calling it level one. (This is the only level which MUST be a clause) Any other clause anywhere in the sentence which is connected to it by a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or) or coordinating punctuation (; ) is also labeled as level one. SO John ran down the street. would be diagrammed as 1. John ran down the street. since it is a simple sentence containing one T-Unit.

How Works (cont. ) John ran down the It street but he could not catch the bus. Is a compound sentence with TWO level one T-units, joined by the co-ordinating conjunction “but”. Therefore it would be diagrammed as 1. John ran down the street 1. but he could not catch the bus. *NOTE that prepositional phrases are usually not broken off as separate T-Units.

It Works (cont. ) T-Units which. How are added with subordinating conjunctions are given a different level number NO MATTER WHERE THEY ARE IN THE SENTENCE. SO 2. Although he ran down the street, 1. John could not catch the bus. AND NOTE the 1. John could not catch the bus indentation 2. although he ran down the street.

How It Works (cont. ) Phrases and reduced clauses also get a different number from whatever they modify. 2. Shouting and waving, NOTE these give more info about 1. John chased the bus down the street. John It is, of course, possible to have BOTH co-ordinate and subordinate elements in the same sentence. 2. Shouting and waving, 1. John chased the bus down the street 1. but he could not catch it.

How It Works (cont. ) A sentence can also have "modifiers of modifiers". That is, some elements may not connect to the main clause directly, but rather to an already subordinate element. 2. Although John chased the bus down the street, 3. shouting and waving, 1. he could not catch it. NOTE that the level 3 phrase modifies HOW John chased, NOT how he did not catch the bus.

Coordinating and Conjunctive Conjunctions Adverbs Yes, these are our FANBOYS: For And Nor But Or Yet So accordingly in fact again instead also likewise besides moreover consequently namely finally nevertheless for exampleotherwise further still furthermore that is hence then however therefore indeed thus

Subordinating Conjunctions There a ton of these. Here are the most common ones: after although as as if as long as as much as as soon as as though because before even if even though how if inasmuch in order that lest now that provided (that) since so that than that though till(‘til) until unless whenever wherever while who/whom

Now, Let’s Try It! Follow these steps to level the sentences below: 1. Identify and mark off the T-Units in the sentence. Two things to look for: -verbs and verbals -- each new action will usually mean a new T-Unit -punctuation -- semi-colons, dashes, parentheses, colons and most commas (except for those in a list) usually indicate a new T-Unit. 2. Decide which T-Unit is the main clause (and remember it HAS to be a clause!) This states the main idea of the sentence and should be the most general statement. 3. Determine HOW the other T-Units relate to the main clause and to each other. Remember to look for coordinators & subordinators. Also you may well have several units on the same level and they don't have to be right together. 4. Assign a level to each unit. The Main Idea is Level One. Any T-Unit that refers to something in Level One is a Level 2. Any unit that refers most directly or closely to a Level 2 unit will be a Level 3, and so on. 5. Write out a diagram of the sentence, placing each T-Unit on a separate line. IMPORTANT NOTE: Keep the units in the order they occur in the sentence! u. The puppy scratched his ear with his large paw.

Now, Let’s Try It! Follow these steps to level the sentences below: 1. Identify and mark off the T-Units in the sentence. Two things to look for: -verbs and verbals -- each new action will usually mean a new T-Unit -punctuation -- semi-colons, dashes, parentheses, colons and most commas (except for those in a list) usually indicate a new T-Unit. 2. Decide which T-Unit is the main clause (and remember it HAS to be a clause!) This states the main idea of the sentence and should be the most general statement. 3. Determine HOW the other T-Units relate to the main clause and to each other. Remember to look for coordinators & subordinators. Also you may well have several units on the same level and they don't have to be right together. 4. Assign a level to each unit. The Main Idea is Level One. Any T-Unit that refers to something in Level One is a Level 2. Any unit that refers most directly or closely to a Level 2 unit will be a Level 3, and so on. 5. Write out a diagram of the sentence, placing each T-Unit on a separate line. IMPORTANT NOTE: Keep the units in the order they occur in the sentence! u. He stood at the edge of the packed dooryard in the flat thrust of sunrise, looking at the ground washed clean and smooth and trackless, feeling the cool mud under his toes.

Now, Let’s Try It! Follow these steps to level the sentences below: 1. Identify and mark off the T-Units in the sentence. Two things to look for: -verbs and verbals -- each new action will usually mean a new T-Unit -punctuation -- semi-colons, dashes, parentheses, colons and most commas (except for those in a list) usually indicate a new T-Unit. 2. Decide which T-Unit is the main clause (and remember it HAS to be a clause!) This states the main idea of the sentence and should be the most general statement. 3. Determine HOW the other T-Units relate to the main clause and to each other. Remember to look for coordinators & subordinators. Also you may well have several units on the same level and they don't have to be right together. 4. Assign a level to each unit. The Main Idea is Level One. Any T-Unit that refers to something in Level One is a Level 2. Any unit that refers most directly or closely to a Level 2 unit will be a Level 3, and so on. 5. Write out a diagram of the sentence, placing each T-Unit on a separate line. IMPORTANT NOTE: Keep the units in the order they occur in the sentence! u. The voices made a single, steady noise in the room, a noise without words, rising and falling but still steady, coming at a man like waves and washing upon him.

Journal Chris walks into the room. By describing only the reactions of the others in the room, let us know something about him.

Journal Write three different sentences, each using the word crumpled. Create an entirely different image with each sentence.

“How it Feels to be Colored Me” Essay Trends • Simple restatement of Thesis • Great Analysis • Not So Great Analysis • Good Understanding/Recognition of Syntax/Syntactical Devices • Misunderstanding of how to write about Syntax/Syntactical Strategies