Suggestions+for+Writing+about+Prose

=**Reading and Appreciating Prose Commentary **=  A prose passage may seem easier to read than a poem. The language and meaning are usually more transparent, less dense or concentrated in effect. However, what to look for and how to appreciate features can be just as challenging. Unlike poems, where the whole text is usually provided and you are looking for the whole meaning and effect, prose passages are usually taken from a longer work. Nonetheless, they will be chosen as having coherence and significance in themselves. **Literary Features in Prose: questions for approaching prose commentary ** You will see that there is a certain overlap with the features of poetry, but other features are more important than is typical in poetry, such as the role of the narrator, the point of view, and the chronology.

**//What is the passage about? What is the focus? //** Is it about an event and what that reveals, a decision a character makes, a character’s circumstances, or something else? Define the focus in a sentence or two.
 * //Who is narrating this passage? //** Is there a first person narrator or third person? What attitude does the narrator have toward his or her subject? How might you describe the tone of narration? What attitude do you seem encouraged to take towards the narrator? Is there a shift in narrator or point of view during the passage?
 * //Is there a central character or group of characters? //** What do you learn about him or her or them? How do you learn this information? Is it through dialogue, description, internal monologue, or other devices?
 * //How is the passage structured? //** Does it fall into distinct sections? What characterizes theses sections? What rationale does the structure have?


 * //Is the development chronological? //** Is the passage narrated strictly in sequence, or does it look backwards or forwards at any point? Is knowledge withheld and then revealed strategically?
 * //What tensions or oppositions or contrasts are evident? //**Within a character? Between characters? Between the external world and a character?


 * //<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Goudy Old Style','serif';">What part does description or setting play? //**<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Goudy Old Style','serif';"> Does it reflect a character’s thoughts and attitudes, provide a contrast to what is happening in the character’s mind, create suspense or atmosphere, or something else? To what senses does it appeal?
 * //<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Goudy Old Style','serif';">What language effects are striking? //**<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Goudy Old Style','serif';"> Is the diction memorable? Are there patterns of words? Are metaphors and similes or symbols used? What part do they play? Are sound effects prominent at any point? Does the level of language shift, for example from colloquial or slang to a more literary level?
 * //<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Goudy Old Style','serif';">What tense and mood are used? //**<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Goudy Old Style','serif';"> Is past, present or another tense employed? To what effect? Is the mood indicative, interrogative or imperative? If so, what impact does this mood have on you?
 * //<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Goudy Old Style','serif';">Are there particular effects created by punctuation, syntax or sentence structure? //**<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Goudy Old Style','serif';"> Short or long sentences? Do these effects reflect what is happening in the narrative?
 * //<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Goudy Old Style','serif';">How is dialogue being used? //**<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Goudy Old Style','serif';"> Does the dialogue provide characterization? Does it work dramatically, representing events or movements in the plot? Does it introduce a theme?
 * //<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Goudy Old Style','serif';">Is the passage the beginning of a work? //**<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Goudy Old Style','serif';"> How successful do you think it is as such? What characteristics does it establish about the work?
 * //<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Goudy Old Style','serif';">How are we being invited to read the passage? //**<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Goudy Old Style','serif';"> With sympathy for the main character? With a critical difference from him or her?

**//<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Goudy Old Style','serif';">Is irony present? //**<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Goudy Old Style','serif';"> Is the irony stylistic or dramatic? <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Goudy Old Style','serif';">Adapted from Elizabeth Stephan’s //Study and Revision Guide//
 * //<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Goudy Old Style','serif';">What kind of effect does the passage have on you? //**<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Goudy Old Style','serif';"> Does it challenge your ideas? Open you to new perspectives? Engage you by presenting a suspenseful and dramatic situation, or with a character or characters in whom you take an interest?