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Literary Patterns
What is the pattern of the poetic form called a cinquain? Did Flaubert
have themes that he frequently used in his short stories? Can we say that
Dr. Seuss was a man who knew about word patterns? Does Emily Dickison
create patterns of images in your mind's eys as you read her creative
endeavors?
Literature is patterns of words, ideas, and imagery. Sample some of the
following activities to learn more about literary patterns.
Places To Go | People To See | Things To Do | Teacher Resources | Bibliography
Places To Go
The following are places to go (some real and some virtual) to find out
about patterns in literature.
Emily
Dickinson
Visit Amherst, Massachusetts, the home place of Emily Dickinson. She was
a reclusive person and spent almost her entire life in Amherst. Her poetry
had unusual patterns and styles.
Seussville
Hop on over to Seussville and discover the patterns in the writings of
Dr. Seuss.
EspañOlé
Via the patterns of literature and language, virtually visit and learn
about the cultures of Mexico and Spain. This is a great site with many
resources for teaching and learning the Spanish language.
People To See
Mr.
William Shakespeare and the Internet
Spend quality time with William Shakespeare. Explore the pattern of his
words.
Edward
Lear
Meet Edward Lear. He was the master of the poetic form called the limerick.
He wrote hundreds of limericks in the mid-1800s.
Science fiction, as a genre, has its own special kind of pattern. Get
to know Robert
Heinlein, one of the most renowned of science fiction writers.
Dashiell
Hammett
Mystery writing often has a formula--or pattern. Meet Dashiell
Hammett, the creator of the Sam Spade detective character.
Things To Do
O
Henry
Learn about the short story writer known as O Henry. His real name was
William Sydney Porter, and he had a very unusual life. His short, simple
stories are noted for having a pattern of careful plotting, ironic coincidences,
and surprise endings.
Ray Bradbury
Is there a pattern to writing in a particular genre? Do most romance novels
have a formula---is there a formula involved in the writing of mysteries?
Have students explore common elements and themes in literary genres. Start
with science fiction and use Ray Bradbury as a resource.
Tom Swifties
Tom Swiftie is a word game that follows an unvarying pattern and relies
for its humor on a punning relationship between the way an adverb describes
a speaker. At the same time, it refers significantly to the import of
the speaker's statement, as in "I know who turned off the lights," Tom
hinted darkly.
Favorite Poem
Project
Robert Pinsky, the 39th Poet Laureate of the United States, believes that
poetry is a vocal art, an art meant to be read aloud. "If a poem is written
well," he says, "it was written with the poet's voice and for a voice.
Reading a poem silently instead of saying a poem is like the difference
between staring at sheet music and actually humming or playing the music
on an instrument." Help students enjoy the pattern of poetry by reading
it aloud in the classroom.
The
Hero’s Journey
This site enables you to explore the classic mythical structure of the
archetypal hero’s journey pattern that recurs in many stories and
popular movies. The “Hero’s Journey Motif” was popularized
by the works of mythologist Joseph
Campbell. You can use the tool to actually create your own story using
the archetypal framework provided.
Patterns
in Poetry
Learn more about the patterns that exist in poetic expression.
Literature:
What Makes a Good Short Story?
Learn more about the structure of a story on this interactive site.
Graphic
Organizers
Use these graphic organizers to help identify various patterns used in
expository writing.
Teacher Resources
Online activities are a listing of internet
sites with fun, interesting, and educational tasks attached to each one.
(You can learn how to use this WWW
Activities tool created by UEN for Utah educators).
Virtual Field Trips are teacher and student-created
tours of curricular topics. (You can learn how to use this UEN Virtual
Field Trip tool created by UEN for Utah educators).
Lesson Plans/Webquests
Bibliography
- Amberg, Jay. The Creative Writing Handbook. Glenview, IIl. : GoodYear
Books/Scott, Foresman, c1992.
- Berg, Elizabeth. Escaping into the Open : The Art of Writing True.
New York : HarperCollins Publishers, c1999.
- Introducing Geat Authors [videorecording]. Melville, N.Y.
: Video Knowledge, Inc., 1986.
- Kernen, Robert. Building Better Plots. Cincinnati : Writer's Digest
Books, c1999.
- Krull, Kathleen. Lives of the Writers : Comedies, Tragedies (and What
the Neighbors Thought). San Diego : Harcourt Brace, c1994.
- McClanahan, Rebecca. Word Painting : A Guide to Writing More Descriptively.
Cincinnati, Ohio : Writer's Digest Books, c1999.
- O'Conner, Patricia T. Words Fail Me : What Everyone Who Writes Should
Know About Writing. New York : Harcourt Brace, c1999.
- Rozakis, Laurie. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creative Writing. New
York : Alpha Books, c1997.
- Rule, Rebecca. Creating the Story : Guides for Writers. Portsmouth,
N.H. : Heinemann, c1993.
- Tobias, Ron. Twenty Master Plots (and How to Build Them). Cincinnati,
Ohio : Writer's Digest Books., c1993
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