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"People have told me, really more times than I can remember, ever since I was a small boy, how lucky I was, but I have always felt as if I were suffering in hell. It seemed to me in fact that those who called me lucky were incomparably more fortunate than I." (Dazai 25)

"All I feel are the assaults of apprehension and terror that I am the only one who is entirely unlike the rest." (Dazai 26)

"Just outside the apartment window was a kite caught in the telegraph wires; blown about and ripped by the dusty spring wind, it nevertheless clung tenaciously to the wires, as if in affirmation of something. Every time I looked at the kite I had to smile with embarrassment and blush. It haunted me even in dreams." (Dazai 113)

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"On the soccer field
the air is full of joy
my feet remember the magic
and I forget everything else

until later." (Phillips 30)

"From Canada
it felt like a dream
or a poem
about feeling
afraid.

by Miguel" (Phillips 34)

"My mother swims
through the river of my dreams
nudges me gently
out of the shallows
floats downstream

belly up" (Phillips 49)

"Curious how many solstice celebrations involve cleansing rituals, setting the world to rights before beginning afresh. Wouldn't we all like to have that chance? Those devils don't always melt away, though, do they?" (Phillips 98)

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Read 71 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. Teen violence, bullying and the burning quest to fit in are presented in the poems of four ...

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Each piece of media listed here contributed to the culmination of my own beliefs about writing. Each story here became a valuable tool for me to develop my understanding of why literature is important, as well as how it can be used in more powerful ways than I could have imagined. Each piece contributes more to my knowledge and understanding of purpose in writing.

My childhood love of reading has accumulated into a lifelong skill and love of learning that I will carry for the rest of my life.

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Title: I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy | Goodreads

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"When I hold you in my arms at night
Don't you know you're sleeping in the spotlight
And all your dreams that you keep inside
You're telling me the secrets
That you just can't hide"

"When you close your eyes and you fall asleep
Everything about you is a mystery"

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"I guess I should stop looking out for you, like I always do
When will you start looking out for me, too
Instead of leaving me staring at my shoes?"

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So Alright, Cool, Whatever, The Happy Fits

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So Alright, Cool, Whatever, The Happy Fits

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"After you leave, I'll be so alright, it's true
It's not like I've got something grand to say to you
Like, 'You'll be the only ever one
Like the only ever ones who came before'
How could I ever be so dumb
To believe I'd be the one you would adore?"

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Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now, The Smiths

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Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now, The Smiths

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"I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour
But heaven knows I'm miserable now"

. . .

"In my life
Why do I give valuable time
To people who don't care if I live or die?"

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Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now - 2011 Remaster

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Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now - 2011 Remaster

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"I thought I was a fool for no one
Oh baby, I'm a fool for you"

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"I was following the
I was following the pack
All swallowed in their coats
With scarves of red tied 'round their throats
To keep their little heads
From fallin' in the snow"

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"Nora understood this. She thought of a study she had read about somewhere, about fish. Fish were more like humans than most people think.

Fish get depression. They had done tests with zebrafish. They had a fish tank and they drew a horizontal line on the side of it, halfway down, in marker pen. Depressed fish stayed below the line. But give those same fish some Prozac and they go above the line, to the top of their tanks, darting about like new.

Fish get depressed when they have a lack of stimulation. A lack of everything. When they are just there, floating in a tank that resembles nothing at all." (Haig 83)

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Critical Lives, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Rebecca Mitchell

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Critical Lives, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Rebecca Mitchell

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"I am undoing you

from my skin" (Kaur 112)

"perhaps

i don't deserve

nice things

cause i am paying

for sins i don't

remember" (Kaur 147)

"to be

soft

is

to be

powerful" (Kaurr 166)

"we are all born

so beautiful

the greatest tragedy is

being convinced we are not" (Kaur 183)

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What do you notice about how the writer conveys their ideas?

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What do you notice about how the writer conveys their ideas?

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In Bird by Bird, writer Anne Lamott uses pathos to convey her ideas extremely effectively. Her casual tone paired with her humour is highly effective in creating a personal connection to the reader. The audience is treated as a friend, rather than a stranger as evidenced by the personal connections Lamott makes in her writing to help support her claims.

The best example of this is on page 129 where she writes:

"He told me about his monster. His sounded just like mine without quite so much mascara. When people shine a light on their monster, we find out how similar most of our monsters are." (Lamott)

By sharing such a personal aspect, it allows the reader to feel more comfortable with Lamott as if she is a friend. This also helps improve her ethos, making her seem more trustworthy as she's speaking from experience, and we as the audience have a friendly connection.

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"The very first thing I tell my new students on the first day of a workshop is that good writing is about telling the truth. We are a species that needs and wants to understand who we are. Sheep lice do not seem to share this longing, which is one reason they write so little." (Lamott, 3)

"But be warned that you may feel as though you have put your head in the lion's mouth. Creative-writing classes and ongoing workshops tend to be gentler than conferences, but in all these situations you may find yourself sitting around a table with a number of other writers who feel morally and aesthetically compelled to rip your story to shreds." (Lamott, 105)

"Sometimes I can't get words to come out of my mouth because I am so disappointed, as if they had said that Sam is ugly and boring and spoiled and I should let him go. Criticism is very hard to take. . .

and if I'll hang in there, they'll have found a number of places where things could be so much stronger, or funnier, or more real, or more interesting, or less tedious. They may even have ideas on how to fix those places, and so, by the end, I am breathing a great sigh of relief and even gratitude." (Lamott, 112)

"The great writers keep writing about the cold dark place within, the water under a frozen lake or the secluded, camouflaged hole. The light they shine on this hole, this pit, helps us cut away or step around the rim of the abyss, holler into it, measure it, throw rocks in it, and still not fall in. It can no longer swallow us up. And we can get on with things." (Lamott, 129)

"He told me about his monster. His sounded just like mine without quite so much mascara. When people shine a light on their monster, we find out how similar most of our monsters are." (Lamott, 129)

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Which sentences make you stop and think, pause and consider or linger upon and reread?  Which sentences stop you in your tracks?  Which ones are particularly beautiful?  Which ones are unsettling? 

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Which sentences make you stop and think, pause and consider or linger upon and reread?  Which sentences stop you in your tracks?  Which ones are particularly beautiful?  Which ones are unsettling? 

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One of Miguel's poems in Fishtailing absolutely made me linger and reread.

"My mother swims

through the river of my dreams

nudges me gently

out of the shallows

floats downstream

belly up" (Phillips 49)

Wendy Phillips' use of beautiful language caught my attention and painted a calm, etherial image in my mind. Immediately after, she contrasts this setup with the last line, "belly up."

Miguel is portrayed as a troubled child, so the setup of him finding a positive light in his world in the beginning of the poem made me feel hopeful, almost happy for him. Then, Phillips knocks the audience back down, reminding us to think logically again.

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What do you notice about the way the writer structures, organizes and presents the writing?

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What do you notice about the way the writer structures, organizes and presents the writing?

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In No Longer Human, Osamu Dazai creates an extremely thought-out, chronological structure throughout his novel. Every sentence, no matter how small, has been combed through to ensure it has a key purpose in driving the narrative forward clearly and elegantly. For example, Dazai uses well-thought-out and sophisticated language to convey how the protagonist, Oba Yozo, thinks of himself. He says, "All I feel are the assaults of apprehension and terror that I am the only one who is entirely unlike the rest." (Dazai 26) which helps to understand exactly what the author is trying to tell the audience. His use of words like "assaults of apprehension" and "entirely unlike the rest" are used to intricately describe how Oba feels. Although Dazai's sentence structure doesn't change, his use of language helps present and organize his work interestingly and excitingly.

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What do you notice about where we can hear, sense the writer's voice? 

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What do you notice about where we can hear, sense the writer's voice? 

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Anne Lamott's voice comes through in almost every word she wrote. Based on her writing, Lamott likes to explain concepts using humour and personal example to keep things interesting. She uses descriptive language to create a clear, casual, and fun tone in her writing. At any point it is appropriate, Lamott incorporates a personal connection or humourous addition into her paragraphs. This is effective in keeping the audience engaged, like on page 3 where she writes, "Sheep lice do not seem to share this longing, which is one reason they write so little." (Lamott) which aids in giving Lamott a clear writer's voice, helping the reader digest what she said, and also loosely keeping on topic.

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Something that Anne Lamott does that I'd like to do is. . .

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Something that Anne Lamott does that I'd like to do is. . .

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Using humour and personal connection to appeal to her audience was something I hadn't thought about before reading Lamott's work. Her lighthearted, fun nature creates a comfortable environment. Her use of language and tone help the audience relax into what she writes, while also increasing her credibility through explaining her personal experiences with her findings. Lamott is able to use her style to persuade and educate in a way that makes the audience feel positively towards her. In my own writing, I would like to incorporate this use of tone to help make my writing brighter, more lighthearted, and easier to digest.

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What effects do literary devices have on writing and your understanding of it?

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What effects do literary devices have on writing and your understanding of it?

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An author's deliberate choice to use a literary device has a great impact on my understanding of a work's purpose. Language, diction, and sound can greatly influence a work's tone and organization. If a work focuses on colourful and descriptive language, there is a good indication that this piece is meant to be lighter and more free flowing, like poetry or music. On the other hand, a piece that uses diction like connotation and denotation are used to show the audience that what the author is saying should be taken seriously. In essence, the level of language in the piece of writing almost always indicates the tone and purpose of the work.

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Tone is key to a piece of writing, as it tells the audience how they should react or think about the words in a story. The tone of a piece refers to the author's own ideas on a subject, which in turn affect the reader's ideas on both the subject and the author, which then influence the reader's overall outlook. The tone of a story is the absolute purpose for someone to be writing, to have an effect on others.