Preview

Summary Of Mary Ruefle's On Beginnings

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
182 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Summary Of Mary Ruefle's On Beginnings
In "On Beginnings" by Mary Ruefle, she discusses about many poets will start a poem, but not as many will finish that same poem. It made me realize how sometimes when you start writing a piece, the idea you were trying to convey just isn’t coming out the way you planned. You might have written a couple lines and start hating the words on the page. Then you think about why you even thought it was a good idea in the first place. Therefore, do you believe we should abandon our unfinished poems, or fight through the poor wording until we finish it?
Furthermore, Ruefle points out how Mr. Angel told her that life is just one long sentence. Everything we say is separated by semicolons. She relates his sentiment back to poetry by saying, "You might

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Anne Lamott Summary

    • 341 Words
    • 1 Page

    In the book Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, she writes an excerpt, Shitty First Drafts, which is about the impact and importance of the first drafts of writing. Anne explains in the beginning of this excerpt that all writers write shitty first drafts and the drafts get better as you write more and work on the writing more. Lamott claims that “writing is not rapturous,” she explains that the only way that she can write anything well is to write a very bad first draft and just work on fixing that. She explains that sometimes you just have to type and get your ideas written out to be able to write a good piece of work. Once someone has been writing for so long, they have to have the ability to be able to just trust their writing process and understand that the first draft isn’t going to be perfect. Nothing is perfect on the first try, you have to keep working at it. Sometimes the first draft will be the worst thing someone thinks they have ever written, but they just have to go back to it and try to make it better and revise what is wrong. A writer has to start somewhere and they work from there. Just because the first draft is a bad draft doesn’t mean that the final work will be terrible. The first draft is the terrible draft, the second draft is the slightly better draft that has been picked through lightly to better, and the final draft is the “dental draft.” The dental draft is the draft that you really pick through and make sure that everything is perfect. In other words, the final product is checked “dentally” to make sure that it is “healthy” so that the final product is perfect. Lamott’s entire excerpt is just explaining that whether or not your first draft is perfect or not, the final product will definitely be better and more acceptable.…

    • 341 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “A New England Nun,” Mary E. Wilkins Freeman describes a young woman who battles her thoughts and feelings about her upcoming nuptials. The woman does not want to leave her simple solitary life that she has been content living, up until the moment her fiancé returns home to her after fourteen years. The main character, Louisa, is symbolized and or embodies that of her two pets. Her dog, Caesar, and her small yellow canary.…

    • 637 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mary Rowlandson, a Puritan woman with a strong religious ethic was captured by the Indians or as she describes them “savages” during the King Phillips war. Mary was faced with severe amount of pain and suffering and was held hostage and stripped away from her basic necessities. Her children were also captured and separated from her, sold or bought by other Indians. Throughout her narrative “The Sovereignty and goodness of God” Mary dealt with unremarkable sufferings however, she remained sanguine about the difficulties she encountered, portraying her hardship and misfortunes as a test from God. After Mary survives the terrible conditions she feels blessed and very thankful that she has finally escaped those treacherous Indians and has returned…

    • 1028 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mrs. Mary Rowlandson in the excerpt, The Sovereignty and Goodness of God, asserts that Native Americans are barbarous savages; only the grace of God guided the author to survival. Rowlandson supports her claim by illustrating the bloody attacks the Natives led against the colonists and the deaths of her closest family members and friends. The author’s purpose is to expose the cruelties of the Native Americans in order to persuade all educated colonists that Native Americans are cruel, not friendly, and cannot be cooperated with. Therefore, the author writes in a grieving and anguished tone for all educated white colonists with mixed knowledge and perspectives on the trustworthiness of Native Americans.…

    • 111 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this child’s draft of just visions and impulsive thoughts, she lets it all gush out and let it slope all over the place, thinking that only yourself are going to see it and shape the draft later. After cutting out lines and phrases that she doesn’t need, she would continue on to rewriting a better second draft. She used to write food reviews for a California magazine; from there, the writer learned a lot that food reviewing was not only typing and commenting on the food but it also need a clear structure of explanation. Lastly, Lamott tells readers that this whole rough drafts process is just a persisting cycle, and it will soon happen again. If I use some of these techniques that Lamott mentioned in this paper, then maybe I can begin to have some comfort when writing my first draft and to create wonderful pieces of art that are out of my potential. No matter how “shitty” the first copy may be,…

    • 1039 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    SOX ACT ARTICLE REVIEW

    • 359 Words
    • 2 Pages

    “The SOX Act was intended to impose stricter regulation and controls on how corporations do business through regulation of three broad areas: auditing, financial reporting, and internal corporate governance. The SOX Act also provided for additional enforcement apparatus and increased penalties for violation of existing securities laws.” (Melvin, 2011) “The SOX Act was intended to impose stricter regulation and controls of how corporations do business through regulation of three broad areas: auditing, financial reporting, and internal…

    • 359 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    As Janie returns to the town the townspeople criticize her attire and her previous love life and speculate what had happened to her lover. The town seems to be resentful about her return and try to pinpoint the reason of her return. This gives me the first look at how the townspeople seem to be zealous of her past and truly are critical of the choices she makes. This piece of symbolism shows aspects of Janie’s life that have had positive effects and negative affects on her life and her life choices.…

    • 1062 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    There was a young women name Mary. She had a vision for her life. But what happens to her takes her on a journey. The choices we make in life can better the future or leave it with a lot of pain as Mary finds out. It seems like Mary’s life was a rollercoaster ride at six flags, so many adjustments. Moreover, going through the pain, love, and success of finally being content within herself. In addition, enjoying the happiness that is put upon her, allowing God to direct her path in life to reach success. Believing that these steps were not motivated by her but it was the force of god.…

    • 112 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    1. Why does Mary Pipher describe “old age” as “another country?” what does she mean exactly? Pg. 4…

    • 472 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In elementary and middle school, we were all taught to write first drafts before writing our final copies. Teachers would tell us it is important to take the time to write and organize our thoughts and ideas before writing a final copy. I would never complete this step. I was usually one of the students that would spend my time writing to just get the writing done. Then, I would look over it quickly and correct only few parts. My “first draft” would usually end up being my final draft. I have never enjoyed writing and have never really liked my own writing. My writing was never the one talked about by teachers or ever given a good grade. I would never bother fixing my first draft because I never thought I could make it into a good quality paper. Lamott describes a brilliant writer sitting down and writing a polished piece of work in one sitting and then goes on to explain how that never happens. I found that really comforting because that is how I imagined many people writing. Now I know that is usually not how it happens. This made me realize that good writing just takes time. Some people might be better writers than others, but the way Lamott describes writing makes it seem that anyone can become good writer. I just need to take the time to write out my ideas to form an awful first draft that can later be revised into a “terrific” final…

    • 506 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Malala Yousafzai, an advocate for education for women in underdeveloped countries, once said, “The extremists are afraid of books and pens, the power of education frightens them. They are afraid of women.” (Claire). In the past, women had always been seen as the “weaker class”. A notion was present that women did not have the intellectual ability to learn and process information. Overtime, society has begun to generally accept that women are able to perform the same tasks as men, but this idea of acceptance did not occur overnight. It took many years, and massive feminist movements to unite society and display the great value of women. During the time period of various minority rights movements in the 1800’s, in “Enlightened Motherhood”, Frances…

    • 1879 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    During the 19th century Frances Ellen Watkins harper was an African American writer, lecturer, and political activist who promoted women rights, temperance, and civil rights. She was one of the best American Literature writers during her time. For her to be African American showed that she wanted to be successful because back then African Americans didn’t know how to read or write. During Harpers Career, Maryland made a law prohibiting any free blacks from entering or returning to the state. If she was caught in her home of Maryland, she would be imprisoned or enslaved. (Campbell 161). That law didn’t stop Harper from being successful, she strived to get her writing career started and continued to achieve the goals that she had planned. Being in organizations and helping others, harper changed lives for many African Americans and also gave them hope. While she wrote against slavery, she also broke away from the mode of the anti-slavery poet, becoming one of the first African American writers to focus on national and universal issues. Today, in the canon of American literature, she is considered an important abolitionist poet whose works possess greater historic than artistic significance.( Wall 182) Frances Ellen Watkins Harper is best known for her poetry and fiction stories, and has become a huge impact on American literature today.…

    • 1289 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The idea of reparations stems from the argument that African Americans should receive compensation for their unpaid labor, captivity, and the ongoing discriminations. Slavery did provide the means for whites to build wealth, income, and status while African Americans have continued to struggle. The oppression of segregation and the lack of rights made it impossible for African Americans to have any political and economic power to change their position. African Americans were unable to vote and use the power government to better their situation, like the Irish immigrants did in New York, until the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965 and that only allowed free black men to vote.…

    • 1549 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    My Literacy Experience

    • 687 Words
    • 3 Pages

    My attempts at poetry haven't worked out as well as I thought. In freshman year, I honestly believe that the drawings that went with my poems were better than the poems themselves. But there were a couple exceptions. "The hat flies away, It thinks that it is a…

    • 687 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Change is defined as "the process of alteration or transformation of individuals, groups, and organization undergo in response to internal factors."…

    • 2979 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays