Writing Exercise (Short Task) - 15 minutes · Last week we discussed atmosphere . You will be given an excerpt, called "The Wild Iris" . How often have you tried to bring weather into your writing? . This piece is getting you to think about the particularities of the world you create while writing . You will have 15 minutes to write something that the poem "triggers" you to write (write in prose not poetry) Talk to each other about what you have written, how did the poem lead you to what you wrote? Raymond Carver - If you start reading more Carver, you become accustomed to his dialogue If you feel your dialogue is too wordy, read Carver He makes his language simple as a choice, you become comfortable with your language choices the more you write Storytellers can choose to make things clear, or create ambiguity, what happened with the baby in the story? The use of adverbs is limited here, you do not need to over use adverb The story mentions weather very briefly to set the mood appropriately
TASK - go through your home work with the person next to you - 15 mins Questions (to be answered later) - Related to 'Cathedral' . How does the story start? · What is the attitude expressed regarding blindness? . Is it significant that poems are mentioned in a short story? . What do we learn about the narrator regarding his attitude towards poetry? . Say something about Carvers use of repetition, try to be specific and refer to repeated words . In what ways do you feel the story is unnerving or weird? . How does the writer keep the focus close up? . Are there any comical moments in the story? . Consider the use of dialogue, is it different to "little things"? · How does the story encapsulate domestic space? . How would you describe the relationship between the narrator and his wife? . Do you think the narrator is a religious man? . How would you describe the ending of the piece? · What is the connection between building a cathedral and building a story? 15 minutes to answer these questions The story starts with a monologue of the narrator, talking about his feelings towards the blind man From a writing point of view, Carver enjoys the complicatedness of having a blind character in the story
The writing of the poem makes her life more interesting, and this only happens once or twice a year What is the relationship between poetry and short story writing? We don't find out about the narrator's work, but what is their class? Working class, middle class? Examples of repetition - · Blind man . You'll see Leaving his thigh uncovered in front of the blind guest, is strange and outlandish We aren't given huge details on the surroundings of our characters, he is always detailed and straight to the point with his writing Carver often writes in lists