Craft of Writing: Modality, Pathetic Fallacy, and Iambic Pentameter

Hello! Here are another three Craft of Writing mini-lessons designed to support students in practising writing craft all year-round. As mentioned in previous blogs on other writing elements - here, here, here, and here - this approach involves covering a writing technique in a ten minute segment at the start of each lesson. Students are shown how to use a technique, alongside examples, and then put it into practice. 

Modality

What is it: A choice of words indicating how definite the writer/speaker is about something. High modality language is certain and definite, whereas low modality makes the author sound unsure about their subject.

Examples:

• "'We need Duncan to make the call.' I guess that's what he says. There's much noise" - Lullaby, Chuck Palahniuk
• "Historians have always written their work in narrative form" - The Killing of History, Keith Windschuttle

Why use it:

• High modality language is used to persuade the audience to agree with a point of view, or for purposes of characterisation.
• Low modality language can lull the reader into a false sense of security, or to create a kind of character.

Quick Activity:

1. Use high or low modality to write 2-3 sentences describing a fictional politician.
2. Swap with the person next to you. Rewrite their sequence in the opposite modality.
   

Pathetic Fallacy

What is it: A kind of figurative device that highlights the relationship between a character or author's emotional state with the world around them. Most commonly represented through the weather acting as a symbol for a character's feelings. The term 'pathetic' is used here because it relates to pathos (using emotions to persuade).

Examples:

• "Some say the Earth was feverous and did shake" - an Old Man in William Shakespeare's Macbeth describes the strange weather that occurred during King Duncan's death.
• "The white cold virgin snow upon my heart / abates the ardour of my liver" - Ferdinand in The Tempest, William Shakespeare.

Why use it:

• In Shakespeare terms, nature and the weather were seen as reflections of God's feelings or a way for God to communicate with the world. As the King was seen as God's representative on Earth, this meant that the weather was closely tied to the King's wellbeing. 
• By externalising emotions in this way (or using these kinds of comparisons), writers are able to deepen the reader's understanding of abstract feelings.
• Offers a unique perspective on familiar feelings. 

Quick Activity: In regards to Shakespeare's The Tempest, use pathetic fallacy to describe the emotional state of Caliban, Miranda or Prospero.

Iambic Pentameter

What is it: A form of writing presented as 'blank verse' (unrhymed poetry). Each line is made up of five (the pentameter) double-syllable units (the iambs). More technically, the iambs are made up of one short syllable followed by a longer 'stressed' syllable. The stresses direct how each line is spoken by the performer.

Examples:

• "Dull thin, I say so: he, that Caliban / Whom now I keep in service. Thou best know'st" - Prospero in The Tempest, William Shakespeare
• "Faith, sir, you need not fear. When we were boys, / Who would believe that there were mountaineers" - Gonzalo in The Tempest, William Shakespeare
• "These tags I'll pop, and boast in rhyming verse / That what I wear puts swagger in my gait; / Though twenty shillings have I in my purse, / My self-esteem and manhood both inflate" - Shakespearean version of Thrift Shop by Macklemore, found on that most magical of places: the Internet.

Why use it:

• The Elizabethans used this precise and consciously rhythmic form of writing in their poetry to represent the grand and highly educated nature of the nobility.
• Allows the writer to shape the pace and intonation of the actor or performer reading their verse.
• Believed to give dialogue a natural and poetic sense of rhythm due to the way the iambs mirror the beat of the human heart.  

Quick Activity: Go back to a previous paragraph you have written for one of these activities and convert it into four lines of iambic pentameter.  

Here are these three writing elements all in the one sheet for ease of use:

• Writology Issue 3

Happy writing!

(Picture sourced from East Riding Theatre Twitter feed. Not sure who drew it!)

Dracula Term 2: Texts, Culture and Value

At the start of the year I consolidated the first term's lessons for a revised unit of work focused on Dracula for the Year 11 Extension English 1 module Texts, Culture and Value. This first term focuses on Dracula itself, an introduction to important contextual information for study, and interacting with academic paratext to build a level of understanding suitable to an Extension English context (and hopefully prepare students for university-level study!).

In continuation of this, the second term of the module addresses a modern text (The Lost Boys) and introduces material that supports students in their undertaking of the Related Project. Without further waffle, here's the resources for the term in a single document for easy access:

• Dracula Term 2: Texts, Culture and Value

And here's the associated PowerPoint, some of which was adapted from ideas shared by Eva Mayes in mETAphor Issue 2, 2012, in the article 'The Language of Comparison' (hence why the PPT is mislabelled - a fair bit of it has been changed from the original DoE document that was initially shared with me):

• 9-1. Utilising Sophisticated Language PPT

And the two video clips referenced in the program:

As stated in the previous blog, the main document is designed to be printed as a booklet and given to each student. There's a section in the front of the booklet that explains how each of the resources work. It's more for the teacher but it doesn't hurt for the students to see it and track their progress. The document also includes a formal assessment task (the Related Project) and an informal assessment task (a proposal for the Related Project presented in viva voce form). You can teach the whole unit as it is, or pull it apart and use bits and pieces, rewrite stuff from it, etc.  

A reiteration of the caveats I mentioned last time too:

• The module has been designed from a place of non-assumption; that is to say, everything is laid out for the students as if they are coming to everything in this for the first time because, well, they probably are. Some material has also been included to build skills that should assist students in their HSC year (without touching any of the HSC content, of course).
• One of the larger parts of the booklet is the Study Guide to The Lost Boys (Resource 3-1). I've posted an earlier version of this document on this blog before but the version in the updated module now includes student questions in the analysis column. I don't expect students to answer every question but, as a form of differentiation, students should aim to answer at least one question per page. 
• The readings included are mostly extracts sourced from online. Sources have been included on all of these except for one. The one with no author attributed to it was written by myself, adapted from a review I wrote in a previous life as a film reviewer. I've included each of the readings here because, as you'll probably already know, things on the internet have a tendency to disappear sometimes! Incidentally, if you're reading this and happen to be the author of one of these online pieces and would like it removed from this not-for-profit educational document then please just let me know and I'll take it out.

If you have any questions please fee free to contact me by commenting below, or using the email address in the booklet.