The Pyrenees---Southern France

The Pyrenees---Southern France

Monday, March 2, 2015

When Poetry and Prose Intersect

       I am currently reading All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. I'm a little more than a hundred pages into it. As its central characters, the novel has a blind girl living in France and an orphan boy living in Germany. The boy is being groomed by the Nazis because of his genius when it comes to radios and anything else his mind grasps. Somehow the two are going to connect... I'm not sure how.


       It's slow reading because I'm savoring the lines. Doerr writes prose like a poet. The images, the lines--they're so well crafted, and if the reader rushes, some gems will be overlooked.


       Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine is like that as well. I could just imagine Bradbury--like a diamond cutter--turning each phrase this way and that way, chipping away bits until the brilliance of his words was allowed to shine. Don't we all want that as writers and what we all hope for as readers? Don't we all love when the words just drip off the page and flash their brilliance?


      What is a fine line or phrase you've encountered (or crafted) recently? A writerly mind wants to know...  


18 comments:

  1. I know exactly what you mean. I love the impact of a Toni Morrison sentence.

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    1. Linda--It's wonderful when we can find those authors who inspire us...

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  2. I've read this book and really enjoyed it. I tended to read it too fast as I did not want to put it down. Great story;great writing. And Bradbury! Dandelion Wine is on my reread list right now!

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    1. Claudia--I have a hard time putting it down as well. Yes, read "Dandelion Wine now... it will bring a little summer into your life.

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  3. It's wonderful to know there are readers like you who do take time to relish well-placed words.

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    1. Marcia--It's mostly because I read, my mouth gaping open, in awe (and more than slightly envious). Also, I genuflect when faced with the power of words...

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  4. Sometimes I try to read to figure out how a good writer uses his or her words to create a world, but I end up getting swept away in that world because I just enjoy it so much!

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    1. Mary--I do the same. But that is the mark of a great writer, don't you think?We try to analyze the "science" of their writing but get lost in the art...

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  5. Of course I can't think of one right now. But I know it did not begin with: "It was a dark and stormy night..."

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    1. Val-Au contraire. My favorite writer writes with a scarf around his neck... while perched atop a small wooden structure...

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  6. I was on the fence about this one, not sure whether or not I'd like it. Your post is making me think I should give it a try.

    Pat
    Critter Alley

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    1. Pat--I'm not sure how it's going to pan out---as far as the plot--but the man CAN craft lines like a poet.

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  7. Well, I wrote a comment and forgot to copy it to my clipboard before trying to publish, and Blogger ate it, like always. I wish I knew why Blogger hates me. Is it because I defected to WordPress?

    I can't remember everything I said. The first/last line from The Outsiders has always stuck with me: "When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home." I was in 7th grade and had never seen that device before and it blew me away. I remember flipping back to the beginning to be sure it was exactly the same. Also, "Stay gold, Ponyboy." I wonder how many people have "stay gold" tattooed on their body somewhere? The Outsiders wasn't filled with the kind of prose you're talking about, but the storytelling was amazing---I mean, seriously, just pulling off the nicknames, making them work, i.e. Ponyboy, Sodapap, was a feat in itself. I saw the movie when it came out, but the book is better, of course. S.E. Hinton knocked it out of the park.

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    1. S. E. Hinton's classic will live on for many more years.

      Are you making a confession? Is "Stay gold" inked on you somewhere?

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  8. It's lovely to come across a book like that, Sioux, where you savor each and every word. I used to write down lines I particularly loved but now I just savor the Goodreads quotes pages. It's way easier. :-)

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    1. Cathy--I will have to check out those pages. I'm all about easy...

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  9. I'd heard good things about All the Light We Cannot See, so you've got me interested in reading it. It is a delight to stop reading to enjoy the words on a page and know the thought and inspiration that the author took when writing those words.

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Thanks for your comments. I appreciate you taking the time to stop by...