15 Poems
12: Get Deductive | #12: Get Deductive |
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Deductive thinking moves from general principles to specific instances. Often, as in a thesis/support essay, prose writers make a general claim and then use specific details and examples to illustrate and back up their point. Use this thought process, seriously or playfully, to structure your poem. Notice, for instance, how the 18th century poet Christopher Smart uses concrete, specific details to illustrate his general claims, made in lines two and seven:
Make your claim, serious or playful, then fast-write ten to fifteen lines of concrete, specific support. Later, when you revise, you can use the original claim, or delete it and just keep the details. Or you might move the claim to the end, as a clincher, as in James Wright's "Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy's Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota." |
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