How I Learnt to Write

Therefore I took some of the tales and turned them into verse; and, after a time, when I had pretty well forgotten the prose, turned them back again. I also sometimes jumbled my collections of hints into confusion, and after some weeks endeavored to reduce them into the best order, before I began to form the full sentences and compleat the paper. This was to teach me method in the arrangement of thoughts.

By comparing my work afterwards with the original, I discovered many faults and amended them; but I sometimes had the pleasure of fancying that, in certain particulars of small import, I had been lucky enough to improve the method or the language, and this encouraged me to think I might possibly in time come to be a tolerable English writer, of which I was extreamly ambitious.

by Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790

original spelling

From ‘The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin’ (1868) by Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), edited by John Bigelow (1817-1911).
Précis
To enlarge his vocabulary, Franklin turned selected essays into verse, and after a few days turned his verse back into prose. He also shuffled his notes on each piece, forcing himself to think about the flow of ideas. In this way, he learnt to appreciate the authors’ good writing, and sometimes (he dared hope) even improve on it.
Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Jigsaws

Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.

Ben turned prose passages into verse. He wanted to widen his vocabulary. Rhyme and metre forced him to find synonyms.

See if you can include one or more of these words in your answer.

IHope. IIMean. IIIWord.

Tags

Georgian Era 227 Benjamin Franklin 2 Modern History 343 British History 494 History 957 American Literature 22 The English Language 17

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June 18 NS

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