Writing Light

What verbs does Madeleine L’Engle use to describe the way light moves in the examples below?

Example 4: Light began to pulse and quiver. Meg blinked… She couldn’t shove through the strange, trembling light…

Example 5: The light spread until the patch of Dark Thing had vanished, and there was only a gentle shining…Then, slowly, the shining dwindled until it, too, was gone.

• pulse, quiver, trembling, spread, dwindled

• patch, vanish, gentle

• twinkle, smash, through

What verbs do Gloria Whelan and Thanhha Lai use to describe the way light moves in Examples 1-3?

Example 1:

the light danced

Example 2: the sun glanced off the water and came at us from all sides.

Example 3:

The full moon shines on 

the bulkiest lump. 

Moonlight turns us silver.

• bounced, dribbled, kicked

• bulkiest lump

• sun, water, sides

• danced, glanced, came at us, shines, turns

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.7

CCSS.RI.7.7

CCSS.RI.8.7

CCSS.RL.7.7

CCSS.RL.8.5

Look at Hope Larsen’s drawings here. What other verbs (besides the ones that appear in the Madeleine L’Engle original) could you use to describe what the shadow here (the white thing - in this case, an ABSENCE of light) does in these panels?

Tags

CCSS.RL.1.10

CCSS.RL.K.5

Choose an example below, then discuss what the description reveals (shows) about tone (mood) and setting.

Example 9, from Chapter 24  of Loser: ...there’s something about snow falling under streetlights that makes a kid stop and look… Snowballs fly out of the darkness, through the flake-falling tents of light, back into darkness.

Example 11, from Chapter 24  of Loser: Through the glittering snowfall he spots the Waiting Man glowing in his window…

Example 10, from Chapter 24  of Loser: Police cars, emergency vehicles: a parade of them up the street, the snowy humps of parked cars pulsing in the swirling lights…

Example 12, from Chapter 3  of The Thief Lord: The children had strung a few naked lightbulbs running on batteries throughout the large room, and even in their dim light you could see the plaster coming off the ceiling... The movie theater’s screen was hidden behind a thick curtain embroidered with golden stars...The golden thread on the pale blue fabric still shimmered full of promise...At night, after they had switched off the lights and blown out the last candle, the large, windowless auditorium would be flooded with such complete darkness, that it made them feel as tiny as ants — and very lost.

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

Choose one of the student-authored passages below. What verbs does the author use to describe the way the light or darkness moves in the example you chose?

Example 8, from the Silver Cliff

As she reaches the first row of headstones, the misty air freezes her face, and blue lights dance across the top of the cliff.

Example 9, from Uncaged

Sun shines through orange clouds. Needles of light poke the dark dust.

Example 10, from Hardware Stall

Behind the counter, the owner’s teeth sink into a chunk of apple. Light pours onto her cheekbone, eyes lock on the unknown.

Example 11, from The Sky Blooms with Light

Balloon-shaped clouds 

levitate above the sun and the sky blooms with light. An arc of colors reflects onto my gray ceiling.

Tags

CCSS.RI.2.1

CCSS.RI.3.1

CCSS.RL.1.1

CCSS.RL.2.1

CCSS.RL.3.1

Discuss what the description in the student example you chose reveals (shows) about tone (mood) and setting.

Tags

CCSS.L.3.3A

CCSS.L.4.3A

CCSS.L.5.3A

CCSS.L.6.3A

CCSS.L.6.3B

In the example below, light takes a “shape.” What’s the shape, and how does it impact tone? How would tone change if the authors had used a different “shape noun”?

Sun shines through orange clouds. Needles of light poke the dark dust.

• The shape is 'clouds,' which creates a calm tone; using 'shadows' would darken the tone.
• The shape is 'light,' impacting the tone by making it bright; using 'darkness' would enhance the mood.
• The shape is 'needles,' impacting the tone by creating tension; using 'rays' would soften the tone.

Tags

CCSS.RL.6.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.5.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

Personification is a comparison between a non-living thing and a person. How is light personified in the example below? What does light do here that’s something people do?

Example 1: It was only a morning sun, but the light danced on the water and the heat felt like the middle of the afternoon.

• Light shines brightly on the water; shining is something people do.

• Light is personified by 'dancing' on the water, an action that people do.
• Light warms the water like a heater.
• Light reflects off the water's surface.

Tags

CCSS.RI.5.5

CCSS.RI.6.5

CCSS.RI.7.5

CCSS.RI.8.5

CCSS.RI.9-10.5

1. Review the Strong Writing anchor chart then choose an example below and discuss how its light description illustrates (shows) the following:

• 1. Sensory details

• 2. Motion

• 3. Tension

Example 1, from Chapter 3  of The Thief Lord:

The children had strung a few naked lightbulbs running on batteries throughout the large room, and even in their dim light you could see the plaster coming off the ceiling... The movie theater’s screen was hidden behind a thick curtain embroidered with golden stars...The golden thread on the pale blue fabric still shimmered full of promise...At night, after they had switched off the lights and blown out the last candle, the large, windowless auditorium would be flooded with such complete darkness, that it made them feel as tiny as ants — and very lost.

Example 2, from The Poet X (“Altar Boy”):

Twin is easier for Mami to understand. He likes church. As much of a science geek as he is, he doesn’t question the Bible the way that I do. 

He’s been an altar boy since he was eight, could quote the New Testament—in Spanish and English— since he was ten, leads discussions at Bible study even better than the priest. (No disrespect to Father Sean.)

He even volunteered at the Bible camp this summer and now that school’s started he’ll miss the Stations of the Cross dioramas his campers made from Popsicle sticks, the stick figure drawings of Mary in the manger, the mosaic made of marbles that he hung in the window of our room, 

the one that I threw out this afternoon while I was cleaning, watched it fall between the fire escape grates. For a second, it caught the sun in a hundred colors 

until it smashed against the street. 

I’ll apologize to Twin later. Say it was an accident. He’ll forgive me. He’ll pretend to believe me.

Tags

CCSS.RL.6.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RI.6.4

CCSS.RI.7.4

CCSS.RI.8.4

A rule of thumb for writing with adjectives is to make sure they are doing as much work as your nouns and verbs. In other words, cut adjectives that are already clear from your context. For example, the sun is usually bright, so an adjective like this isn’t doing much work with the noun “sun.” Essentially, it’s jumping on the sentence for a free ride. In the example below, the author uses an adjective to describe light, but it’s working hard! Explain how.

Example 14, from The House on Mango Street (“No Speak English”): Home is a house in a photograph, a pink house, pink as hollyhocks with lots of startled light.

Answer explanation

There are lots of ways to respond. Here's one: This line is about the home the character here left behind, probably unwillingly. The adjective startled transforms the light from something ordinary into something alive and emotional, reflecting the uneasy, out-of-place feeling of the character the poem describes.

Tags

CCSS.RI.5.5

CCSS.RI.6.5

CCSS.RI.7.5

CCSS.RI.8.5

CCSS.RI.9-10.5