[Using quotation to underscore a point]:
It was a risk, no doubt about it. According to my research, I was just another statistic. Just another one of those kids of divorced parents who was destined to be disillusioned about love or get divorced themselves. But as I looked back on the happiest day of my life—the day that went by in a blur of coral flowers, mint green cake, and hugs from friends and family alike—I knew I wasn’t going to be another statistic. No, if anything, my love for my husband was strengthened by my resolve to overcome the odds:
“For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings / That then I scorn to change my state with kings” (Shakespeare, Sonnet 29).
[Dramatize your literary experiences]:
I stared at the waterfall of notes on the screen, my eyes glazing over. Darkness swept the room as I turned off my laptop. Tomorrow was the final for my eternal families class, and I knew that I would do just fine. But not one answer, I thought. Not one reference to the question aching inside me all semester. I listened to my roommate’s steady breathing as I climbed into bed. In that moment I understood how George Herbert had felt when he wrote, “Both knees and heart in crying night and day, / Come, come, my God, O come! / But no hearing” (“Denial”).
[Use an opening quotation]:
“Where are the songs of spring? Ay, Where are they? / Think not of them, thou hast thy music too” —John Keats, “To Autumn”
But even during those years that some might call the autumn of my life, I still saw bright bursts of orange leaves and golden sunlight. Scripture study with my dad and stepmom each night. Going to cute cafes with my mom and eating sugar cookies iced with frosting. The music of those glowing memories still plays clearly in my mind today.
No comments:
Post a Comment