Chapter 15:

Summary

Ends of Things: Clark begins this chapter with a focus on Macbeth, and states how important a single line is to him and that is changed his teaching. The line he refers to is "The Queen, my lord, is dead".

Emphatic Word Order: This section is where Clark dissects the sentence that he loves. Clark explains that rhetorical strategy employed by Shakespeare, placing the most emphatic word at the end of the sentence. The idea that the end of a sentence or paragraph or even story carries a monumental weight to it.

The ending as Hot Spot: Clark compares the prose and poetry writer when it comes to phrase and sentence structure. He states that poets are better equipped to end sentences and lines with words that hold more importance. He then dissects Macbeth's responding lines to the news of the the queens death.

Writing Lessons

1. When you are drafting a passage, ask yourself this questions: What is my most important or interesting element? Underline it. Now that you know what is important, try to emphasize that importance for the reader. Consider whether it can fit at the beginning or end of a passage-for emphasis.
2. If you prefer to write your way- rather than plan your way- to certain effects, go ahead and write a draft without any conscious attention to word order. The best thing you can then do, my fellow writers, is examine your draft and underline the language that turns up at the ends of sentences and paragraphs. Those are the potential hot spots in your story. Make sure a great phrase is not hiding somewhere in the middle. If you find one, drag it out into the light, where we can all see it.
3. Titles are one of the most important elements of stories- arguably the most important. Why? Because many people decide whether to read a work based on its title. Shakespeare is a great source for titles, but so are many other important works of literature. Just remember that when you borrow a phrase for your title, everything that is attached to that phrase, including the themes of the original story, come with it.

Critique

Looking at Clark's advice in this section to restructure sentences and paragraphs for rhetorical effect aligns with Nancy Sommers' research for the practices of experienced writers. In her article "Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers" Sommers states that through her observations experienced writers are more concerned with the form of their argument than with the lexical changes of the inexperienced writers. Though this goes against Clark's later advice dealing with word choice in the Yeats chapter, it is still good advise to heed. Clark again shows that he is a process oriented teacher. He suggest writing without conscious attention to word order at first. This would align with process pedagogy as described in Richard Fulkerson's article "Four Philosophies of Composition".