Creative Writing
Images in poetry and story
Write short creative pieces using images and contrast, and compare styles of writing.
Thomas Gray, in a famous stanza of his 'Elegy', expresses a simple idea: many gifted people live and die unnoticed, because they never get the chance to show their talent.
But he does not say it plainly. He shows it through two images:
- a pure gem, hidden in the dark, unexplored caves of the ocean, which nobody will ever see;
- a flower that blooms unseen in the desert, wasting its sweetness on the empty air.
The two places contrast: the ocean is full of water; the desert has none. Yet in both, beauty goes unseen.
Other things add to the literary quality of the lines: the rhymes (serene/unseen, bear/air), the repeated opening words 'Full many a', and lines of equal length, which give a steady rhythm.
Different kinds of writing treat the same subject in their own styles:
- a story tells events and feelings;
- a poem uses images and rhythm;
- a news article uses facts, figures and quotations.
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