Blog 7: Similarities between writing genres

I wasn’t a huge fan or writing in elementary school. Along with not being a great speller, I had a hard time with organizing my ideas and choosing the right words to express those ideas. I saw writing as a fun thing to do or something to look forward to. Throughout elementary school, all of the writing pieces that we would do, would fall under the same genre.  They would all fall into the narrative genre. I felt like I was doing the same writing assignment over and over again. We would talk about the other genres very briefly but would never have any time to practice writing in them.

While reading for this week’s class and for my genre project, I couldn’t help but notice that there are some similarities throughout all of the genres when you look at the text features within the text. I first started by reading Tompkins’s chapter on poetry (chapter 7).  Tompkins (2019) lists 6 different poetic devices that can be added to poems (alliteration, comparison, onomatopoeia, personification, repetition and rhyme. Tompkins says “They create strong images when they repeat sounds within a line or stanza, imitating sounds, use the unexpected comparison, repeat words and phrases, and choose rhyming words” (Tompkins, 2019, pg. 159).  I remember spending a lot of time learning about rhyming. I learned that poetry is when the lines are short and that all the ending words in the lines rhyme. Even though rhyming does help to create an image in your head, some of the most beautiful poems I have read have a lot of personification in it.  Personification not only helps to create an image but I also get a sense of the feeling that the poet is putting into their poem

I then went on to read Tompkins’s chapter on narrative writing (chapter 8). As I was reading the narrative devices explained in the chapter I couldn’t help but think how they relate to the poetic devices I just read. The 6 narrative devices that Tompkins (2019) list are; comparison, hyperbole, imagery, personification, symbolism, and tone.  She adds “authors use narrative devices to make their writing more vivid and memorable; without these devices, writing can be lifeless and dull” (Tompkins, 2019, pg. 179). Right off the bat, I noticed that comparison and personification were repeated, they both are listed as poetic and narrative devices. I thought that it was cool how the two devices are used the same way when writing in different genres. Comparison is by comparing two things to create an image while personification is used to give human characteristics to an animal as a way to connect the reader to the text.  

All of the devices that Tompkins mentions in the poetry chapter and narrative chapter, are devices that help to give energy and excitement to the reader. Both writing genres play around with the way that words are written to help create an image for the reader as they ae reading the text. I think that the two writing genres are very similar because they are both focused on engaging the reader with the story that is being told. After seeing how similar the genres are and how they share some features, I wish that my teachers took the time to let us write in the poetry genre. I truly think that the best way to learn about each genre, is to write in each genre. That way, you can truly see how similar the different genres are. When I have my own classroom, I plan on having my student write a little in each genre so that they can personally see all the ways they are similar and different.

Tompkins, G. E.  (2019). Teaching writing:  Balancing process and product (7^th ed.).  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Merrill.