Culling examples of “beautiful, creative, or resonant” sentences from a variety of sources—fiction, nonfiction, drama, poetry, song lyrics, speeches—Woods considers what makes “form and meaning work together, in synergy.” Sentences by Maya Angelou, James Joyce, Jack Kerouac, Toni Morrison, Virginia Woolf, and others are juxtaposed with those by Neil Armstrong, John F. Kennedy, and even Yoda from Star Wars, grouped according to their distinctive features: structure, diction, sound, connection/comparison, and extremes. The result is a delightfully readable examination of the foundation of literary architecture for writers and language enthusiasts alike.
Find details about every creative writing competition—including poetry contests, short story competitions, essay contests, awards for novels, grants for translators, and more—that we’ve published in the Grants & Awards section of Poets & Writers Magazine during the past year. We carefully review the practices and policies of each contest before including it in the Writing Contests database, the most trusted resource for legitimate writing contests available anywhere.