About Between the Lines: A Project of Writing Resources

BTL seeks to make creative writing methodologies available to teachers outside of the United States. This site contains exercises used in the summer program as well as exercises from outside sources. Currently the exercises are in Arabic and English only, but over time the project will be expanded to include other languages.

BTL is sponsored through grant funds provided by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State.

Disjunction & Surprise

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What happens in the first three lines of this familiar poem? In the first line the scene is set. The reader and the speaker are rowing a boat. Note how the repetition of the word ‘row’ and the repetitive rhythm textually mirror the real-life act of rowing. The sentence of the first line continues on the second line. Where are we? We are still in the stream. Still rowing. ‘gently down the stream’ modifies all those verbs ‘row’ in the first line. Again, note how the rhythm is expressive of the act – which does a lot to put us, as readers, in the world of the poem, with the speaker. The lines are moving with the pace and feel of a boat being rowed through water. What happens on the third line?

View the entire Exercise here: Disjunction & Surprise

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