The selection process for the winner of the Pulitzer Prize is explained on the Frequently Asked Questions page of the Pulitzer website and states: “There are no set criteria for the judging of the Prizes. It is left up to the Nominating Juries and The Pulitzer Prize Board to determine exactly what makes a work ‘distinguished’.” All good literature should be written in a fashion that engages the reader and their emotions, but the focal points in the best writings should include syntax, figurative language, and sensory details. These points are what truly make literature “distinguished” and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings executed each category; syntax, figurative language, and sensory details perfectly in her novel The Yearling that was awarded the
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The syntax in Rawlings’ The Yearling expressed the emotions she was trying to achieve impeccably. By using long, flowing sentences, she invokes a sleepy, mesmerizing image: “There was an instant when the boy hung at the edge of a high bank made of the soft fluff of broom-sage, and the rain frog and the starry dripping of the flutter-mill hung with him (6).” That sentence is then followed by “Instead of falling over the edge, he sank into the softness. The blue, white-tufted sky closed over him. He slept (6).” which closes the paragraph by using choppy syntax to better explain the suddenness of the boy’s sleep. The same short syntax was used again in paragraph four when Rawlings was explaining the first time the boy saw the deer; “He stopped short. The deer had come to the spring while he was sleeping (7).” By stating “he stopped short” Rawlings is implementing the actions of the character. Rawlings’ effective use of syntax is one example of why she was awarded the Pulitzer …show more content…
The sounds that are etched into the delicate paragraphs make the depiction of the setting even more surreal. She connected “kittens lapping” to the sound of water in paragraph two of page six to make the setting even clearer. Perhaps the most important sensory detail of all is sight, and by including details such as: “The fawn was waiting, quivering. Its tail hung wet and flat and its ears drooped (225).” By including such details she illustrates the deer perfectly and in doing so, she adds emotion. Her excellent use of sensory details makes the writing sound
The syntax in Rawlings’ The Yearling expressed the emotions she was trying to achieve impeccably. By using long, flowing sentences, she invokes a sleepy, mesmerizing image: “There was an instant when the boy hung at the edge of a high bank made of the soft fluff of broom-sage, and the rain frog and the starry dripping of the flutter-mill hung with him (6).” That sentence is then followed by “Instead of falling over the edge, he sank into the softness. The blue, white-tufted sky closed over him. He slept (6).” which closes the paragraph by using choppy syntax to better explain the suddenness of the boy’s sleep. The same short syntax was used again in paragraph four when Rawlings was explaining the first time the boy saw the deer; “He stopped short. The deer had come to the spring while he was sleeping (7).” By stating “he stopped short” Rawlings is implementing the actions of the character. Rawlings’ effective use of syntax is one example of why she was awarded the Pulitzer …show more content…
The sounds that are etched into the delicate paragraphs make the depiction of the setting even more surreal. She connected “kittens lapping” to the sound of water in paragraph two of page six to make the setting even clearer. Perhaps the most important sensory detail of all is sight, and by including details such as: “The fawn was waiting, quivering. Its tail hung wet and flat and its ears drooped (225).” By including such details she illustrates the deer perfectly and in doing so, she adds emotion. Her excellent use of sensory details makes the writing sound