On Topic Sentences and Reading, on Inspiration and Bluebirds

Reading is probably the best way to learn to write, not only because it can provide you with new words and expressions but also because it expands your imagination and your inspiration. At least, this is what happens to me when I read the literary works I like most. I can feel I have access to a new universe, full of images and sensations that connect to my inner self and help me fly a little.

This year, we are supposed to learn to write essays (basic stuff: descriptions, letters, opinions, etc.) but learning to write anything without the magic of literature seems senseless to me. As far as I see it, fiction and poetry are not so distant from (scientific and academic) essays. Have a look at the article linked here if you do not agree with me. Even the most serious scholars need a touch of literature at some point of their careers. A recent example: some Swedish scientists "have been amusing one another by seeing who can conceal the most Bob Dylan lyrics in their scholarly articles"

As I said in class last week, when writing an essay - as well as when writing fiction - you need at least one stunning sentence. We call that sentence a "topic sentence". The topic sentence usually conveys the main idea of the paragraph/article, so it should always be able to attract the reader's attention. For the topic sentence to be interesting, you need to narrow your topic as much as you can, and try to SAY something (as original as you can) that creates a lot of expectation on your reader. It means you need to "claim" something and show it. Then, to make your readers believe what you say, you need to support your topic sentence through "supporting sentences". Three basic techniques we can use to develop such sentences are: details, explanations and examples. (I am not going to bore you too much with this. Just read the Presentation I screened in class.) Finally, you should close your paragraph/text with a "concluding sentence". This final sentence repeats or insists on the main idea, but using other words. This is something you can find in many texts. Let's read a poem by Charles Bukowski to make this point clear. (You can listen to it while reading if you click here.)


BLUEBIRD

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I'm not going
to let anybody see
you.

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I pour whiskey on him and inhale
cigarette smoke
and the whores and the bartenders
and the grocery clerks
never know that
he's
in there.

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say,
stay down, do you want to mess
me up?
you want to screw up the
works?
you want to blow my book sales in
Europe?

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too clever, I only let him out
at night sometimes
when everybody's asleep.
I say, I know that you're there,
so don't be sad.

then I put him back,
but he's singing a little
in there, I haven't quite let him
die
and we sleep together like
that
with our
secret pact
and it's nice enough to
make a man
weep, but I don't
weep, do
you?

Charles Bukowski
(The Last Night of the Earth Poems, 1992)


The first lines in Bukowski's poem sound like a "topic sentence":

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him...

These lines contain a metaphor that contains the main idea of the poem: "there's something beautiful, sensitive and fragile in my heart but I can't show it, I am a tough guy". The following stanzas repeat this idea but not in a facile (= simplistic) way. Bukowski provides details, explanations, examples (he says he pours whiskey on the bird, he says he is too tough, and only let the bird out sometimes...) - these are his supporting sentences. Finally, he concludes:

...it's nice enough to
make a man
weep, but I don't
weep, do
you? 

 Again, Bukowski insists on what he said at the beginning of the poem: "there's something nice here but I am too tough to show it", "I don't cry, man". However, and this is the beauty of the poem, it is impossible not to notice, when reading, that Bukowski does have something fragile inside. He says he does not weep, but we know he feels something important deep inside. We know there are "birds" inside Bukowski, even though they are hidden because of a "secret pact".

To sum up, reading (good literature) might help you to build good topic sentences, as well as to develop supporting and concluding sentences. My piece of advice is that you read whatever you find interesting and try to remember the words in English. Remember that translating from Spanish is not a good idea. So explore, research, try and try again, fail and fail better, as advised by the great writer Samuel Beckett. Charles Bukowski himself had to undergo a lot of criticism, being subject to countless misadventures before becoming recognised as an author. But such misadventures are part of any learning process, aren't they?

 Picture by Dara Scully, Your Branches/My Bones

***

If you feel like reading something and you do not know what, here you are a couple of amazing books:

ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac (we read an extract in class, remember?)

THE PEOPLE LOOK LIKE FLOWERS AT LAST by Charles Bukowski


 Enjoy!!