38. Condense the Quotation

38. Condense the Quotation:

condensing the quote provides a reader with a summary of the passage’s content. Many analytical writers believe that there is little to say about quotations because they mistakenly assume that their interpretation of the meaning of the quotation is universally held by all. So, many writers skip the step of establishing what the quotation says. After quoting Hamlet’s famous soliloquy “To Be or Not To Be,” a quick summary of the major points is essential to good analysis writing. Below is an example of a paragraph with an informative summary in bold after the quotation:

While the first four lines of John Keats’s last stanza of “To Autumn” focus upon visual images in nature, the second half of the stanza focuses upon the sounds of nature and different animals. Describing the sound of gnats, the bleating of lambs, and the singing of birds the speaker states:

Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn

Among the river sallows, borne aloft

Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;

And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;

Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft

The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;

And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

(lines 27-33).

According to the speaker, the various sounds of the wind, the lambs, the crickets, the red-breasted bird, and the swallows combine to create a symphony of music. As opposed to being mournful of the end of autumn and the beginning of a long, cold winter, the speaker celebrates the moment. Keats creates two spondees in line 30, “And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn.” The emphasis on the words “full-grown,” “loud,” and “bleat” forces the reader to focus on the sound of the lambs. The “bleat(ing)” of the lambs causes the reader to form the idea that the “full-grown” lambs are about to be slaughtered. By using the word ‘lamb’ instead of sheep, Keats receives a better reaction from the reader, because a lamb has connotations of innocence and purity. But when all of the sounds are taken as a whole, there is more harmony than elegy.

“CONDENSE THE QUOTE STARTERS” TO USE:

-In sum, the author / speaker / character / narrator’s view is _________________________________.

-This excerpt communicates the message that ________________________.

-This argument here is ______________________________.

-He / She claims that _______________________________________.

-This perspective contends that ______________________________________.

According to this speaker / character / author / narrator, _______________________.

-In the above excerpt, the author / speaker / character / narrator emphasizes________________________________________.

-In the above excerpt, the author / speaker / character / narrator insists that______________________________________.

-In the above excerpt, the author / speaker / character / narrator suggests that______________________________________.

-In the above excerpt, the author / speaker / character / narrator contends that______________________________________.

-In the above excerpt, the author / speaker / character / narrator urges us to______________________________________.

-In the above excerpt, the author / speaker / character / narrator extols the virtues of______________________________________.

-In the above excerpt, the author / speaker / character / narrator supports the notion that______________________________________.