Worthy Essence

When creating a text, authors choose what their text’s purpose will be. Every text has some value or significance that may be displayed blatantly or be hidden in between the lines. Some authors write with the sole purpose of instructing others. Other authors use sensationalism for the intention of entertaining their readers. There are also a number of texts that are written with a mix of both instructive and entertainment value. Regardless of the author’s intention to either inform their readers about a subject or merely try to amuse them, all text have some significance or instructive worth.

Authors who write with a didactic purpose have varying ways to accomplish satisfy their intention. In Billy Collins’ Introduction to Poetry, Collins is straightforward and teaches the reader that poetry is to be experienced and is not something that a reader should skim through and assume a underlying message or meaning after one reading session (Rollison). Not all texts, however, are as blatant as Introduction to Poetry when it comes to conveying their meaning. Percy Shelley’s Ozymandias for instance, which is also a poem, is much more subtle with its significance yet continues to have instructive worth similar to Collins’ work. From analyzing Ozymandias, the reader learns that vanity led to Ozymandias’, a man who called himself “king of kings” and feel like he had power comparable to God’s, eventual downfall (Stroffolino).

Similarly to poetry, prose and drama authors can also create text with meaningful content. In both Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun and Alice Walker’s story Everyday Use, the reader learns how the rejection of assimilation affects both the characters of Beneatha and Dee. In both texts, the reader can ...

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Rollison, Rob. "Introduction to Poetry, by Billy Collins." The Poetry Room. N.p., 05 June 2012. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "Beneatha Younger in A Raisin in the Sun." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross in The Things They Carried." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.

Stroffolino, Chris. "A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste." Percy Shelley, “Ozymandias”. N.p., 2 Oct. 2013. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.

White, David. "“Everyday Use”: Defining African-American Heritage." Luminarium. Portals, 2001. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.

Whitsitt, Sam. "In Spite of It All: A Reading of Alice Walker's "Everyday Use"" African American Review 34.3 (2000): 443-59. Print.