Blog Assignment # 2

Annie Dillard – “Total Eclipse” 283 – 294

“Up in the sky where we stood the air was lusterless yellow. To the west the sky was blue. Now the sun cleared the clouds. We cast rough shadows on the blowing grass; freezing, we waved our arms. Near the sun, the sky was bright and colorless. There was nothing to see.” – Dillard 286.

This quote grabs my attention because, Dillard uses repetition of color and adjectives to describe what is going on in that one paragraph. It is easy to picture what the narrator is seeing in the mind of the reader. I like how she describes the air being lusterless and yellow, instead of just giving no interpretation of air at all. The ending of this paragraph grabs my attention because it also uses a sense of emotion. There was nothing to see; it gives the reader a sense of emotion, a sense of fear or curiosity as to what might happen next.

“All the distant hills’ grasses were finespun metal which the wind laid down. I was watching a faded color print of a movie filmed in the Middle Ages; I was standing in it, by some mistake. I was standing in a movie of hillside grasses filmed in the Middle Ages. I missed my own century, the people knew, and the real light of day.” – Dillard 287

In this paragraph, Dillard describes the eclipse as if being frozen in time and being transported to another era. The narrator seems to be afraid and unsure of what will happen next. I like the comparison between the being trapped or frozen in time to an eclipse because of the sense of uncertainty and emotional fear to the reader.

“Did you see that little white ring? It looked like a Life Saver. It looked like a Life Saver up in the sky.” – Dillard 291

Best metaphor ever in the entire passage. An eclipse is a life saver in the sky. Out of the entire passage the line from the college student is my absolute favorite because it snaps the narrator back to reality and the reader as well. Annie Dillard uses many metaphors and similes in her writing. She also uses a variety of repetition when it comes to descriptive writing. The flow of her descriptive writing is like a river stream which seems to go on endlessly.