“ Alack, alack the day!”

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  Lear .  If thou wilt weep my fortunes, take my eyes.  I know thee well enough; thy name is Gloucester.  Thou must be patient; we came crying hither. Thou know’st, the first time that we smell the air,  We wawl and cry.  I will preach to thee; mark.  Glou .    Alack, alack the day!  Lear .  When we are born, we cry that we are come  To this great stage of fools . . .  ____________ Shakespeare, The Tragedy of King Lear. Act 4, Scene 6 (Shakespeare died April 23, 1616.)

Randoms

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A good writer shows the reader what to see in narrative, rather than simply tell. Joseph Conrad could have simply written, "as the sun went down, two men walked up the hill." How boring.

Instead, Conrad shows us: "The sun was low: and leaning forward side by side, they seemed to be tugging painfully uphill their two ridiculous shadows of unequal length, that trailed behind them slowly over the tall grass without bending a single blade." (Heart of Darkness, 1902)

Now that's good writing!

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