Relevance and Theme: choosing hooks is a crafty choice...

Today, I wanted to use music lyrics as an example of what late American novelist Henry James commands: "Try to be one of those on whom nothing is lost." Music is an art form that many more people enjoy than, say, literature. If I had a dime for every time a student has told me they don't read, but....  (I'd be able to pay the tuition on this class with dimes.)

Plus, lyrics hook us, right? Song lyrics slink around our brains as ear-worms. For hooks, they remind us of two things we want to discuss with choosing the right hook for an essay, and what those words mean:

Relevance

• topical (larger essay prompt)
• subject matter (specific thesis subject)
• tone/point of view
• narrative arc
• message in the words
• playfulness with idea

Theme

• vocabulary
• imagery
• figures of speech
• outcome/message

Don't lift your heroes up so high 

that you can't touch 

Don't let your innocence go dry 

before the flood. 

There will always be another Harold Bloom

...

If your heart was as big as your mouth, you'd be real, 

but it's not...

... 

There goes my hero, watch him as he goes...

I can't be everything you want me to be. 

Finally, I can see the light through the leaves.