(From Mississippi solo by eddy harris ) 2. Line 10: What sentence fragments are in this line? What ideas do you have about why
the author chose to write in this style?
3. Lines 13–25: How does the author personify the river? What effect does this
comparison have on the text?
4. Lines 65–67: What evidence describes what the tips of the tress are being compared
to? Describe the impact this simile has on the text.
5. Lines 85-100: What ideas do you have about why this particular episode is so
memorable for the author? How did events shape his ideas about the episode?
6. Writing Activity: Literary Analysis Look back through the memoir to list examples of
how the author uses similes and personifies the river. Focusing on examples from your
list, write a two to four-paragraph literary analysis that explains how the author uses
figurative language in this memoir.
Support your main points by using quotes from the text as examples.
• Explain the meanings of the examples and how they contribute to important ideas of
the memoir.
• Discuss what impressions you have about the author's writing style, based on his
use of figurative language.