A Lincoln Preface/Arthur Ashe Remembered

A Lincoln Preface/Arthur Ashe Remembered

Literary Analysis: Biographical Writing

Biographical writing is a form of nonfiction in which a writer tells the life story of another person. Biographies are often written about historical figures. The best biographies do not just list the facts, events, or accomplishments in the subject’s life. Although factual information is important, a good biography presents the writer’s interpretation of those pieces of information. The biographer shows why an understanding of the subject’s life is meaningful to readers.

Literary Analysis: Biographical Writing

In biographical writing, the details that an author chooses to describe help create our impression of the subject. Biographers often focus on one or all of the following aspects of a subject’s life:

• personality

• relationships

• major life events

• upbringing

• role in important events

• influence on others

Open Ended

In the excerpt from “A Lincoln Preface,” what does the following anecdote reveal about Lincoln’s personality?

“While the war drums beat, he liked best of all the stories told of him, one of two Quakeresses heard talking in a railway car. ‘I think that Jefferson will succeed.’ ‘Why does thee think so?’ ‘Because Jefferson is a praying man.’ ‘And so is Abraham a praying man.’ ‘Yes, but the Lord will think Abraham is joking.’”

Open Ended

In a sentence or two, sum up the portrait of Lincoln’s personality that Carl Sandburg creates in the excerpt from A Lincoln Preface.

Open Ended

In “Arthur Ashe Remembered,” what are two ways in which John McPhee supports his belief that “When things got tough, [Ashe] had control”?

Open Ended

In “Arthur Ashe Remembered,” what writing techniques does John McPhee use to give readers a detailed portrait of Arthur Ashe?

Multiple Choice

What is the main focus of Carl Sandburg’s biography of Lincoln in the selection from A Lincoln Preface?

• Lincoln’s childhood

• the presidential election of 1860

• the assassination of Lincoln in 1865

• Lincoln’s many-sided personality

Multiple Choice

How does Sandburg portray Lincoln as a politician?

• practical

• misleading

• dishonest

• amateurish

Multiple Choice

Biographical writing focuses on which of the following?

• a writer’s treatment of the life of another person

• a person’s account of his or her own life

• a journalist’s interviews with a modern-day personality

• a historian’s theories about a well-known person’s possible motivations

Multiple Choice

Establishing a purpose for reading Sandburg’s description of Abraham Lincoln can help you to do which of the following?

• focus on specific information

• identify independent clauses

• write an anecdote

• evaluate the effectiveness of Lincoln’s political opponents

Multiple Choice

An anecdote is a brief story that illustrates a point. Which of the following statements about Lincoln is an example of an anecdote in Sandburg’s biographical sketch?

• “He was a chosen spokesman. . . .”

• “He sent hundreds of telegrams. ‘Suspend death sentence’ or ‘Suspend execution’ of So-and-So, who was to be shot at sunrise.”

• “The facts and myths of his life are to be an American possession.”

• “Perhaps no human clay pot has held more laughter and tears.”

Multiple Choice

Which of the following does Sandburg’s account of the two Quaker women’s conversation about Lincoln illustrate?

• a formal speech

• a symbol

• a generalization

• an anecdote

Multiple Choice

Which of the following best describes the biographical picture that Sandburg paints of Lincoln?

• a warm leader who inspired northerners and southerners alike

• a complex man who lived in a time of grave crisis

• a president who saw the humor in every situation

• a “one-horse lawyer” who was ill-equipped to deal with a civil war

Multiple Choice

In addition to his or her interpretation of factual information, what else does a good biographer need to supply about his or her subject?

• a list of sources to check the accuracy of facts reported in the biography

• an interpretation of the meaning of the subject’s life

• an acknowledgment of the subject’s cooperation

• a comparison of the subject with other persons living at the same time

Multiple Choice

According to John McPhee’s biographical sketch of Arthur Ashe, what legacy did Ashe’s mother pass on to her son?

• athletic ability

• a sense of humor

• a controlled temper

• the courage to take risks

Multiple Choice

Which of the following best describes McPhee’s tone (his attitude toward his subject) in “Arthur Ashe Remembered”?

• admiring

• skeptical

• critical

• amused

Multiple Choice

What do McPhee’s “Arthur Ashe Remembered” and the excerpt from Sandburg’s A Lincoln Preface have in common?

• Both selections deal with nineteenth-century Americans.

• Both Lincoln and Ashe overcame physical disabilities in their childhood.

• Lincoln and Ashe both loved books and devoted much time to educating themselves.

• Lincoln and Ashe were remarkable individuals of great achievement in their chosen fields.