Blood Dazzler: "Prologue - pg. 34"

Q: What kind of rhythm does the writer create? Is there a variety in the sentence structure? Write about the writer's rhythmic choices and their effect on the overall tone of the piece.

A: When I read through the first half of the "Blood Dazzler," I found that Patricia Smith had many different rhythms throughout this piece. There were some poems throughout that seemed very fierce and concise and then others that were more elaborate. The rhythm throughout didn't seem to flow to me. It was more on a poem by poem basis, but that is just what I felt. In the first half of "Blood Dazzler," there was a lot of variety in the sentence structure. Some were longer and others were more choppy. Overall I think Smith picked good rhythm for each poem she wrote.