Question

in this section, youll practice crafting an engaging argument using active voice and compelling words.

to share your literary insights with a wider audience, you want to create a booktok video.

you decide to start with a shorter literary piece, like a poem. since the gothic genre continues to be popular, you choose edgar allan poes \the raven\ as the topic of your booktok video. you want to craft a video about why poes poem is still relevant and why schools should keep this poem alive by reading it in class.

your friend, sophia, has offered to give feedback as you write the script.

sophia notes that your first line is too passive. it reads, \the raven is regarded as a masterpiece of gothic literature, having been written by edgar allan poe. readers have been gripped by its haunting exploration of grief and despair for almost 200 years.\

how can you reword this to make sure its written in an active voice?

• the sentence should be kept as is.
• having written the gothic masterpiece, \the raven,\ edgar allan poe has gripped readers, where explorations of grief and despair have taken place for almost 200 years.
• \the raven\ is a masterpiece of gothic literature written by edgar allan poe. the poem has gripped readers with its haunting exploration of grief and despair for almost 200 years.
• \the raven,\ written by edgar allan poe is considered a masterpiece of gothic literature. its haunting exploration of grief and despair has captivated readers for almost 200 years.

Explanation:

Analyze the original passive sentence

The original text is: "'The Raven' is regarded as a masterpiece of Gothic literature, having been written by Edgar Allan Poe. Readers have been gripped by its haunting exploration of grief and despair for almost 200 years."
This passage relies heavily on passive constructions: "is regarded as", "having been written by", and "have been gripped by". To make it active, the subjects must perform the actions directly.

Evaluate the answer choices

• Option 1: "The sentence should be kept as is." This is incorrect because the original is highly passive.
• Option 2: "Having written the Gothic masterpiece, 'The Raven,' Edgar Allan Poe has gripped readers, where explorations of grief and despair have taken place for almost 200 years." This is awkward, grammatically weak, and contains passive phrasing ("have taken place").
• Option 3: "'The Raven' is a masterpiece of Gothic literature written by Edgar Allan Poe. The poem has gripped readers with its haunting exploration of grief and despair for almost 200 years." This successfully converts the passive "Readers have been gripped by..." into the active "The poem has gripped readers...". It also simplifies the opening description.
• Option 4: "'The Raven,' written by Edgar Allan Poe is considered a masterpiece of Gothic literature. Its haunting exploration of grief and despair has captivated readers for almost 200 years." This still uses the passive "is considered".

Apply rhetorical analysis to select the best option

Using Rhetorical Analysis, we look for the option that most effectively shifts the focus to active verbs where the subject performs the action. Option 3 replaces the passive verb "have been gripped by" with the active verb "has gripped," making the sentence much more direct and engaging.

Answer:

• The sentence should be kept as is.
• Having written the Gothic masterpiece, "The Raven," Edgar Allan Poe has gripped readers, where explorations of grief and despair have taken place for almost 200 years.
• "The Raven" is a masterpiece of Gothic literature written by Edgar Allan Poe. The poem has gripped readers with its haunting exploration of grief and despair for almost 200 years. (Correct answer)
• "The Raven," written by Edgar Allan Poe is considered a masterpiece of Gothic literature. Its haunting exploration of grief and despair has captivated readers for almost 200 years.