Literature

Writing a Literary Blurb

What is a literary blurb? A literary blurb is a

brief insight into a piece of literature based on the reader’s

view. A reader writes about one particular aspect of a piece

of literature. That particular aspect may include why the

author used so much imagery or why did the author use the

contrast of light and dark imagery to write a particular story

or poem or what is the impact of the author’s use of diction

(word choice) to write a story or a poem or what is the

impact of the author using one character in contrast (foil) to

another character. The ideas of what could be included in a

blurb could go on and on.

Length of the literary blurb: The length of the

literary blurb for this class is always one page. One page is

the maximum and minimum length. In other words, the blurb

will not be shorter than one page and will not exceed the

length of one page.

What is the structure of the blurb: The blurb

consists of a main idea that is introduced immediately. To

support the point the reader is trying to make in the blurb,

the reader must use examples from the story or the poem

and cite those examples by including book numbers, page

numbers and line numbers where applicable. Cited

examples should reflect that the student has read the entire

reading assignment.