Preview
Copywork
About This Passage
This is the high point of the bedtime story Charlotte tells Wilbur, and it rewards the close, Franklin-style attention copywork is built for. Watch how White builds a fight out of present participles, slipping in, dodging out, dancing in, dancing out, so the sentence itself seems to dart and weave like the spider it describes; then the rhythm snaps into the short, blunt sentences of a boxing match. Copying it lets a student feel how a writer can make syntax move, and notice that the gentle Charlotte who saves Wilbur is also a fierce and tireless fighter.
There was my cousin, slipping in, dodging out, beaten mercilessly over the head by the wildly thrashing fish, dancing in, dancing out, throwing her threads and fighting hard. First she threw a left ar...
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Summarize this chapter, then explain what you think White most wanted the reader to notice about how Charlotte saves Wilbur, and what techniques he used to achieve that effect.
Discussion Questions
- Templeton brings words Charlotte refuses, including 'Crunchy' and 'Pre-shrunk.' What seems to matter most to Charlotte when she chooses a word for Wilbur, and why? Use her reasons for rejecting those two words to explain your view.
- White devotes nearly a full page to Charlotte's spinning chant: 'Attach! Descend! Pay out line!' instead of simply reporting that she wrote the word. Explain what dramatizing the labor this way accomplishes that a plain summary could not, using the chant's words and rhythm.
+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide
Vocabulary
Item 1
The base lines a spider lays first, strong enough to hold the whole web together.
Item 2
In a harsh, relentless way without easing up; how the fish beats Charlotte's cousin in the story.
Item 3
So surprising it is hard to believe; the word for the huge, overflowing pile at the dump.
+ 5 more vocabulary words in the complete study guide
Critical Thinking
+ 6 more questions in the complete study guide
Get the complete study guide — free
Sign up and get your first book with every chapter included. Copywork, discussion questions, vocabulary, and critical thinking.
Sign up free