Creating Purpose and Shaping Arguments - Casey

When writing, authors and poets must take many things into account. This ranges from what type of piece they hope to write, who they want to write to, and how they are going to go about accomplishing both of these things. However there exists two major facets of writing which determine the success of a piece. First, the ability of the author or poet to create a purpose with their writing and secondly, the effectiveness of their arguments as it pertains to their audience. Authors and poets must strive to create both purpose and an argument, which targets their audience.

These two concepts of writing are often linked. The purpose of a piece stems from the argument. The purpose, defined by the writer may vary. One could hope to instill some sort of change with their writing. They could be trying to expose an issue and bring awareness to a problem, or the purpose of the piece could be plain entertainment. Different poets express these purposes within their writing. For example, both Patricia Smith in “Blood Dazzler” and Joseph Ross in his poems on Darfur strive to bring awareness to worldwide issues including natural disasters and genocide. Other poets such as children’s poet Shel Silverstein instead follow the purpose of entertainment within their writing. Purposes in writing vary from piece to piece and often reflect the poet’s own beliefs and personalities.

Although, the purpose and argument of a piece must reflect the audiences beliefs as well, expressing a knowledge of the audience. Therefore, the writer’s perspective on their audience shapes their purpose and argument. Audience must be taken into account when creating an argument. If the argument proves to be too radical for the proposed audience, it loses its purpose and place in the discourse community. If an argument does not target an audience effectively, it loses its credibility and purpose in the discussion upon the issue. Thus, an audience plays a major role in the creation of pieces. The author must shape the argument of the piece to satisfy the needs of the audience. This does not mean they have to completely conform to the thought process of the audience, but they should be sure to challenge it in an appropriate, non-aggressive manner.

This shaping of argument relates directly back to the purpose created in the writing. The argument helps demonstrate the purpose of the piece. If no argument exists, such as seen in the children’s poems by Shell Silverstein, then the purpose of the piece falls under entertainment. However, if an argument does exist and if it addresses the audience form an informative viewpoint, as characterized in both Patricia Smith’s and Joseph Ross’ poetry, then the purpose of the writing is to bring awareness to an issue. Overall, audience proves vital to the creation of effective pieces. It not only shapes one’s argument, it also defines the purpose of the piece. If a piece fails to recognize it’s audience, it fails in the communication of its argument and it ultimately loses its purpose within the discourse community.