Here are the exact words of a teacher of creative writing at a 'creative writing workshop'.
"Torn from an old magazine
this richly coloured advertisement
'The timelessness of diamonds'.
Comment: it would be stronger without the second line (which "tells" more than it "shows").
Torn from an old magazine
'The timelessness of diamonds'."
If the dictum "Show, don't tell" had been applied to the whole of English (and Greek, or indeed, any) literature from the earliest days, we would not have had such priceless gems as "Lycidas", "Adonais" or Byron's elegies for Thyrza. The "Elegy for D.H Lawrence" by Williams is shot through with this technique: one can scarcely tell whether it's a dissertation on the work of Lawrence or a regret that the fellow's gone. The only indicator is the toned-down "Poor Lawrence" repeated three times! Even that would be shot down by a creative writing teacher today. (This largely explains the dissidence and dissonance of popular art: "She loves me, yea, yea, yea"..."Hey, teacher, leave 'em kids alone".)
Byron's elegies tell, they don't show. They scream their emotions from the rooftops!
"O snatch'd away in beauty's bloom!
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