Both authors write about watching a large flock of birds, but the way they describe their observations are very different. The first passage by John James Audubon was pretty dull in my opinion. The second passage by Annie Dillard had more words with emotion to grab the reader’s attention. In the following paragraphs I will talk about how their observations are alike, how they are different, and the way the authors make you feel when you read it.
First off the first and the second passage are alike because of the subjects they are writing about, large flocks of birds that are being watched. They both describe what they see as if it were a miracle to watch a flock of birds pass. Also, the first passage was very descriptive saying the light of noon-day was obscured as by an eclipse, the aerial evolutions of the birds were extremely beautiful, and descended, and swept close over the earth with inconceivable velocity. As for second passage, she used many catchy action verbs to draw the attention of the reader like sifting, whirling, bobbed, knitted, tapered, beaten, and muffled. Even though there were many ways the passages were alike, there were also many ways in which they were different from each other.
Secondly, a few clear differences were that John James Audubon’s piece had a time and place, “In autumn of 1813, I left my house at Henderson.” This let the reader immediately get a feel for when and where it took place. As for Annie Dillard’s passage, she did not include a place, or the time which might have made it difficult for her readers to picture themselves in her passage. What Audubon spoke of in his passage about what the birds were doing was very vague, “I observed pigeons flying from north-east to south-west.” In Dillard’s passage she told us specifics, “Each individual bird bobbed and knitted up and down in flight.”
Finally, both of the passages give you a different feel when you read them. The first passage by John James Audubon...