The Rituals- We Swallow Light
Chapter 4 — the climax
We Swallow Light is a book of poetry that is put together like a book of fiction.
Most poetry collections are grouped together based on the style of the poem or the subject of the poetry.
Tree Langdon created chapters that follow a story thread, using the 5 main components of a good story. Her chapter titles are:
The Binding
Surrender
The Passage
The Rituals
Choosing Love
As a student of the Story Grid, Langdon discovered the 5 commandments of storytelling and has applied them to her new book.
The fourth chapter is The Rituals, and it‘s the Climax of the story. After the Passage, where the protagonist makes the best bad choice, there’s another decision for them to make. They often make a hero’s choice, deciding to change in a positive direction.
This part of the story fulfills the promise that was made at the beginning, in the first chapter, The Binding.
Here’s a quote from one of the poems:
The Hour of Cowdust
“ Walk on forest trails in silence, snaking through the woods along the path to reach the sea and when you circle back again it’s with a lighter heart.”