As the English teacher threw the essay at the student, the girl realized how she had betrayed her trusting teacher. She didn't really know why she did it; perhaps it was a case of laziness and frustration. She recalled the night she wrote it, sitting frustrated in front of the computer trying to write something and get the essay in on time.
             Though it was no excuse. She eventually gave up and did something that at the time didn't appear to be wrong, until she got caught. Then she realized how immoral her action was. She did learn a lesson however; she would never again turn something in that was not hers. The only way to be true to herself was to be true to others. This lesson would guide her in life and anytime she was tempted to plagiarize, she would remember the guilt that followed. This was a necessary aspect of her sophistication. In "Dora Williams" by Edgar Lee Masters, a woman gets increasingly more sophisticated from her past experiences in life. This is illustrated through Masters' use of several rhetorical devices: structure, diction, syntax and sentence patterns.
             "Dora Williams" is written in free verse. It is one stanza consisting of 24 lines. There is no evident rhyme scheme. The speaker is named Dora Williams and is talking from her grave. When the poem first begins, Dora lives in a small town. The first 12 lines are about her travels to larger and larger cities. The last 12 lines are about her time spent in Paris, illustrating that this was the best time in her life and she is now a sophisticated lady.
             Masters also uses diction to represent the increasing sophistication of Dora Williams. In the first twelve lines, she has little sophistication and married numerous times. The first man "ran away and threw" her and the second married her "when drunk". At this point, her life was "wretched". Masters uses this adjectiv
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