The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Literature and Writing Quotes

This quotation connects imagination and writing in the mind of the author. Before Franklin can begin to write his narrative, he has to conjure up an imaginary audience for it. Not only does he have to come up with the audience, he's creating one that he thinks will be happy to hear about and be interested in his life. Then, the line works like a subliminal message, encouraging the reader to find the story "agreeable."

In this metatextual sentence, Franklin tells us about how he learned to write while using the writing process. While we've got Franklin as author writing in "prose," in the autobiographical form, we've also got Franklin as narrator telling us about a particular turn in the story. But this statement also reveals the kind of character Franklin is: a person who's practical, in working on the kind of writing that's useful to him, and a person who's modest, putting down the considerable writing abilities he's simultaneously showing to us.

Here, Franklin offers us a peek at the peer review workshop he had going on with his friend Collins. Franklin's not afraid here to admit his shortcomings – to take a critique – and also shows here his sense of fairness and his willingness to try and get better. As readers, we could sit in judgment here about the "manner" of his writing and whether, years later, Franklin has achieved the kind of "elegance" he describes here.