"Why Leaves Turn Coloe in the Fall," (1990), is a poetic, scientific essay written by Diane Ackerman, which explains why leaves turn color in the fall. Ackerman develops the essay by gradually explainig the process of what causes leaves to change color in the fall. Ackerman's purpose is to explain the scientific process of leaves changing colors in a poetic fashion, in order to teach others why the process happens. Her intended audience is individuals, who although might not be interested in science, are probably fans of poetry.
I had a hard time reading Ackerman's essay for a long period of time. Perhaps, the writing style is simply Ackerman's way of writing poetry, it sometimes felt as if Ackerman was doing a little too much in the form of her writing. For a poem, the essay did not seem to flow gracefully. Maybe an essay such as this is intended more towards people who enjoy life sciences and can identify more with the subject matter. As someone who enjoys reading pretty much anything, it was strange to come across a text that had me mentally exhausted after the first two paragraphs.
The text just did not seem to flow, it seems that when I tried to immerse myself in the essay, I would come across something that made me do a double-take. Instead of being able to read along and follow the essay, I found myself having to stop and look up the definition of a word in the text. Even though, I can see how Ackerman used her poetic and scientific knowlede while writing this essay, I am not so sure that the two blend together very well in her poem.
