Essay approaches

Hi everyone,


Soooooo we need to breathe.  Breathing is good for you.

You're all in a hurry to say everything you know.  This is truly ironic, because in the process of rushing, we sometimes say things that are incorrect and therefore cannot be credited.

We can never say ALL that we know.  We can't even adequately cover ALL of the Analysis Categories in the space allowed - at least, not if we're comparing; two poems means 1.5 - 2 sides per poem, which means Pick The Best Evidence.

Examine the question for key words.  Decide what Analysis Categories from this poem best address the concerns of the question.  Consider possible purposes of the poets in using whatever approach they did.  Add your opinion into it.

Here's a step-by-step approach:

• Make your point, targeting some aspect of an Analysis Category
• Choose the quote that best demonstrates your point
• Explain the effect of the technique in that quote
• Extend the observation- talk about the technique as it appears throughout the poem
• Explain how the poet employs this technique throughout the poem; i.e., does this technique develop an idea?  Repeat an idea?  Create a contrast / hyperbole / other effect?
• Link these observations back to the question.  Do this as "I think" or "To me this shows", etc.  Cambridge is currently really big on our personal response to texts.

The above should be every paragraph except for the Intro and Conclusion.

Intro - always mention the intent of your essay; what will you be demonstrating?
Conclusion - try to link together all or at least several of the points you've brought up throughout the essay to show how they go to an even deeper observation / conclusion.

In the case of 'compare two poems' essays:
If you take 2/3 of a side addressing form and structure, fine.  If that means you got to do one other point on imagery that also took 2/3 of a side before moving on the next poem, also fine.  As long as both of those sections addressed the entire poem rather than one isolated moment, and journeys the readers to how / why the poet chose to write as they did, then that is perfect.

For single poem essays:
You should have more than enough time to address all the Analysis Categories.  Use it.  Motions isn't necessarily progress; slow down and think about the best sequence of your points in order to journey readers to your conclusion.

Example-

1. If I told you: Johnny almost got hit because he didn't look both ways before running across the street as he chased a ball, it makes sense.
2. If I told you: because Johnny almost got hit, he chased a ball as he ran across the street and didn't look both ways... it DOESN'T make sense.

How will you order your points to make a logical conclusion that the reader can easily follow?

Think about it.


- T. Marcus