On the other hand, if you can be convincing enough, trust comes in, and the reader believes you. Here, one figurative term is "fire eye in the clouds" while the literal term is "the sun". This creates what is known as "tension." One should look at individual words and at phrases in the poem and brainstorm; that is, one should think about the literal meanings, but then try to think of every possible idea that the word or phrase could imply. Look up any words, concepts, and other information that you don’t understand. First, you need to decide which poem you will write your essay on. Create a Thesis Statement; For analysis essays, the thesis is normally subjective so expect some challenges in the future. A red apple in a poem is never merely a red apple, but probably implies a lot of different things. To say "It is on warm side in July and August on the Gulf Coast" would be an understatement. Those requirements take precedence over anything written in this handout. The work involves brainstorming and writing answers to questions, so get pencil and paper or boot up your computer. After thinking about these questions, the reader can go back and attach these ideas that a ship implies to the thing to which the ship is compared, and finally try to fit these ideas into the overall meaning of the poem. In critical analysis, one looks both analytically and critically at a short story, a novel, or a poem and makes an argument about what the meaning of the story or poem is. The use of consonants, vowels and rhyme can effect the way the reader feels about the poem's subject matter; they can effect the poem's tone and reflect its meaning. The connotative meaning of a word, however, is much different. The latter is the more important in poetry than the former. For example, lots of long vowel sounds accompanied by soft consonant sounds may contribute to a tone of sleepy restfulness in a poem. They have dictionary meanings, but also mean other things besides. What sights, sounds, smells and sensations can we associate with ships and being on ships? Alliteration--the repetition of beginning consonant sounds
See Emily Dickinson's poem "There is No Frigate Like a Book" on page 575 of Structure, Sound, and Sense. For example, "knick-knack, paddy-wack,"
Highlight, underline, or make notes about important passages as you go. Try reading the poem out loud to get a sense of the way the sounds of the poem effect its meaning. Short vowel sounds plus hard consonant sounds may express anxiety, quick movement, anger or happiness. What follows is a discussion of what the words "critical" and "analysis" mean: The following are some initial helpful tips for reading poetry recommended by Laurence Perrine and explored in more detail in your textbook: Denotation and Connation
A critical analysis includes an introduction, a thesis statement, perhaps a map of the essay, the body of the essay, and a conclusion. "bric-a-brac," "flip-flop", Rhyme--also spelled "rime" rhyme is the repition of ending sounds between words; poems can have
Words in poems have denotations, or literal, easy-to-understand dictionary meanings, and connotations, or figurative, less specific and less direct meanings. Read through all of the material that you are using for your critical analysis. The figurative, or connotative, meaning of a word means everything that the word might imply besides its direct, dictionary meaning. end rhyme, in which words at the ends of lines rhyme; this is what we usually mean when we say a poem "rhymes." For example, "A poem should be palpable and mute/As a globed fruit" (Archibald MacLeish, p. 650 of Structure, Sound and Sense). The critical analysis paper will consist of a proof or a demonstration of the thesis statement. The initial step to critical analysis to read carefully and thoroughly, identifying the author’s thesis. Where do they go? The first and most crucial aspect of writing a poetic analysis essay is to have a line acting as an attention grabber for the readers. You must pay attention to details, recognize the author's’ rhetorical devices, biases, and assumptions. Thus the reader should look at the poem as a whole and try to figure out which implications make the most sense within that poem. internal rhyme, in which words inside of individual lines for example, "Go with the flow, Joe.">. This line expresses a paradox because poems are constructed through words--why should a poem be "silent"? For example, "mad as a hatter," "blackjack," "knick-
Here is an outline of a poem analysis essay to use: Opening paragraph - Introduce the Poem, title, author and background. Images can be part of similes and metaphors, though they are not always (see below). For example, "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. For further information on additional poetic devices, read first the glossary of terms for poetry in Structure, Sound, and Sense, and then refer to the page numbers in which they appear for more detail and example. ", Assonance--the repetition of vowel sounds found anywhere in a word
The red color may symbolize passion, fertility, anger--anything one can associate with the color red could be a possible meaning. Thus a "silent poem" is a paradox. Readers will get clues of where your thesis statement came from because it will have adequate supporting evidence from the poem. Otherwise, a critical analysis paper may be written in the same format that is taught for writing ordinary essays in Comp. A poem has the "silence" of a globed fruit because the poem should be able to communicate the non-verbal aspects of the fruit (the things we experience without words)--the fruit's roundness, its smooth or fuzzy texture, its sweet fragrance, its crunchy or soft texture once it's bitten into, and so on. These are all things which are not experienced nor understood in a verbal way but which a poem may paradoxically communicate through words. For instance, an analysis of a poem might deal with the different types of images in a poem or with the relationship between the form and content of the work. Note that some questions apply more directly to one or the other of the two poems: The critical analysis paper will consist of a proof or a demonstration of the thesis statement. When writing about poetry, include the author’s name and title of the poem in your thesis statement. To create a good essay, it is needed to plan out the structure of a poem analysis essay so the writing stage will be easier and faster. The apple itself could symbolize the Tree of Life, it could symbolize knowledge, Adam and Eve and their Fall from Grace, the harvest in fall, the forbidden, Sir Isaac Newton or Johnny Appleseed--perhaps a combination of these things. In this way a poet uses a word or an idea in a poem to express a variety of ideas at one time, and so deepens our experience. See also, "The Road Not Taken" and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," both by Robert Frost and appearing in Structure, Sound and Sense. Body of text - Make most of the analysis, linking ideas and referencing to the poem. Most of your information will come from reading different sources and understanding different takes and opinions on the same issue. The literal meaning of a word, its denotation, can usually be defined in simple, clear language and can be understood right away. A poem can also have
For further example, "The fire eye in the clouds survives the gods" (Wallace Stevens) also uses metaphor. A critical analysis includes an introduction, a thesis statement, perhaps a map of the essay, the body of the essay, and a conclusion. Always begin with a thesis statement, which usually appears at the end of the introductory paragraph. One should look out for strange contrasts in images in the process of analyzing poems, and think about the responses they arouse in a reader. Importantly, poets often place images in opposition to each other. Understatement is the opposite of exaggeration--one states less than one's full meaning. The thesis of a critical paper should include a statement of the poem's theme; … The sounds used in a poem can effect its meaning and tone. Also, the idea that the sun "survives" reinforces the idea that it is like a living thing, though it is not, in fact living. In the body of your critical analysis, cite actual lines of the poem to support your thesis. This will make your critical analysis credible and strong. See Burns' "A Red, Red Rose" and Frost's "The Rose Family" on pages 611 and 612 of Structure, Sound, and Sense for good examples of over- and understatement in poetry. The term "eye" may give the reader the idea that the sun is kind of like a conscious being, since conscious beings have eyes for purposes of perceiving the world; what a thing "sees" it can presumable think about in a conscious way. For example, you could write, “In ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn,’ John Keats uses the urn as a symbol describing the relationship between humans and art.” The poem's title should be in quotation marks, … These are good examples of easy-to-understand uses of metaphor. Importantly, words do not mean anything and everything in a poem. Thus, in reading poetry one should look at words as having two kinds of meaning. I and Comp. How do ships move? Many statements begin by introducing the poem and author, followed by the point you wish to make. The poem analysis essay should start with either a single or two lines from the poem under analysis. Always begin with a thesis statement, which usually appears at the end of the introductory paragraph. The metaphor expresses that children are never very different from the parents or family from which they come. Tension is often an important clue to the meaning of a poem; it also creates drama and interest and is a key to paradox (see below). If you did your research well, then this is where the notes you made … In fact, it is blazingly hot on the Gulf Coast. Read the source or sources carefully and take notes. Follow the steps below to develop a thesis for your essay on your chosen poem. Individual instructors may have specific requirements for papers written in their classes. For example, if a poet compares something to a ship, the reader might think about what ships look like, and then think about what it feels like to be on a ship. The thesis of a critical paper should include a statement of the poem's theme; everything in the body of the paper should apply in some way towards proving the thesis statement. For example, the literal, denotative meaning of the word apple is something like this: It is the fruit of the apple tree, anywhere from gold to dark red in color, and it has seeds and a sweet taste. For example, the expression "The apple never falls far from the tree" contains a metaphor in which parents or family (literal term)is compared a tree (figurative term), while children (literal term) is compared to an apple (figurative term). knack, paddy-wack," "picnic", Consonance--the repetition of cononsant sounds found at the ends of words
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