Collect Evidence: Don’t worry if you don’t know what you want to say yet—right now you’re
just collecting ideas and material and letting it all percolate. The Literary Elements style/tone,
character, setting, POV, and theme will probably be the most relevant to this essay, though you
are certainly not limited to just those, as many poems do also have plots. You should also
consider Literary Techniques: imagery (description related to the five senses); metaphors and
similes; iambic pentameter; word play; assonance; consonance; alliteration; symbolism;
allusion; anaphora; personification; etc.
Directions: Pick an example text for three out of the following four writing types we will be
examining this semester: poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction (CNF), drama (play, screen play,
script, etc). For example, you can choose a poem, short story, and CNF essay. Once you have
chosen your supporting texts, write about them using one of the approaches below (or use your own approach!). Try to choose texts you see connections between. Also, see what kind of critical theory already exists around the texts you’re interested in before nailing down your choices.
Audience: Someone who has read the texts but hasn’t heard your argument. This means very
little summary should be included. It should be kept to as few sentences as possible: “when x
happened because of y, this was the effect” NOT “x happened, then y happened, then z
happened, so you can see the character is feeling x” especially if the reaction is obvious.
Page Length: A minimum of 8 full pages, a maximum of 11 full pages (works cited not included
in page length).
Format: MLA.
Different Approaches:
The best topics are ones that originate out of your own reading of a work of literature, but here
are some common approaches to consider:
Stoic read Hamlet?)
texts about the holocaust).
in certain plays, poems, novels)
representations of family/love/honor/etc. in certain plays, poems, novels)
Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Rudyard Kipling’s “The White Man’s Burden,” and
the use of minstrel shows in drama).
does the context influence the work? (It might be best to choose texts either from similar
time periods or regions.)
unreliable? omniscient?)
Construct a Thesis: Come up with a thesis that is arguable, provable through textual evidence,
and specific. Try to think outside of the box. Find Supporting Evidence (outside your chosen texts): We will examine the databases in
class.
Example:
Questions: In the Dream Songs by John Berryman, the speaker and subject of the poems, Henry, undergoes multiple changes. Is Henry’s character consistent throughout? Is it possible to
view him as a cohesive character, or because of his many nicknames (henry pussycat, lazy henry, etc) should Henry be considered a new man with every poem?
Is there a connection between and of Henry’s animalistic changes and the change in the
character in The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka? Henry’s character changes are not
literal, but the change is literal for Gregor.
In the play “____” by _____, Fourteen-year-old Carol is stuck in suburbia with an
agoraphobic mother, Deborah, addicted to plastic surgery. How does transformation of
Carol’s mother change her as a character?
Thesis: Character develops in a multitude of ways: the changes are internal, as with Henry in The Dream Songs by John Berryman; external, as with Gregor in The Metamorphosis by
Franz Kafka; or represented through the external changes of another character, like the
development of Carol through Deborah in “____” by _____.
[This is initial and would likely undergo revision as the essay is developed.]
Potential Topics: POV, Character, metaphor, symbolism, typical personifications of animals,
philosophical and cultural understanding of animal/human relationship.
Potential Supporting Theory: “Toward a Postmodern Humanism: Information, Layering, and the Composite Poem” by Tony Hoagland
“Bestial Representations of Otherness: Kafka’s Animal Stories” by Matthew T. Powell
“In the Corridors of Animal Minds” by Leonardo Caffo
“‘Of All Nonsensical Things’: Performance and Animal Life” by Una Chaudhuri
General Construction:
Introduction: Be Brief; give some suggestion of the direction you intend to take in your essay.
Indicate the aspects of the texts you intend to deal with.
Paragraphing: In your plan you should identify very the distinct points you intend to make and
the specific parts of the text that you intend to examine in some detail to support those points.
Try to make smooth links between paragraphs.
Evidence: When you make a point, you must prove it. Just as a lawyer in court must produce
evidence to support his case, so you must produce evidence to prove the comments you make
about characters, relationships, themes, style etc. When you make a point, refer to the text; give an example to support what you say or use a quote.
Selection: Avoid the trap of just re-telling the story. The important thing is to be selective in the
way you use the text. Only refer to those parts that help you to answer the question. Answer the question: it sounds obvious, but it’s so easy to forget the question (YOUR question) and go off on a tangent. When you have finished a paragraph read it through and ask yourself. “How does this contribute to answering the question?” If it doesn’t, change it so that it does address the question directly.
Conclusion: At the end, try to draw all the strands of your various points together. This should
be the part of your essay which answers the question most directly and forcefully.
Be creative: Remember, you do not have to agree with other people’s points of view about
literature. If your ideas are original or different, so long as you develop them clearly, use
evidence intelligently and argue persuasively, your point of view will be respected. We want
literature to touch you personally and it will often affect different people in different ways. Be
creative.
0 comments