Read the discussion about responding to literature included in Chapter 27 (684-718). Since this is NOT a research assignment, we will be using the model papers in that chapter as guides for how to select a topic and also create a thesis about a poem. You are being asked to use the critical skills you are learning to create your own interpretation of a poem.
• Annotate the poem (see sample). Underscore and define unfamiliar vocabulary, note formal elements, identify the speaker, situation, etc.
• Answer the questions labeled "Formalist Questions."
• Also answer any other set of questions listed in two categories. Select one category of analysis and answer all the questions in that category; repeat the process for another category.
• Begin drafting your paper, going slowly, so that it conforms to the requirements mentioned on page 704 regarding a "coherent reading." Your essay must comment on each line of the poem and it must include an introductory paragraph that provides an overview and thesis statement.
• Your draft should be 2-3 pages long and make many textual references.
• Please include a "Works Cited" page. While you are not required to do additional research, be sure to cite any other sources that you use in your paper.
• Rehearse reading the poem aloud, noting the time that it takes you to recite it. Be sure that you look up unfamiliar vocabulary and proper names so that you can recite them correctly.
BIOGRAPHICAL QUESTIONS (P. GSC) t. Are facts about the writer's life relevant Ti your understanding of the work? Are characters and incidents in the work versions of the writer's own experiences? Are they treated factually or imaginatively? , How do you think the writer's values are reflected in the work?
PSYCHOLOGICAL QUESTIONS (P. 652)
1. How does the work reflect the author's personal psychology?
2. What do the characters' or speaker's emotions and behavior reveal about their psychological states? Who types of personalities are they?
3. Are psychological matters such. as repression, dreams, and desire pre-sented consciously or unconsciously by the author?
FORMALIST QUESTIONS (P. 648)
1. How do various elements of the work — plot, character, point of Wew, setting, tone, diction, images, symbol, and so on—reinforce its meanings?
a. How are the elements related to the whole?
3. What is the work's major organizing principle? How is its structure unified?
4. What issues does the work raise? How does the work's structure resolve those issues?