Dr Rose Lucas Writing Essays on Poetry What is an

Transcript:Dr Rose Lucas Writing Essays on Poetry What is an:
Dr Rose Lucas Writing Essays on Poetry What is an essay? To ‘try out’ ideas, essayer To bring together a) your particular responses to a piece of literature, b) engage directly with the topic, which, on some level, will be asking you to develop those particular perceptions into a broader discussion about a group of texts, or a particular question, and c) to learn from and to integrate what others have said about this text and/or topic (depending on what kind of essay) What is an Essay? An essay is also a mode of COMMUNICATION, and ultimately, a contribution to debate and knowledge Therefore, it needs to be a) well organised conceptually b) clearly address its topic/question and not wander off into other areas c) be fluent and grammatically correct d) include a bibliography e) BE READER FRIENDLY Planning the Essay All this requires ESSAY PLANNING You can’t just launch into an essay without careful work: Engaging with the primary text Making sure you understand what is being asked of you Writing a one page plan to be your guide as you write Planning Close Reading Essay Read the poems and make selection of 2: Make decision about topic and about poems to be used. Give yourself plenty of time! Essays involve an evolution of critical and creative thinking, and can’t be ‘crammed’ with any great success. See the reading / thinking / writing / re-writing as part of a process – and a craft in itself. Planning the Essay Spend time undertaking close reading of selected poems: make notes, find an overview understanding. ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT A CLOSE READING INVOLVES A CAREFUL CONSIDERATION OF HOW THE POEM’S FORMAL ELEMENTS (RHYME, RHYTHM, LAYOUT, LINE LENGTHS ETC) INTERACT WITH ITS IMAGES, METAPHORS, IDEAS . FROM THIS INTERACTION, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO DERIVE YOUR INTERPRETATION OF THE POEM’S ‘MEANING/S’. Planning the Essay Engage closely with the topic. What exactly is it asking? How will you address it in relation to your chosen poems? Devise an essay plan (one page, dot points) in response to the above (i.e. the topic, close reading of poems, secondary reading). An essay needs to have: All Essays Need… An Introduction: which gives an overview of your response to the topic (also called the argument, the thesis) in relation to the poems; A series of key points: which explicate that argument, and which usually correspond to the