How to write Amazing Analytical paragraphs!

1. How to write Amazing Analytical paragraphs! A*: cogent, fluent, evaluative, assured and apt. What do these key words mean? This doesn’t mean you should not offer tentative suggestions too!

2. Vocabulary Builder • Better words to describe the following moods please: • Negative • Positive • Sad • Joyful • Disgust

3. Tone/Mood Bank Write down these words. Check the meaning of any your not sure of! Remember you would have to back up any points with evidence.

5. Ways to describe language, tone and structure

6. Unseen Poetry: Approaches • The examiners are looking for: • Interpretations which are justified and thoughtful for A* • A response which covers all the main areas (Meaning Imagery Tone Structure Language) • If you are doing comparative poetry- comparative phrases- similarly, in contrast, while etc. • Well written analytical paragraphs (embedded evidence and varied hook phrases). • Assured, sophisticated writing- e.g. the writer doesn’t just persuade the reader, they entice, coax or cajole the reader. Little touches make your work seem more sophisticated.

7. So what could you comment on for each area? What are you looking for? • Meaning: who is the speaker in the poem? • Imagery: Metaphors… • Tone: How would the poem be spoken? • Structure: End stopping, enjambment… • Language: Double meanings, word play

8. Meaning • what is the poem about? • who is the speaker? - are they dramatized (a character) • who is being spoken to or addressed? • what is being spoken about? • Theme(s) of the poem - what is it really about? • Setting/culture- where’s the poem set? Culture it is from/about? • where does the poem “get to” from start to end? MITSLMeaning, Imagery, Tone, Structure, Language (My Itchy Toes Smell Loads) Always link everything to meaning. Ask yourself how does this contributes to the meaning? Why has the poet used this technique? • Tone • How would the poem be spoken? (angry, sad, nostalgic, bitter, humorous etc) • Structure • Rhyme - is there a rhyme scheme? Couplets? Internal rhyme? • Rhythm - how many syllables per line? Is it regular or free verse? Why are some different lengths? • Stanzas - How many? How do they change? Is there a narrative? • Lines - how many are their in each verse? Do some stand out? • Enjambment - do the lines “run on” to the next line or stanza? • End stopping - does each line finish at the end of a sentence? • Form - does the poem have a shape to it? • Language • What kinds of words are used? • Puns- a pun is a play on words - “Shear Class!” if Shearer scores. • Connotation - associations that words have (as "stallion" connotes a certain kind of horse with certain sorts of uses)? • Double meanings - “butts in” - putting bottoms in or interrupting. • Ambiguity - is the word or phrase deliberately unclear? Could it mean opposite things or many different things?. • Word order- are the words in an unusual order – why? • Adjectives - what are the key describing words? • Key words and phrases - do any of the words or phrases stand out? Do they shock? Are the words “violent” or “sad” etc? • Slang or unusual words and misspellings - Does the poet use slang or informal language? Are American words used? • Intertextuality - does the poem reference another text? • Style - does the poet copy another style? (Newspaper, play etc) • Characters - if there are characters how do they speak? • Imagery • Alliteration- the repeating of initial sounds. • Assonance- is the term used for the repetition of vowel sounds within consecutive words as in, 'rags of green weed hung down...'. • Metaphor - comparing two things by saying one is the other. • Simile - comparing two things saying one is like or as the other. • Personification - giving something non-human human qualities. • Onomatopoeia - words that sound like the thing they describe. • Repetition - does the poet repeat words or phrases?

9. Analysis Together • What can we interpret from the start only: Still I Rise By Maya Angelou You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

10. Still I Rise • Where have you heard this before? • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXCHKWFmU2s • Maya Angelou- who was this woman?

11. Still I Rise: Look at the whole poem now… Consider: 1. How and when does the tone change? (Consider the tones: playful and defiant, comical and angry, self-assured and bitter). 2. What does Angelou mean by: “You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies . . . . (1-2)” 3. What is the effect of the personal pronoun ‘you’? 4. How are questions used in the poem? 5. What is the effect of the repetition used? 6. What imagery is used in the poem? (oil, gold and diamonds, all need to be mined, is this significant?) 7. How does the structure of the poem change? It is very regular at the start- stressed and unstressed syllables (trochee) except for the last couple of stanzas which are trochaic Pentameter. All have 4 lines except the last 2 stanzas, the rhyme scheme also changes- what is the effect? 8. What is the overall message?

12. Interpretations • Clearly addressed to the white oppressors of black persons, the poem presents us with a black woman willing to speak up for herself, for other living blacks, and even for her black ancestors. The poem is both highly political and highly personal. The speaker is implicitly responding to decades and even centuries of oppression and mistreatment. • http://www.enotes.com/topics/still-i-rise • Can you support this interpretation?

13. Analytical Paragraphs • What is wrong with the following? Angelou discusses physical oppression in the poem. “You trod me in the dirt” this suggests the narrator is treated with disrespect.

14. How is this better? • Only in line 3 do we reach the first reference to actual physical oppression when Angelou writes “You may trod me in the very dirt,” but the phrasing here seems more metaphorical than literal. Metaphorically, to tread another person into the dirt is to treat that person with enormous disrespect and almost shocking violence. Can I develop this even further?

15. Analytical Paragraphs • Only in line 3 do we reach the first reference to actual physical oppression when Angelou writes “You may trod me in the very dirt,” but the phrasing here seems more metaphorical than literal. Metaphorically, to tread another person into the dirt is to treat that person with enormous disrespect and almost shocking violence. Yet no sooner does the speaker imagine being abused in this way than she immediately responds, “But still, like dust, I’ll rise” (4). The reference to “dust” is variously effective. It implies that something normally seen as negative can instead be seen as positive. It implies that something normally seem as merely bothersome can actually possess a kind of resilience and strength. It conveys that something normally considered easy to control can, simply because of its pervasiveness and volume, create real impact.

16. Another way to say: This suggests? • This highlights/underlines/indicates/implies etc. • The tone/words/rhythm suggests/indicates… • Suggesting/implying… • The use of… could emphasise…could imply… • Browning could be suggesting… • Here the poet may be…

17. What to avoid/silly errors • This and However should never follow a comma. You should put a comma after However, though. • Starting a paragraph or a PEHE with a quotation- it has to be introduced or embedded into the point. • Repeating or simply translating evidence. The examiner understands what it says! • If you keep saying- ‘This suggests’ or ‘which suggests’ then your writing lacks sophistication. • The reader’s opinion needs an apostrophe! • Don’t waffle- be concise instead.

18. Last Tips • Use discourse markers. • Embed evidence into the point you make, but ensure the sentence makes sense! The poet uses a simile in the poem ‘his shadow thrown aside like a blanket’ to suggest he is worthless. The poet uses a simile to describe how the tramp’s shadow is ‘thrown aside like a blanket’ to suggest he is worthless. • Vary your hook phrases and avoid sounding repetitive. • Aim to be concise but still draw conclusions.

19. Your Turn • Choose an idea and write a detailed analytical paragraph using the skills we have discussed.

20. Group Work • In your groups, use the same approach to analyse and annotate your poems. • You have 10 minutes to do this for each one. • When you move to another group, you need to read their annotations and see if you agree, can add anything or change an interpretation. • At the end of each 10 minutes you need to write an analytical paragraph about that poem. • Each poem is very different!

21. Plenary • When attempting this type of task in the exam I must remember to…