Writing Workshop Analyzing a Poem

Writing WorkshopAnalyzing a Poem Feature Menu Assignment Prewriting Choose and Analyze a Poem Write Your Thesis Gather Supporting Evidence Organize Your Analysis Practice and Apply

Analyzing a Poem Assignment: Write a response to literature in which you analyze the literary elements of a poem. What makes you remember a poem? What makes you want to read it again and again or even memorize it? Good poetry puts elements together to make an impact on the reader. Here’s your chance to write an analysis of a poem. You’ll examine how the poem’s elements combine to convey a theme and an overall effect. [End of Section]

Analyzing a PoemPrewriting: Choose and Analyze a Poem Find a poem you like that’s about ten to twenty lines long. Make sure it is rich in meaning. • Re-read poems you have enjoyed before. • Ask teachers, librarians, friends, and family for suggestions. • Look for collections of poems in a library or on the Internet.

Analyzing a PoemPrewriting: Choose and Analyze a Poem Sometimes by Thomas S. Jones, Jr. Across the fields of yesterday He sometimes comes to me, A little lad just back from play— The lad I used to be. And yet he smiles so wistfully Once he has crept within, I wonder if he hopes to see The man I might have been.

Analyzing a PoemPrewriting: Choose and Analyze a Poem Re-read the poem several times. Pay close attention to the literary elements. How do they shape meaning and create an effect?

Analyzing a PoemPrewriting: Choose and Analyze a Poem

Analyzing a PoemPrewriting: Choose and Analyze a Poem Identify one or more key literary elementsthat are essential to understanding the poem’s theme. Analyze the poem line by line, and record your notes in an analysis log.

Analyzing a PoemPrewriting: Choose and Analyze a Poem This analysis log shows an analysis of the poem “Sometimes” by Thomas S. Jones, Jr.

Analyzing a PoemPrewriting: Choose and Analyze a Poem [End of Section]

Analyzing a PoemPrewriting: Write Your Thesis Summarize your main idea in a coherent thesis statement—one or two sentences that make the focus of your analysis clear. In “Sometimes,” Thomas S. Jones, Jr., uses tone, diction, and sound devices to show that people do not always lead the adult lives they envisioned for themselves as children. [End of Section]

Analyzing a PoemPrewriting: Gather Supporting Evidence In your analysis, include accurate references to the poem. “And yet he smiles so wistfully / Once he has crept within,” (5–6) After each reference, add elaboration: an explanation of how the quotation or detail supports your thesis. These lines suggest the boy is sad to be hidden away inside the man. The man seems to be lamenting the fact that he no longer experiences the world with the wonder and free spirit of a child.

Analyzing a PoemPrewriting: Gather Supporting Evidence Elaboration shows you understand the poem’s significant ideas and allows you to address • ambiguities: lines or words that lend themselves to more than one interpretation • nuances: changes in tone or meaning • complexities: meanings that are difficult to interpret (problems with no simple solutions, questions with no easy answers)

Analyzing a PoemPrewriting: Gather Supporting Evidence Record your references (details and quotations) and elaborations in a chart like this one.

Analyzing a PoemPrewriting: Gather Supporting Evidence [End of Section]

Analyzing a PoemPrewriting: Organize Your Analysis Arrange the ideas in your analysis. You can • arrange the elements in order of importance, beginning or ending with the key literary element that is most important to the poem’s theme and effect OR • discuss the key literary elements in the order in which they appear in the poem. [End of Section]

Analyzing a PoemPrewriting: Practice and Apply Using the instructions in this presentation, choose and analyze a poem. Then, decide on the poem’s key literary elements, write a thesis statement, and gather evidence to support the thesis. Organize your analysis. [End of Section]

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Writing Workshop Analyzing a Poem