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Tips on how to write a strong, analytical poetry commentary


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Hello,

 

I am sure some of you writing your exams in the next few months or the next year will find this helpful. I am writing to ask how to further improve my poetry analysis skills before the exam. 

 

When I read a poem, here is how I approach the commentary:

1) I read it again

2) I look for the main idea

3) I note down any aspects I see fit the following categories: speaker, setting, structure, tone, title, themes, literary devices

4) I then construct my thesis statement, and essay outline

5) I write my commentary

 

I have read through many past HL and SL poems and done some analysis on them to practice. However, I usually find my interpretation off or inaccurate to other individual's essays. And also, my interpretation does not fully meet the requirements of an excellent essay on the marking scheme.

 

I was wondering what I could do to improve it? I am writing my IB HL English exam in May 2016. 

 

Many thanks.

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Your general outline and approach is great. Sounds good.

 

But then, even when all this sounds good and just right, it is no guarantee for doing well. In fact, all the talk (not here esp. but elsewhere) about "outlines", "aims", "approaches", "procedures", and the glorious  "thesis statement"  is all quite deceptive. And misses the point. It is the familiar talk of bureaucracy and schooling. 

 

The real problem is that all those handy procedures can obscure the SENSE -making that goes into thoughtful intelligent reading. That is much harder and cannot be nailed down easily. (it took me a long while to understand this, because in class, we hardly ever got past the buzz-talks on outlines and procedures etc). You'll need far more than the quick "tips" to get to that stage. You're not in a hurry, right?

 

If you want to learn to improve your reading of poetry, you really need to read TONS of good, solid, poetry analysis and discussion. I mean MASSIVE amounts. And not merely to copy, or  plagiarize. No. You want to learn the moves and ways of reading and writing lit like the pros.. It's called POACHING on someone else's territory.  Try out their moves. See how they make sense of things. 

 

Any analytical discussion and essay (in print form or online) will provide plenty of fodder for the mind. There is some junk out there, online, but even that has its uses. The best option, though, is to search the library. There is so much more there, ready at hand. Less time spent browsing the internet for something worthwhile.

 

Get yourself in the FLOW of talking and thinking poetry.  After a while, it will FEEL natural to talk and move in these ways.... Learning to read and write about literature is an apprenticeship, long and slow.... It's worth taking the time for it. 

 

By the way: Do you get textbooks in class, written by professional writers+thinkers -- or a stack of photocopied bits-and-bobs to read? If the last, then there's a big part of your problem already. The stack of photocopied handouts represents a flurry of activity, rather than a good example of someone doing concentrated, focused thinking. Choose a poetry textbook instead.

Edited by Blackcurrant
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Your general outline and approach is great. Sounds good.

 

But then, even when all this sounds good and just right, it is no guarantee for doing well. In fact, all the talk (not here esp. but elsewhere) about "outlines", "aims", "approaches", "procedures", and the glorious  "thesis statement"  is all quite deceptive. And misses the point. It is the familiar talk of bureaucracy and schooling. 

 

The real problem is that all those handy procedures can obscure the SENSE -making that goes into thoughtful intelligent reading. That is much harder and cannot be nailed down easily. (it took me a long while to understand this, because in class, we hardly ever got past the buzz-talks on outlines and procedures etc). You'll need far more than the quick "tips" to get to that stage. You're not in a hurry, right?

 

If you want to learn to improve your reading of poetry, you really need to read TONS of good, solid, poetry analysis and discussion. I mean MASSIVE amounts. And not merely to copy, or  plagiarize. No. You want to learn the moves and ways of reading and writing lit like the pros.. It's called POACHING on someone else's territory.  Try out their moves. See how they make sense of things. 

 

Any analytical discussion and essay (in print form or online) will provide plenty of fodder for the mind. There is some junk out there, online, but even that has its uses. The best option, though, is to search the library. There is so much more there, ready at hand. Less time spent browsing the internet for something worthwhile.

 

Get yourself in the FLOW of talking and thinking poetry.  After a while, it will FEEL natural to talk and move in these ways.... Learning to read and write about literature is an apprenticeship, long and slow.... It's worth taking the time for it. 

 

By the way: Do you get textbooks in class, written by professional writers+thinkers -- or a stack of photocopied bits-and-bobs to read? If the last, then there's a big part of your problem already. The stack of photocopied handouts represents a flurry of activity, rather than a good example of someone doing concentrated, focused thinking. Choose a poetry textbook instead.

Nope, I'm not in a hurry.  English is not my strongest subject, so I just wanted to improve it massively. And yes, I do get handouts in class- lots of them.

 

I will look into that. Please do let me know if you have any recommendations of poems or good poetry textbooks to start off with. Thanks!

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_Sound and Sense_ by Perrine is very good, with probing analysis of poems and careful explanations of concepts. The discussions in each chapter are packed with insight, though I know some may find some of this a little dry (but it is gold). I got this book second hand (more affordable). Despite having been written decades ago, it is still in print and is one of the main textbooks used in North American schools. 

 

My teacher had a book called "Writing Commentaries" and this too has a lot of very good discussion and examples of analyses --  of a variety of texts... poetry, prose fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and some drama. 

 

And then there is the Lit. Guide. The old English A1 guide is, to my mind, superior in some ways to the most recent one which my sister uses and which is very watered-down. However, the old A1 doesn't focus on "context" which is an important part of the new curr.as I understand it. But if it is analysis and discussion you need, then this should not be a problem.

 

I also soaked up the York Notes and Sparknotes (onilne).But unlike others, I did not use these as substitutes to my own ideas, but to get a sense of how one COULD talk about a text. Read everything, not just those discussing the handful of works you happen to be studying at school, but as many of the classic works as possible.

 

In fact, the more you read around the more comfortable (and precisely) you will be able to talk and write about poetry or any text for that matter. The ideas and analytical techniques won't feel foreign anymore.

 

Watch out for those poetry glossaries, which is a standard handout in class. Don't rely too heavily on these. Here again it gave us the reassuring illusion that we understood motif, symbol, theme etc. when in fact we only knew the definitions. It was really difficult to apply the concepts in any meaningful way without seeing plenty of instances of critics using them naturally and easily. The terms remained, essentially, foreign, otherwise.  The way we "assigned" symbol or motif or allusion to our texts felt unnatural. Hunting for motifs. Hunting for a symbol. .... That's just totally artificial.

 

Anyway, I'm sure others will chip in and say what they think are really good books or resources for poetry analysis. :)  The forum is good that way.

Edited by Blackcurrant
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First of all, I second Blackcurrant's advice. Secondary literature is super helpful!

 

I tend to do quite well on poetry commentaries and my advice is this: pay close attention to the text! I think with poetry people get a little carried away by big ideas and their interpretations, trying to solve the poem like a riddle. Interpretation is fine, but whenever you make a point, always back it up with quotes or at least references to the text.

 

General advice:

 

Don't confuse the poetic voice for the poet itself. The poem doesn't necessarily reflect what the poet actually things.

Look at the register of the poem. What kind of language does it use? Is it very formal and high-brow, or is it more down to earth?

Look at the structure. Think about the rhyme scheme and the meter, and the effects these have on the poem. Are there abrupt changes? Can you divide the poem into parts?

What literary devices does the poet use, and to what effect? This is an obvious one as literary devices are a major part of poetry.

The sound of words. How do similar sounding words, assonance and alliteration, play into the poem.

 

Don't worry if you don't say or point out everything you notice in a poem. It's more important to have a focused point you are making that is backed up by plenty of evidence from the text.

 

Hope that is helpful :)

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