9/30 Homework - Mr. Barber's Classroom



9/30 Homework

Harlem Renaissance Poetry

You will write a 1-page (single space, Times New Roman, 12 pt. font) explication of a poem from the list below. You may also choose a poem we read in class (except for Langston Hughes).

Anne Spencer

For Jim, Easter Eve

Arna Bontemps

Southern Mansion

Golgotha is a Mountain

Claude McKay

If We Must Die

Countee Cullen

Black Christ

Yet do I marvel

Gwendolyn Bennett

Hatred

Secret

To A Dark Girl

James Weldon Johnson

Brothers

Langston Hughes

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

My People

As I Grew Older

Cultural Exchange

Zora Neal Hurston

How it Feels to be Colored Me

An explication is an explanation of a complication that you find in the text of the poem. An explication analyzes in detail how the structure and theme from a short passage of the poem contribute to the overall meaning of the poem. In other words, pick an element from the poem and create an argument for its meaning and how this meaning contributes to the overall meaning of the poem. I expect your ideas to be original and text based. With each argument, you must reference the text or your class lecture notes.

Elements of the poem you may choose to analyze:

Tone Rhythm

Irony Rhyme

Symbols Notable elisions

Similes Interesting repetitions

Metaphors location of the passage within the text of as a whole

In your one page explication, 1) do not introduce the literary text (assume we are all familiar with the text), 2) avoid describing the plot unless you are analyzing a specific plot twist or subtlety , 3) use at least 3 quotes from the text, 4) 2 quotes from the lecture 5) analyze, analyze, analyze!

Again, the evidence for your claims comes from facts. In literary analysis, the facts are the words you quote from the text, because these are indisputable. After you select words from a text, then explain how these words/facts support your argument. You want to focus on a complex portion of the poem and break it apart. Something complex cannot speak for itself – it needs you to explain it by using historical knowledge or it needs you to reference other parts of the text.

In your writing, consider why that part of the text actually appears in the poem? What difference would it make if the passage were not there? Assume the writer felt strongly that the passage makes an important difference, and then try to develop an explanation of what that important difference may be.

Then you must explain how the facts support each claim. If a claim is complex enough to be interesting (i.e., worth making), then the facts will not speak for themselves in supporting that claim. Never let a quotation speak for itself.

To help get started in explicating a passage, consider: why does it appear in the text? What difference would it make if the passage were not there? Assume the writer felt strongly that this passage makes an important difference; then try to develop an explanation of what that important difference might be.

Finally, arrange your sequence of ideas according to the logic of your argument and not according to the chronological order of events described from the text. The logic of your analysis should determine the structure of the paper.

You should strive to teach something new and interesting to a classmate/teacher who has already read the text. I look forward to learning from each you.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download