Family Relationships (Poetry Critique)

Discuss and show the contrast and correspondence between at least THREE poems relating to family relationships.

Poems to choose from:

Michael Longley: ‘The Apparition’
Robert Frost: ‘Home Burial’
Philip Larkin: ‘Home is so Sad’
Eavan Boland, ‘Domestic Violence’
Charles Simic, ‘Spoons with Realistic Dead Flies on Them’
Don Paterson, ‘Letter to the Twins’
Sylvia Plath, ‘Daddy’

Structuring An Essay in Poetry Critique:

1 Introduction: this should announce the theme or topic in general (family relationships poems)

You may begin with the PERSONAL reasons for choosing the above.
But once the topic is expressed, you should hone in-wards, towards the end of this opening introductory paragraph, with your THESIS: which is to say, what aspect(s) and perspectives on the more general topic you will be arguing for.

2 Given the requisite length of this paper, you should have between 4 and 6 body paragraphs, which act as proof/evidence of your thesis.
a) each paragraph should be one complete(d) unity of thought or purposive ANALYSIS. And by ‘purposive’ I mean that each bit of technical/objective analysis (say, for instance, regarding ‘voice’ or ‘style’) should have a purpose, i.e. provide the objective evidence of and for your subjective intentions (in other words: your argument(s) in proof of your thesis…)
b) the body paragraphs may follow a consequential pattern: which means each paragraph leading to the next, each one a ‘development’ of the previous one: each unit of thought/paragraph BUILDING ON THE PREVIOUS ONE….

OR,

they may be parallel INSTANTIATIONS (examples) of the thesis:

which means each paragraph will use a different aspect of the poetry under discussion to prove the SAME THESIS, but in different ways across the space of the essay…
(e.g.) one paragraph may show how the PARAPHRASABLE CONTENT says one thing; the next, might show how this CONTENT is made doubly glaring by the use of RHYME OR RHYME SCHEME;

by the use of ALLITERATION, VERBAL/MUSICAL TEXTURE: OR indeed, VOICE/TONE/ATTITUDE…

AND SO ON…(ie all the things we’ve discussed and studied progressively in class…)

3 CONCLUSION: this should sum up the content of your arguments and how they lead to and PROVE your THESIS. But it’s always best to both sum-up what you’ve shown, as well as add a LAST thought which is both IN-LINE with the summation and POINTS BEYOND THE AREA of your ESSAY.

IN other words: while the INTRODUCTION AND CONCLUSION do similar things, at either end of the essay, it’s best to make them DIFFERENT VERSIONS of the content, RATHER THAN a MERE DUPLICATE OR REPETITION.

Like a good poem, a good essay is coherent, but ALSO allows the reader to think-on beyond the last line….

20%

5 %: allotted to the interestingness or individuality of your thesis and (thus) evident engagement with the material.
5%: allotted for the formal coherence of the essay through introduction, middle and end
10%: allotted to the skill with which the thesis is PROVEN: via objective/technical analysis.

Family Relationships (Poetry Critique)

Discuss and show the contrast and correspondence between at least THREE poems relating to family relationships.

Poems to choose from:

Michael Longley: ‘The Apparition’
Robert Frost: ‘Home Burial’
Philip Larkin: ‘Home is so Sad’
Eavan Boland, ‘Domestic Violence’
Charles Simic, ‘Spoons with Realistic Dead Flies on Them’
Don Paterson, ‘Letter to the Twins’
Sylvia Plath, ‘Daddy’

Structuring An Essay in Poetry Critique:

1 Introduction: this should announce the theme or topic in general (family relationships poems)

You may begin with the PERSONAL reasons for choosing the above.
But once the topic is expressed, you should hone in-wards, towards the end of this opening introductory paragraph, with your THESIS: which is to say, what aspect(s) and perspectives on the more general topic you will be arguing for.

2 Given the requisite length of this paper, you should have between 4 and 6 body paragraphs, which act as proof/evidence of your thesis.
a) each paragraph should be one complete(d) unity of thought or purposive ANALYSIS. And by ‘purposive’ I mean that each bit of technical/objective analysis (say, for instance, regarding ‘voice’ or ‘style’) should have a purpose, i.e. provide the objective evidence of and for your subjective intentions (in other words: your argument(s) in proof of your thesis…)
b) the body paragraphs may follow a consequential pattern: which means each paragraph leading to the next, each one a ‘development’ of the previous one: each unit of thought/paragraph BUILDING ON THE PREVIOUS ONE….

OR,

they may be parallel INSTANTIATIONS (examples) of the thesis:

which means each paragraph will use a different aspect of the poetry under discussion to prove the SAME THESIS, but in different ways across the space of the essay…
(e.g.) one paragraph may show how the PARAPHRASABLE CONTENT says one thing; the next, might show how this CONTENT is made doubly glaring by the use of RHYME OR RHYME SCHEME;

by the use of ALLITERATION, VERBAL/MUSICAL TEXTURE: OR indeed, VOICE/TONE/ATTITUDE…

AND SO ON…(ie all the things we’ve discussed and studied progressively in class…)

3 CONCLUSION: this should sum up the content of your arguments and how they lead to and PROVE your THESIS. But it’s always best to both sum-up what you’ve shown, as well as add a LAST thought which is both IN-LINE with the summation and POINTS BEYOND THE AREA of your ESSAY.

IN other words: while the INTRODUCTION AND CONCLUSION do similar things, at either end of the essay, it’s best to make them DIFFERENT VERSIONS of the content, RATHER THAN a MERE DUPLICATE OR REPETITION.

Like a good poem, a good essay is coherent, but ALSO allows the reader to think-on beyond the last line….

20%

5 %: allotted to the interestingness or individuality of your thesis and (thus) evident engagement with the material.
5%: allotted for the formal coherence of the essay through introduction, middle and end
10%: allotted to the skill with which the thesis is PROVEN: via objective/technical analysis.