Paper OneWorksheetFill in these blanks between the “parts” with your wonderful ideas. I’ve left spaces for you to fill but hope you will use more space than I’ve give you to explore your ideas and answers.Use these promptsand questions to develop a deeperunderstanding of your poem and give yourselfsome excellent raw material for your paper. In fact, many students have said these worksheets really help with the hard work of thinking and focusing, and the rest of the job,pulling the paragraphs together and building a draft,is a snap. 1.Getting to the central idea: a.What does the poet want you to understand about their topic? What does the poem say about the human condition,plus the author’s take on it?What does it say, specifically,about life and how we liveit? If it is about love, what exactly does it say about love? Answer these questions first: I think…..b.Now, dig deeper than a statement of the subject–the poem is not simply about love—it says when “this”is true about love, then….this is true about love. The poem suggests that when we experience X type of love….then X is true. Use a When……..Then……… or an If……………then…….. construction to dig into and state a rough draft of the poem’s meaning for yourself:I say……….c.Now that youhave thought through your own, I say…opinion of the central message of your chosen poem, thenadd and consider your researched They say….as well as your peer’s They says….Be open to the impact of reliable and thoughtful opinion on the poem, and also true to your own understanding as long as it can be thoughtfully supported. Then, use one of the templates for “starting with what others say about a literary work,” on p. 307-308to introduce your They say….I say…. as your thesis.Example: In her famous sonnet, “How Do I Love Thee?Let me count the ways,” Elizabeth Barrett Browning not only lists the many waysshe lovesher future husbandRobert Browning, she suggeststhat deep love has many qualities and most importantly deep love iseternal. In hisarticle, JohnHolmes reminds us that this much-loved poem about love has been called,“an oversentimental extravagance, or a tired cliché.” ButHolmesargues thatthe author’s perspective, as an older woman, writing as one poet to another and thinking she will die alone and unmarried,makes this poem anything but sentimental, and I agree(3). (see example of works cited on page 6)2.The Speaker—who do you hear speaking to you in the poem? a.Use three or four words todescribe the speaker of the poem. How does the speaker’s attitude towards his/her subjectcontribute to the reader’s experience of the poem and understanding of the central idea?
2b.How does the identity, character, perspective and attitude of the speaker contribute to and affect the reader’s experienceof the poem and understanding of the central idea?c.Quotes to support: Find two or three words or images that have contributed to your understanding of the speaker’s voice and attitude and persona. How have these words created this impression exactly? d.What role does the speaker’s attitude and voice play in communicating meaning to the reader? How does the speaker’s voice, attitude and personaaffect and contribute to the central idea of the poem?e.Connect and evaluate. How does this element affect the others? What role does it play in creatingthe tone, the reader’s understanding of the speaker and revealing the central idea? Does your research support or contradict your carefully considered opinion? Whydo you believe your impression to be true?3.What is the tone of the poem? a.Define and describe the tone of the poemin at least two adjectives oradverbs.Does it change? How? When? To what affect? Is it constant? Does it build? Does it wane? How does that affect your experience of the poem?How does the tone contribute to the reader’s experienceof the poem and understanding of the central idea?b.Quotes to support: Find two or three words or images that have contributed to your understanding of the tone. How have these words created this impression exactly? c.What role does the toneplay in communicating meaning to the reader? How does the toneaffect and contribute to the central idea of the poem?
3d.Connect and evaluate. How does this element affectthe others? whatroledoes this element playin creating the speaker’s persona, the reader’s understanding of the central idea?Does your research support or contradict your carefully considered opinion? Whydo you believe your impression to be true?4.Setting-Where are we? When are we? a.Define and describe the time and place of the poem.Does it change? How? When? To what affect? Is it constant? Does it build? Does it wane? How does that affect your experience of the poem? How does the tone contribute to the reader’s impression of the action of the poem and understanding of the central idea?b.How does time and place color the tone and impact the meaning? Remember to consider the smaller and larger settings—time of day, rooms in the house, a political, social, natural, psychological environment. c.Quotes to support: Find two words or linesin the poem that describeor implythe time and placeas you understand it.d.What role does the settingplay in communicating meaning to the reader? How does the tone affect and contribute to the central idea of the poem?e.Connect and evaluate. What are the connotations or associations of the setting and how has the poet used them to amplify the meaning? Does your research support or contradict your carefully considered opinion? Why?5.Language. Identify and describe two-2-important uses of literary language. Start with language that is most memorableto you and then identify it and discover its impact. Remember, this use of language can also include the title of the poem.a.Quote, define,(from the list below) and describe each type of language you have chosen. How does this use of literarylanguage contribute to the reader’s experienceofthe poem and understanding of the central idea?b.How did the use of each of these examples of literary language contribute to your understanding of the tone, the speaker? How have these words created this impression exactly?
4c.What role does each of these examples of literary language play in communicating meaning to the reader? d.Connect and evaluate. How does this element affectthe others? What role does this element play in creating the speaker’s persona, the tone, the reader’s understanding of the central idea? Does your research support or contradict your carefully considered opinion? Whydo you believe your impression to be true
