Overview In Poetry I, we worked through the Classic Lit Analysis Paragraph Template included below. Like all lit templates, it has its benefits and limitations. Among the limitations are that it's a template.
At this point, you need to move beyond the template and into genuine independent skill. For your reference, I've kept the CLAPT (Classic Lit Analysis Paragraph Template) below. Continue to use elements about it that work for you, but above all, remember to MAKE THE TEMPLATE WORK FOR YOU, NOT YOU FOR IT.
*Note: I am indebted to AP wonderteacher Timm Frietas for this concept and its terminology.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo Read the passage carefully, LOOKING FOR ANSWERS TO THE "CONQUER" question as they read, and annotating or marking any and all evidence that pertains or seems to pertain to the question. Have students draw a line through the first 1/3 of the text, the second 1/3, and so on, because they will need to find six pieces of evidence that allowed THEM to come to the answer to the question. (I make my students find two pieces from the beginning, two from the middle, and two from the end.) This then becomes their textual evidence for their essay, and it all relates to what the prompt is asking them to analyze, because the prompt asks them to answer the question they generate from it.
Finding at least six pieces of evidence -- from throughout the text -- is crucial because one of the qualities that AP graders are looking for is "coverage": the ability of students to look at a text holistically, seeing the development of an idea throughout the text from the beginning to the middle and to the end.
Example:
The following poem is by the contemporary poet Li-Young Lee. Read the poem carefully. Then write a well-developed essay in which you analyze how the poet conveys the complex relationship of the father and the son through the use of literary devices such as point of view and structure.
Process= WHY it matters
Okay, since your "Command" is "What IS the complex relationship of the father and the son?" it means that you will go through and write down at least six places in the poem you see containing key moments or pieces of information and WHY they matter.
When you have your six pieces, briefly explain WHY they are complex or WHY they matter.
Example: "In a room full of books...he can recall/not one, and soon, he thinks, the boy/will give up on his father."
Why it matters: He feels impotent, like a failure who hasn't been able to respond to his son.
ppppppppppppppppppppp Step two move from how to why
vExample: "In a room full of books...he can recall/not one, and soon, he thinks, the boy/will give up on his father."
Why it matters: He feels impotent, like a failure who hasn't been able to respond to his son.
The "How" Now that you have your six (or more) pieces of evidence, ask yourself, "What did the author DO to get me to see that?"
Questions to Ask:
What did s/he DO in that line to get me to see why it matters?
What did s/he DO with that word to get me to see why it matters?
What did s/he DO with that image to get me to see why it matters?
What did s/he DO with that tone?
...with that figure of speech?
...with that point of view?
...with that structural choice?
Notice that the focus here is not on identifying the literary device. The focus is directed to what the author DID WITH IT.
To put it another way, don't tell me "the mechanic used a crescent wrench." Tell me what she DID with the crescent wrench.
Example
Going back to that line again, "In a room full of books...he can recall/not one, and soon, he thinks, the boy/will give up on his father," we know the line suggests that the father feels impotent, like a failure who hasn't been able to respond to his son.
How do we know this? How did the author make us aware of this? Well, consider the fact that the prompt is asking us about point of view. Aha! The line is spoken very much from the father's point of view.
What's your proof? Well, for one thing, the line straight-up says, "he thinks," and from that brief little tag, we get it reinforced that this is from the father's POV.
Okay, so what? What did the author DO with that paternal POV? Why was it important? Well, it's important because it allows us a vital window into this guy's fear, his secret suspicion that he's failing his son at this moment, that he's not doing the dad job of having a new story; in fact, he "can't come up with one" (2). Underneath that fear is the deeper conviction that his incompetence will cost him his son, that his child will go away from him in disappointment. Without that phrase "he thinks," we would have that more objective, more dispassionate view and would feel a lessened emotional connection to this father.
ooooooooooooooooooooo the thesis writes itself
The Thesis Writes Itself
Have students write a thesis according to a fairly structured thesis template, especially early in the year. Tell them they are to stick to it like grim death until they become super-skilled at writing thesis statements on their own that perform all of the necessary functions that the template compels them to do. THESIS TEMPLATE:
Using [specific, focused device] and [device] in the [genre, title], [author] [powerful verb] order to suggest that [Complex message. Try using "despite..nevertheless." Be sure you answered the "conquer."]
Using an intimate point of view from the perspective of a father and a series of pointed questions from a son in the poem "A Story," poet Li-Young Lee powerfully communicates a painful truth about parenting: that despite their best efforts, fathers will inevitably fail their children both as "god[s]" and as figures of wisdom, a loss that begins and ends with their silence.
I think we can all agree that the example answer reads much better than something along the lines of “Portia uses metaphors in order to evoke her intended emotional response.”The Thesis Writes Itself
Have students write a thesis according to a fairly structured thesis template, especially early in the year. Tell them they are to stick to it like grim death until they become super-skilled at writing thesis statements on their own that perform all of the necessary functions that the template compels them to do. THESIS TEMPLATE:
Using [specific, focused device] and [device] in the [genre, title], [author] [powerful verb] order to suggest that [Complex message. Try using "despite..nevertheless." Be sure you answered the "conquer."]
Using an intimate point of view from the perspective of a father and a series of pointed questions from a son in the poem "A Story," poet Li-Young Lee powerfully communicates a painful truth about parenting: that despite their best efforts, fathers will inevitably fail their children both as "god[s]" and as figures of wisdom, a loss that begins and ends with their silence.
I think we can all agree that the example answer reads much better than something along the lines of “Portia uses metaphors in order to evoke her intended emotional response.” PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP