1 Use a simple straightforward argument to structure your essay around. State this clearly as part of your introduction.
2 Introductions should include – a summary of the plot/subject matter of the poem. You should include in this a comment about the structure – a summary of different language features, poetic techniques and narrative voice – a brief contextual statement that puts the poem you are writing about in relation to the other poems we’ve studied and Hughes’s motivation or aim for writing these poems.
3 If you are writing about Wind then tell the reader that it is a significantly different poem than the other animal poems you’ve studied.
4 Each paragraph should contribute to the argument in your introduction. For example if you are writing about the poem Wind. Break down the argument that Hughes presents nature as violent and dangerous by writing about a) the landscape – powerful, b) wildlife - destructive, c) people – threatening. You will create structure, coherence and flow by doing this.
5 Try and create development and structure in your essay by linking paragraphs together by bridge or connecting words such as, ‘However,’ or phrases such as, ‘Another way Hughes…..’
6 Make your first sentence of a paragraph a topic sentence. A topic sentence picks up on a feature of the overall argument presented in your introduction.
7 Making references to literary terms and there effects. These should be embedded within a paragraph rather than forming a topic sentence. You should aim to use two or three literary terms and there effects in each paragraph. I’ll include a list of some of the terms we’ve discussed in class. You should also check the key words and phrases page on this blog.
8 You are reminded that you must write on up to 40 lines of a Hughes poem. You do not need to write about the whole poem. Write a lot about a little.
9 Select quotations really carefully and write everything relevant to the essay that is in the quotation. For example write about key words – meanings, symbols and connotations, word classes phrases – phonology or imagery, rhythm, rhyme. I beginning to think that you should select all the really good quotations in the poem you’ve chosen and analyse these in detail making sure that you link your analysis to the essay topic.
10 Make sure you make references to at least two other poems we have studied in this anthology. You should show how they are similar and or different.
11 Use the appropriate academic lexis and formal register. Avoid slang, colloquial phrases, metaphorical language, abbreviations. Don’t refer to yourself as ‘I’. refer to a generalised reader.
12 Make sure you write no more than 1000 word excluding quotations.
13 Finally! Close detailed analysis of your chosen poem must dominate your essay. However remember you are writing an essay. Therefore make sure your paragraphs are linked to each other and make it clear in each paragraph that you are addressing the essay title.
14 Finally! Don’t wait. Complete the final draft now over the next week. Have the essay ready now to hand in on 14 January. There are so many other aspects of the course you need to be working on. Don’t let this hang on and drag on and on!
