ELLA 4 INTEGRATED ANALYSIS THROUGH INDEPENDENT STUDY
FIRST DRAFT ESSAY – GENERAL FEEDBACK
Updated 26 January 2013
Below is a list of points I have found common in
the majority or a lot of the essays I’ve marked. You should consider these
points carefully and where it is relevant you should amend your essays. If you
take the time to read these points, take note of the ones relevant to you and
thoughtfully and carefully amend your essays – you will raise your marks
considerably.
As I mark new essays I’ll add to the list of key
points. I’ll show the date of the most recent update at the top of this post.
·
ADVICE IN ONE POINT If you only read this one
bullet point and acted on it you would improve your essay grade significantly.
Your essay must address the essay topic, refer specifically to a relevant poem,
compare this point with another relevant poem and finally and most importantly analyse the quotations you use. Your essay must include contextual statements
and communicate the attitudes and assumptions of the poetic voice of the poem.
- Make it clear to the examiner that you are writing about poetry. One way to do this is to write about form – the physical shape and look of the poems as well as the structure of the lines and even referring to rhyme. Another way is to consider the definitions of poetry given out to you and other definitions found elsewhere on the Internet. Show how the different poets shape and structure their poems and perhaps define poetry differently. If one of your texts is a short story then write about the genre of short stories.
- You must define the key words in the title of your essay and relate the definition of the key word in the title to the texts you are writing on. Therefore I expect you to define terms such as ‘isolation’, ‘childhood’ and ‘personal relationships’. Relate these terms to the texts you are writing about.
- Link paragraphs together. This will make a fluent and coherent essay rather than a list of fragmented paragraphs.
- Write about context. There are two very important points to consider. Firstly you must establish your understanding of the whole poem or short story. You can do this by summarising the poem or short story in the introduction of your essay or when you first refer to the text – in the body of the essay. Secondly you should refer to relevant biographical details of the poets or writer. All the poets write strong autobiographical poems. However write about ‘narrative voice’ or ‘narrative perspective’.
- The best essays will engage with the texts imaginatively as well as theoretically. Try and develop an argument, an angle, a personal perspective on the texts and the main topic. You will do this if you can own the texts for yourself. Really know the texts well. Read and re read them. I’ve known these poems for over 20 years and I’m still finding things out about them. Every year students teach me something new about them.
·
Lots of people are
writing the essay on isolation.
There are a number of issues you must take account of when writing this essay.
If you have chosen Heaney then you must consider that isolation is linked to
his childhood play and the power of his imagination to conjure up an exciting
world in which to play. This is especially the case for Death of a Naturalist.
Heaney plays alone [1]. The collection of frog spawn is a solitary endeavour.
He seems fascinated by the texture and perhaps the life that each black dot
represents [2]. In the second stanza his imagination conjures a wonderful war
scene between frogs and himself [3]. He is both frightened and fascinated by
this play [4]. He is totally absorbed in his game and does not seem to need
anyone else to add to the pleasure in it [5]. Heaney was brought up on a farm –
a naturally isolating experience because of its location or setting [6]. The
game he plays is so absorbing, his imagination so vivid and powerful – undiluted
by any other person – that it drives him away from his love of nature [7]. The
numbers in brackets at the end of these sentences could be used to create a
paragraph.
·
When referring to isolation
and Daddy you must be very careful to refer to the narrative voice of the poem
as estranged, separated, isolated from her father through death, expanse of
time – he died when she was 10, he is a German speaking Pole. He has become a
monster in her imagination – all powerful, cruel, persecutor – represented by
the Nazi’s.
