GUIDELINES FOR OPENING PARAGRAPH OF LITERARY ESSAY (POETRY)
- Mention
the author’s name and the title of the work
- Remember
that short works (stories, essays, and poems) require the use of quotation
marks (e.g. “Wild Geese”) while long works such as novels and plays require
italics (Huckleberry Finn)
- Use
present tense verbs when writing about literature
- Provide
a general plot summary of the work or establish the context in some way—no
need to go into great detail—just the basic gist of things. What is the situation? What is at stake for the speaker?
- Provide
a more analytical understanding of the work’s underlying tension and its
resolution. What is the work’s
overall purpose, its reason for being?
- This
poem concerns itself with…
- The
author explores…
- In
this poem we can see…
- This
poem examines…
- This
poem questions…
- Explain
the method or “how” (i.e. the elements of poetry: diction, speaker, symbolism,
setting, figurative language, point of view, tone, imagery, line
breaks/enjambment, rhyme, meter, rhythm, allusion, stanza, etc.) through
which the author achieves his or her purpose for the poem.