IOC Practice Notes pSH (Poetry of Seamus Heaney) 2011

SHAYmus HEEnee

New forbidden words: "My claim is..." Use Magic Thesis format instead.

Context: Most of the poems WE STUDIED

Context 2: In comparable poems, are the subjects treated similarly or differently?

Speaker: if nothing else, just identify 1st or 2nd or 3rd person. This does not need support/proof UNLESS ambiguous/arguable!

Try to go beyond the word list as support; this was good analysis at the junior level, but you are seniors now.

Spend most of your time and attention on the features/text most SIGNIFICANT to your INTERPRETATION.

Boland: NUMBER your lines.

Canned symbolism is NEVER as good as your own gathering of meaning.

The analytical paragraph structure might be equivalent to one SUBCLAIM of your commentary (e.g., one of your close reading features)

Time failures mostly due to lack of close reading, lack of thorough discussion (see your commentary examples!): identifying types of imagery is good--much better if you discuss examples--best when you explore HOW those examples and types of imagery influence your response and interpretation.

In DISCUSSION: how much of the poem have you specifically mentioned?

Noticing SHIFTS is great! Pattern and variation on pattern.

What is YOUR sincere personal response? What does this poem make you think, feel, believe? What MEANING do you derive from the poem? HOW does it deliver that?

Try INTEGRATING your sincere personal response with the tools of critical thinking and literary analysis.