Teaching the Rhetorical Analysis Essay*Overview Overview and Thanks to Timm Frietas Obviously, though anyone is welcome to use this page if they want to, the information is intended primarily for AP teachers. Students, though, might appreciate the information and find that it clarifies certain points or explains the reasons a teacher may use to emphasize a particular strategy. Though most of the information here is courtesy of Mr. Timm Freitas, some of it has been modified based on my own experiences using this information.
Assessments
Struggling Students Almost any free-response rhetorical analysis question would work for this unit, but some likely possibilities include the Abigail Adams letter or the Lord Chesterfield selection.
Students struggling with the Lord Chesterfield piece may need to rework their rhetorical analysis essays using this rubric and supplementary exercise:
One of the biggest obstacles students often face on the AP, particularly with regard to the rhetorical analysis essay, is the failure to ATSQ: Answer the Stinkin' Question. Students answer part of the question but not all, or (more often) fail to understand that the prompt itself needs to be "unpacked" and decoded before it can be answered effectively. A prompt may SAY, "Analyze the rhetorical choices Chavez makes to develop his argument about nonviolent resistance," but if a student's thesis looks like, "Chavez uses rhetorical choices to develop his argument about nonviolent resistance," then about the best grade they're looking at is about a 3 or 4 out of 9.
Therefore, students need a method of breaking down the rhetorical analysis prompt BEFORE they begin reading the selection or writing their essays. The reason why I have them break down the prompt the way I do is so they can create a purpose for reading the essay—besides having to write about it—and so that they can be empowered to write about what they know, as opposed to what they don’t.
Step Two: Find the "Command" and "Conquer"
I have students identify the standard elements in a prompt: exigence, speaker/author, audience, title of works (if there is one), genre/medium. This is pretty common, but what you will see below in my chart is that I also have students identify and create what I have titled the “Command” and the “Conquer.” I use this language because it allows my students to picture they are going to war with their rhetorical analysis essay; and once they receive their command, they can devise a way to conquer the territory: the excerpt for analysis. Of all of the things I do with my students, the most important step of this whole process—before they use my templates—is having them create the “Conquer Question” BEFORE reading the excerpt they need to analyze. If you check out what’s below, you’ll see how this question is generated:
Prompt: The passage below is from the opening of an essay, “On Seeing England for the First Time,” by Jamaica Kincaid. Kincaid grew up on the Caribbean island of Antigua before it became independent from England in 1981. Read the entire passage carefully. Then write an essay analyzing the rhetorical strategies Kincaid employs to convey her attitude toward England.
Find the Word that Means "Analyze" and Underline to the End of the Sentence
The “Command” is a simple way that I force students to focus on the SAME THING every time they read a prompt. Essentially, I have them constantly remind themselves that they need to ANALYZE in the paper, not summarize or identify. So, locating the “Command” always requires them to find the word (or variant) of “analyze”’; then they must underline from analyze to the end of the sentence. Like I said, this is a reminder technique.
Therefore, in the Kincaid prompt, the "Command" would be "Analyze the rhetorical strategies Kincaid employs to convey her attitude toward England."
Look at the "Command" for the Infinitive Verband Double-Underline from the Infinitive to the End of the Sentence
Creating the “Conquer” question—the MOST IMPORTANT element to this whole process—is done by looking in the “Command” for the authorial action verb. This is USUALLY, but not always, the infinitive that follows the word (or variant) of “analyze.” Once they have found the infinitive, students must then double underline from the infinitive to the end of the sentence. They must then generate a question by asking themselves, “While only looking at the double underlined text, what can’t I know until I have actually read this essay?”
Make a Conquer Question Starting with "What" Using the information in the "conquer" section, put it after the word "What." For example, in the Kincaid prompt, the "Conquer" would be "her attitude toward England," so logically, the conquer question must be, "What is Kincaid's attitude toward England?"
THE QUESTION MUST START WITH THE WORD “WHAT”!!!!! This question also may not have anything to do with rhetorical strategies; students struggle with this at first, so I consistently remind them that they must only look at the words that are DOUBLE UNDERLINED and ask “What don’t I know?” You’ll see that rhetorical strategies is not double underlined, therefore it can’t be in their question.
Examples
Prompt : Benjamin Banneker, the son of former slaves, was a farmer, astronomer, mathematician, surveyor, and author. In 1791 he wrote to Thomas Jefferson, framer of the Declaration of Independence and secretary of state to President George Washington. Read the following excerpt from the letter and write an essay that analyzes how Banneker uses rhetorical strategies to argue against slavery.
Conquer Question WHAT does Banneker argue against slavery? WHAT is his argument about slavery?
Prompt: Florence Kelley (1859-1932) was a United States social worker and reformer who fought successfully for child labor laws and improved conditions for working women. She delivered the following speech before the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in Philadelphia on July 22, 1905. Read the speech carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze the rhetorical strategies Kelley uses to convey her message about child labor to her audience. Support your analysis with specific references to the text.
Conquer Question What is Kelley's message about child labor?
Step Three: Six Pieces of Evidence
The next step is to 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.
Step Four: Set up a Claim Chart
How to Do the Claim Chart
Your claim chart allows students to look at the distribution of evidence, look for "holes" in their coverage of a text, and most of all, look for "clumps" of evidence. For example, consider the Portia rhetorical analysis prompt: In Act II, scene i of Julius Caesar, Shakespeare details a conversation—that happens on “the Ides of March”—between Brutus and his wife. Read the conversation carefully; then, analyze how Portia uses rhetorical strategies to evoke her intended emotional response from Brutus.
Set up the chart as follows in three columns headed this way:
Rhetorical TACTIC Examples that show ME Overall STRATEGY (What is the speaker DOING?) the answer to the "Conquer" Question
Always start with the evidence. When you write in your six pieces of evidence, make sure you also label the line numbers as well.
Label the Tactics
What is S/He DOING?
For EACH of the major pieces of evidence, students should ask, "What is s/he DOING here?" Their answers will be essentially a label for that particular tactic the speaker is using in that piece of evidence. For example, when Portia says, "Upon my knees..." and demands that Brutus tell her what's wrong, what is she DOING? Here are some possibilities. Begin with a strong verb.
Submitting to Brutus
Adopting the pose of a submissive wife
Subjugating herself before her husband
Notice that students should generally avoid using fancy rhetorical terms (which they may not fully understand) or ten-dollar words. Clarity is best.
Tactics and Strategies HAVE TO BE Action Verbs...but not "Uses"!
In the above example, I want to just draw your attention to the rhetorical tactic column. This is where most students think they need to “bust out” all of their rhetorical terms and whatnot, but what really needs to happen here is that kids need to clearly, and for some, simply, say what the speaker is doing. So, please note that there are many ways to say what Portia is doing for the first tactic that I labeled. Someone may say she, “Questions her husband’s love,” or someone else may say—for the second piece of evidence—something as simple as she “calls herself a prostitute.” The point is that tactics are action verbs, not nouns (which most terms are). Because students are so used to finding the nouns—or just ethos, pathos, and logos (which aren’t even devices)—and linking them to the verb “uses,” no wonder they struggle with providing analysis. Think about it. If I were to ask someone, “How did you build that house?” and the response was, “Well, I used a hammer, wood, and nails.” I would never know HOW it was built. Using powerful verbs, and kissing rhetorical jargon goodbye is a powerful way to empower students. Using these powerful verbs, and linking them to a strong thesis template—that includes the answer to the “Conquer Question”—is an even better way to empower students, because they are no longer writing about what they think their English teacher wants to hear, but rather what they know.
Label the Strategies
Key Skill: Look for "Clumps"
After coming up with the list of tactics -- what the writer/speaker is DOING -- students will often find more than one piece of evidence that provides evidence of a speaker's intended goals or purposes or which essentially are "grouped together" because they're similar.
For example, look in this (fictional) "Tactics" column. Suppose these were a student's labels for what the speaker, a father writing to his son, actually DID:
Ridicules his son's manhood
Blames his son's mother for his weakness
Suggests he has been morally corrupted by his friends
Mocks his son's tattoo
Look for Clumps At this point, the student should say, "Which one of these tactics are clumping together? Which tactics are similar to each other or like each other in some way?" Obviously, ridiculing and mocking are similar, as are blaming Mom and the friends. At this point, direct the student to put a label on these tactics to describe both of these clumps. "Ridicule" and "Blame" work just fine.
These are Strategies... and They Answer the Conquer Strategies are LARGE-SCALE maneuvers, a "big picture" game plan. Not surprisingly, the strategies are usually the answer to the "conquer" question.
NOTE: The difference between tactics and strategies The two words are often (incorrectly) used interchangeably, but they're not the same. A strategy is a big-picture plan; the tactic is the step-by-step. For example, if I wanted my football team to win, one strategy I might have would be to strengthen my offense. However, the specific way in which I'd go about strengthening my offense is my tactic.
For example, look at the chart for Portia's speech below. The student writer found two pieces of evidence that were using similar tactics and CLUMPED THEM under one verb: that in both cases, Portia is challenging or questioning Brutus's devotion to her and their marriage. Getting students to say what the speaker is JUST SIMPLY DOING is surprisingly difficult. The most helpful example is often the one in which Portia calls herself a prostitute. What is she DOING? She's CALLING herself a prostitute. Students are often surprised that the answer is really that simple. Really pull them away from general one-size-fits all verbs such as "convincing" or "manipulating." Of course she is. HOW? What, specifically, is she DOING to manipulate Brutus? The "clumping" works well here.
For example, in the answer to the conquer question, students might have said that Portia wants Brutus to feel a sense of pity and guilt. In coming up with their evidence, they need to list several places from the selection -- beginning, middle, and end- - where they see Portia working to produce a sense of both pity and guilt in Brutus. Once they find their textual evidence, all students need to do is say what the author is DOING in each piece of text, and the paper is practically written.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Rhetorical Strategy Examples that show ME Conquer Answer (What is the speaker DOING?) the answer to the "Conquer" Question "Dwell[s]..but in the suburbs of [his] pleasure?" Pity CHALLENGING Brutus' devotion (II.i.285)
"Portia is Brutus' harlot, not his wife" (II.i.287) Guilt
EMBRACING a submissive posture "Upon my knees, I charm you" (II.ii.270)
Take a Break: Practicing the Chart
Tactics Are Hard
Strategies Are Hard
At this point -- you've given them a lot of information -- students will probably need to practice the fine art of writing an evidence chart, and they'll probably need to do this several times.
Work through the first one (McDougall) together. Read the passage out loud and then ask students to begin an evidence chart with at least six examples.
When they have the six, ask them which ones came from the middle and end of the passage. (Typically, several students will forget that quotes need to come from throughout the passage, not just the beginning.)
Together as a group, ask students to identify the TACTICS. Remind them that a tactic is local, small, and individual -- one per piece of evidence, generally. If you have six pieces of evidence = six tactics.
Focus on what the author is DOING.
Be very literal. Often, a tactic is simply a description of the evidence. (Example: If Portia says she is "Brutus' harlot, not his wife," a tactic could be, "Portia calls herself a harlot.") It's literally that simple.
Now, look for groupings and similarities to find strategies. In the McDougall piece, students may repeatedly point out that McDougall uses incongruity or incongruous images, or humorous juxtapositions. Those could be grouped together and labeled as "Incongruity." They may also point out that McDougall withholds information to create suspense in several places. Those could be labeled as "Withholding Information."
Students will need at least two completely different strategies. Irony and humor are not completely different. (Also, "humor" is too vague.) Juxtaposition and incongruity are also not completely different.
REALLY CRUCIAL IDEA: Focus on how important it is to shape the tactic so very closely to the quotation that your reader does not even need to see the actual quote to figure out or guess which one you're talking about. If I say, "Portia submits herself by kneeling" as a tactic, I know exactly, precisely, and perfectly which exact single line in that text I'm referring to. THAT IS A TACTIC.
Work Through Examples in Houses
Students should read one of the selections (e.g., selection 12 from The HItchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and practice writing precise tactics. Writing down ONLY three tactics (without giving evidence), trade the tactics with another House. Can the other House members figure out which exact, precise, single line you're talking about just based on the tactic you chose? For instance, if I put as my tactic, "Antony shows the Romans the dead body of Caesar," then I know it can't be anyplace except for these lines right here:
Antony: Kind souls, what, weep you when you but behold Our Caesar's vesture wounded? Look you here, Here is himself, marr'd, as you see, with traitors.
Students should trade back their tactics with written commentary from other Houses, usually to make the tactics less general and vague. Do one or two rewrites and then move on.
Work Through Examples Alone
Students may need additional practice alone, ideally with the 10+ passages, and may need to construct tactics/evidence charts for additional practice.
Step Five: Write the Thesis
The Essay 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:
In the ______(Genre)____ ___(Title)___,(Contextual Information about Author and/or Text) (Author’s Name) (Powerful Verb + strategy) and (Powerful Verb + strategy), (optional powerful verb + strategy), in order to ____(larger goal or message. Be sure you have answered the "conquer.")
Example In Act II.ii of Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, Portia—Brutus’s wife--challenges Brutus’s devotion to their marriage and submissively postures herself in order to get him to feel guilty for not telling her the cause of his recent agitation and ill temper.
I think we can all agree that the example prompt reads much better than something along the lines of “Portia uses ethos, pathos, and logos in order to evoke her intended emotional response.” __________________________________________________________
Point Out that the Essay Writes Itself When students have completed their chart with six (or more) pieces of evidence, six tactics, and (at least) two strategies, point out that they've basically written the entire essay.
Why?
The first strategy = the first point in your thesis.
The second strategy = the second point in your thesis.
The 2-3 quotes that went with the first strategy = data for your first body paragraph.
The 2-3 quotes that went with the second strategy = data for your second body paragraph.
Point out that the thesis will AUTOMATICALLY be supported by the data because this entire chart was driven by the data in the first place. Rather than pulling down rando quotes from somewhere to (maybekindasorta) fit the thesis, students have specifically started with the data FIRST, then used the data itself to name the tactics and name the strategies. In short, they have custom-tailored their thesis around their evidence, and the rest of the paper will fall into place.
Step Six: Edit the Thesis Match Like a Bridesmaid
The Thesis Must Match the Claims In this crucial classroom step, especially the first time you do this with a class, it will be necessary to check the thesis and (when the claim sentences for the body paragraphs are written) to check that the thesis matches the claims (the topic sentences) both in content and in order. For example, if the thesis for the Lord Chesterfield prompt reads like this, then the key ideas highlighted in pretty colors MUST be featured in the claim sentences AND IN THAT SAME ORDER. ______________________________________________________________
Example HUMOROUS Thesis In a personal letter to his son traveling abroad, Lord Chesterfield threatens his son with endless downloads of Justin Bieber videos, belittles his son's attachment to Nickelback, and ignores his request for a tribal tattoo in order to emphasize the importance of style and status in the life of an English nobleman.
If this is the thesis, then a student's FIRST claim absolutely must have the words "Justin Bieber" in there. His or her SECOND claim absolutely must mention Nickelback, and the third claim has to have the words "tribal tattoo" or a close synonym. Students often have a hard time seeing that the thesis is a kind of itinerary for the essay itself, but it is: Just as an itinerary spells out "Monday: Paris, Tuesday; London, Wednesday: Lithuania," leading us to suspect that on Tuesday, we will be in London, so too does the thesis spell out the two to three major ideas we will be addressing. One of the key traits the AP graders are looking for is a reasonable sense of essay coherence, and having the thesis statement match the claims is a key skill.
Trade, Grade, Check
Have students trade papers and then ask, "What is your writer's SECOND powerful verb and device?" Then have the student writer read the SECOND claim sentence following the directions for the body paragraph below. If they do not match, then point that out and explain why it is important. I usually emphasize this concept to my students by saying, "Your THESIS will match your CLAIM. Your claim will match your data. Your data will match your warrant, which will match your claim and thesis. In short, you will match as if you were a bridesmaid! Shoes, dress, nails, earrings...TINY LITTLE PURSE!
Step Eight: Planning the Essay and Paragraph Structures
Go in Chronological Order Step Eight: Planning the Essay and Paragraph Structures
But Wait! What Do I Discuss First? Students often struggle with structure in the rhetorical analysis essay simply because they're not sure of what to discuss first. Let's take a humorous version of a nonexistent Lord Chesterfield letter as our example of a student's evidence chart:
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Rhetorical Strategy Examples that show ME Conquer Answer (What is the speaker DOING?) the answer to the "Conquer" Question
BELITTLING his son's devotion to "No one listens to Nickelback" (12-13) Chesterfield values musical superiority Nickelback
THREATENING his son with Justin Bieber "I understand it's out on iTunes. I can afford downloads all the downloads that will fit on your phone" (3)
IGNORING his son's request for a "I assume you've lost your mind. I refuse even Chesterfield values a professional style tribal tattoo to read that annoying request." (23)
Chronological Order: Let the Writer Do the Planning For You
One question students grapple with is, "What should I talk about first?" Overall, particularly with struggling student writers, students are far better off in following a basic chronological order. In short, whatever the WRITER discusses first is what the STUDENT should discuss first.
In the example above, although the student has listed Nickelback first (maybe because it was the first value he or she thought of when composing the chart), the Justin Bieber threat comes first. Therefore, the FIRST paragraph (and the FIRST idea in the thesis) should deal with Justin Bieber. Maybe you have Bieber evidence from line 3, line 13, line 25, and line 29. Discuss those pieces of evidence in that order. Then, the student should discuss the second idea, which is Nickelback at line 12. Supposing Nickelback was mentioned also in line 18, line 25, and line 34, the student should address the Nickelback information, in that order, in paragraph 2, and then proceed to discuss the tribal tattoo issue in the final paragraph because Lord Chesterfield mentions it last, in line 23.
Step Nine: Writing the Body Paragraph
Template Example of a Body Paragraph What, Why, Where, How?
Now, my next template is mechanical and repetitive, but it FORCES the students to provide analysis focused on the central purpose of a piece. I FORCE my students to use this template for the first half of the year, and then I show them how to provide variation. This analytic template works for literature as well, and I have included an example that I created. Basically, I force the students to pull everything they write about in their body paragraphs word-for-word from their thesis. I call this template my What/Why, Where, How? Structure. I created it based on reading too many rhetorical analysis essays for AP Lang, and question 1 and 2 essays for AP Lit. (I teach both and those prompts on the Lit exam are constructed the same manner as the rhetorical analysis.) All of the best papers seemed to have topic sentences that identify what an author was doing and why. They followed with the example in the text, and then they explained how the example related to why the author was doing what s/he does in the piece.
[Ordering Word], [Author's Name] + [strategy #1 from thesis] + [strategy #2 from thesis] in order to (answer to the conquer question. Focus on the author's MESSAGE or GOAL or both).
Data (Textual Evidence /Where):
Take, for example how [insert context and textual evidence that shows the strategy from the claim sentence] (citation).
Warrant (Analysis/How): The warrant is more complicated. See the breakdown below.
REPEAT DATA AND WARRANT AS NEEDED. YOU WILL NEED A MINIMUM OF TWO DATAS PER PARAGRAPH. _________________________________________________
WARRANT TEMPLATE
Here is a suggested template for doing a warrant along with a specific example below so you can see how this all looks when put together.
In the following example, notice how I use the evidence from my chart to give my thesis the substance it needs to direct my paper. Also notice the importance of the word “because." Having the kids use that word forces them to attempt to provide analysis. I make my students use it all the time! Key ideas from the thesis, especially powerful verbs, rhetorical strategies, and crucial transitions, have been bolded or underlined.
First, Portia challenges Brutus’s devotion to their marriagein order to get Brutus to feel guilty for not telling her the reason for his agitation and unrest. Take, for example, the moment in which Portia, after asking Brutus the reason for his emotional turmoil and getting a dishonest response, moves to question if she, “Dwell[s]…but in the suburbs of [his] good pleasure?” (II.i.285), or in other words, she wonders whether she is only a peripheral interest in his life, a question she asks in order to lead Brutus to feel guilty because this question exposes the degree to which Portia feels like she is being mistreated. When Portia essentially calls his love and their marriage into question, she knows Brutus wouldn’t want his wife to believe that she isn’t “in [his] good pleasure,” so Brutus should be moved to prove his love by telling her his secrets. Portia, in this instance, makes it seem as though the only manner in which Brutus can prove his love to her is by revealing the reason he is so troubled, and if he doesn’t, it must mean he does not love her. Knowing that he does love her, Brutus should feel guilty for even moving Portia to consider that she is unloved, and since this is the case,he may be potentially moved to reveal his secret. When Brutus doesn’t reveal the information she wants, Portia follows this question with the assertion that if he cannot tell her, “Portia is Brutus’ harlot, not his wife” (II.i.287), essentially asking whether she is truly his wife, or only a prostitute, a statement Portia makes to evoke guilt from Brutus because, by keeping secrets from his wife, he is causing her to devalue herself; she says he is treating her as if she were a "harlot," not as if she were an equal partner. Seeing as Brutus he views Portia as a “true […] honorable […and…] noble wife” (II.i.275, 291), it’s implied that Brutus would never want his wife to feel so excluded and devalued. Knowing Brutus as she does, Portia implies that if Brutus tells her his secret, she will no longer feel so unequal, thus prompting a potential revelation from her husband. Next, Portia submissively postures herself in order to get Brutus to feel guilty for not telling her the source of his anxiety. Take, for example, how after all of her other tactics fail, Portia approaches him “upon [her] knees” (II.ii. 270). This gesture of submission should cause Brutus to feel guilty because his wife is embracing a posture a lowly beggar. By humbling herself in such a manner, Portia dramatizes the fact that Brutus is being so cold that she has no other choice but to vulnerably position herself as a slave or commoner, not his wife. She strips herself of her status, and in doing so, hopes to evoke pity from Brutus because if he pities her, he may tell her the reason for his unrest.
Now, although this essay is mechanical—and not finished, as it is an example—it clearly is driven by the thesis, it is centered around the purpose as directed from the prompt, and it allows students to explain what they know based on the evidence they found. Furthermore, and I can say this with surety as I was scoring RA papers last year, this paper would score at least a 7—if it were finished in like manner—for being considered adequate and thorough; it maybe even exhibits elements of an 8 because the analysis is effective.
Examples!Example Prompt / Example Thesis and Body
In chapter 9 of his book, Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser’s explores how the fast-food industry produces and obtains its meat. After reading “What’s in the Meat?,” chapter 9 of Fast Food Nation, analyze how Eric Schlosser uses rhetorical devices in order to evoke the emotions of the audience as he argues against the deregulation of the meat-packing industry.
Example Thesis
Throughout his non-fiction piece, Fast Food Nation, author Eric Schlosser augments his argument against the greed and deregulation of the meat industry by presenting morbid truthsand narrating tragic, graphic stories that force his audience to empathize with the victims of the industries’ practices.
Example Body Paragraph
Schlosser’s presentation of emphatic profanity in chapter 9 instills disgust, fear, shock and anger within the mind of the reader.After describing a tragic case of food poisoning, which in and of itself is an emotional appeal, Schlosser reveals the problem was due to the fact that “there [was] sh*t in the meat” (197).This use of vulgar diction gives a clear indication that the issues surrounding consumed tainted meat relate directly to hygiene, or a lack there of. It is commonly believed that the government and businesses would want to keep their products clean to promote healthy lifestyles and safety, but as demonstrated by Schlosser’s claim, the blatant truth is profane. Using such a negative, colloquial word—sh*t—to define waste establishes a relationship that reveals the baseness of the major corporations that are selling the questionable meat. Furthermore, this simple truth—much like his word choice—shocks and angers the readers due to the fact that they have probably eaten fast-food burgers; this instantly presents the idea that they may have consumed excrement before, and it doesn’t seem that the people in charge of the well being of the public seem to care.
Literary Analysis and Adding Quotes Not Just for Textual Evidence!
I know that my templates are mechanical, but every year my students outperform the global average on their rhetorical analysis essays. I also use my templates to then springboard into variation and ultimately—if we have time—voice development. The following is an example of methods I use to teach students to do more with the text than just use it as evidence. I have provided two examples of literary analysis; the second not only has textual evidence but simply exchanges some ideas in my original analysis with words from the text. Although this seems like a simple move, it demonstrates a control of the text, and as I say to my students, “Let your readers know that you have married the text and that you have a pathetic relationship: you even finish each other’s sentences.” Check out my examples that are completely derived from my thesis and body paragraphing templates
Adding Quotes Without In the poem, “The Raven”—which was written shortly after the poet lost his wife—Poe develops an ominous symbol and a dark setting, while repeating eerie responses, in order to expose the ever-present grief of the speaker.
Poe develops an ominous symbol in order to present the ever-present grief of the speaker. Take, for example, how the troubled speaker wakes—startled—in the middle of the night, only to find a “Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering” (Poe 108) into his house and, “Perch[ing] upon a bust of Pallas just above [his] chamber door” (Poe 95). This demonstratesthe grief of the speakerbecause the raven is described as “ghastly and grim,” and these negative descriptions directly correlate with the negative thoughts of the speaker. Furthermore, the raven, as a bird, is considered to be a vicious scavenger that preys upon the defeated—a dead and/or dying animal—which directly reflects the emotional turmoil of the speaker as he is struggling with dealing with losing his lover. The speaker himself is in vulnerable state, and the raven recognizes this, so it preys upon his sorrow. The fact that the “Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting /On the pallid bust of Pallas just above [his] chamber door” (Poe 203-204) demonstratesthe ever-present nature of the speaker’s griefbecause he can’t get rid of the raven, just like he can’t get past the idea that he’ll never again be able see Lenore. Because of this fact, of which the raven consistently reminds him, the speaker is forced to recognize that he will not recover from his depression.
With In the poem, “The Raven”—which was written shortly after the poet lost his wife—Poe develops a dark setting and ominous symbolism, while repeating eerie responses in order to expose that the speaker’s heart contains “Darkness there and nothing more” (Poe 22).
Poe develops an ominous symbol in order to present the ever-present grief of the speaker. Take, for example, how the troubled speaker wakes—startled—in the middle of the night, only to find a “Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering” (Poe 108) into his house and, “Perch[ing] upon a bust of Pallas just above [his] chamber door” (Poe 95). This demonstrates the grief of the speaker because the raven is described as “ghastly and grim,” and these negative descriptions directly correlate with the negative thoughts of the speaker. Furthermore, the raven, as a bird, is considered to be a vicious scavenger that preys upon the defeated—a dead and/or dying animal—which directly reflects the emotional turmoil of the speaker as he is struggling with dealing with his “sorrow for the lost Lenore” (Poe 25). The speaker himself is in a vulnerable state, and the raven recognizes this, so it preys upon his sorrow. The fact that the “Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting /On the pallid bust of Pallas just above [his] chamber door” (Poe 203-204) demonstrates the ever-present nature of the speaker’s grief because he can’t get rid of the raven, just like he can’t get past the idea that he’ll never again be able “Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore” (Poe 185).Because of this fact, of which the raven consistently reminds him, the speaker is forced to recognize that “[his] soul […] Shall be lifted—nevermore!” (Poe 216-217).
Template for Struggling Students Template for Struggling Students
This last template is for students who really struggle with analysis. It lets them know that they need to bring what they “know” to the table. I use this ONLY as a springboard and mandate that students then remove all first-person references when they actually put it in their paragraphs. You will notice, however—should you try this with a struggling student—that when they remove the first-person element, there will be clear attempts at analysis. Check out my template and examples.
Simplified Analysis: If I were (insert actual audience), this would make me (answer to the conquer) because (explain how it would move you toward the answer to the conquer).
To add this to your paragraph, GET RID OF THE FIRST PERSON NONSENSE!!!!!
Initial Version If I were Brutus, this would make me feel pity towards my wife because I am supposed to love her, and she doesn’t feel loved by me. Actually, she feels like I’m just using her for pleasure, but I have a deeper bond than that, so I must really be doing something to hurt her, and I don’t want that. But, I could potentially repair these damaged feelings if I told her my secret.
Analysis with First Person Removed Brutus would feel pity toward his wife because he is supposed to love her, but she doesn’t feel the love from him. Actually, she feels like she is being used for pleasure, but marriage is supposed to be about more than that. It’s about support. Brutus is led to consider that he must be the cause of her pain, and he shouldn’t want that for his wife. Because of this, he could be potentially moved to repair the damage by telling her his secrets.
Where to Go from Here?
More Practice - 10 Short Passages Lord Chesterfield 2004 Lord Chesterfield Template Exercise Diction, Syntax, ToneThoughts Rhetorical analysis can't necessarily be communicated in one lesson or even several. Students will often need specific help with more challenging concepts and will need some scaffolding through in-class practice and teamwork before they can successfully implement the skills by themselves.
More Practice Students will usually need repeated exposure to the evidence chart concept, specifically the idea of generating specific tactics. Students may also need help in writing the thesis, although if the chart is good, the thesis essentially writes itself.
In-Class Essay #1 Students should already have done a FRQ for the George Bernard Shaw piece, but this is the first essay as an "after" picture, showing the difference between pre-instruction and post-instruction. A good place to go from this point is the 2004 Lord Chesterfield prompt , particularly if students have worked with the Abigail Adams letter or the Amy Tan piece before this point.
Students should be instructed to do a chart with tactics and strategies in the first ten minutes of the exam. Give extended time beyond the allotted 40 minutes for students to practice this skill. They may also have access to notes, provided that they do not know the actual subject of the exam before the in-class essay begins.
Help for Struggling Students As on the Shaw essay, students should be provided with an essay template to help them write the Chesterfield essay, and as with the Shaw, the grade on the essay template assignment can be used to offset a low grade here.
This lecture ondiction, syntax, and tonecan be given here as we "drill down" into the tools authors use to create meaning and persuade audiences. Getting more specific about individual terms and tools, give the lecture on the rhetorical toolboxin order to get students to understand that ALL of these choices are tools. One specific assignment students can do from this point is to choose a selection of tools (e.g., parallel structure, irony, etc.) and find a recent example (which will reduce the risk of copying) and explain how that tool allowed the author to communicate her or his point. Why parallel structure? Why right there?
* I owe almost all of the outstanding ideas adapted here to Timm Freitas of the AP Language and Composition Facebook Group, who generously provided this information.