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English 102: Spring 2015
Tenenbaum
Instructions for Reader Responses #3-6 and Analysis Essay #1
Schedule and Due Dates for the Reader Responses
Mon 4/20: Due: Reader Response #3, “A Short History of the Apple” (23), “Hunger” (24),
“cutting greens” (27), and “Butter” (54), in The Hungry Ear. Note that I have cut
“After Apple-Picking” from our readings. It was on our original green schedule,
but I changed my mind and cut it.
Wed 4/22: Due: Reader Responses #4, “Potatoes” (110-11), “When the Burning Begins,”
(119-121), “The Soup” (138-140), and “Onions” (219-220) in The Hungry Ear.
Fri 4/24:
Due: Reader Response #5, (198-200) “The Saint Vincent de Paul Food Pantry
Stomp” (83), “Capitalist Poem #5) (84), “Coca-Cola and Coco Frίo” 219-220), and
“Night Waitress (237-38) in The Hungry Ear.
Mon 4/27: Due: Reader Response #6, “Planting Strawberries” (292) and “The Weight of
Sweetness” (298) in The Hungry Ear.
Instructions for the Reader Responses
Instructions: Answer each question as fully as you can, and number your answers. Your
response should include several (3-4 or more) short quotations, but should be mostly in your
own words, and will include also some summary and paraphrase of the text. Include line
citations (not page numbers) for all quotation, summary, and paraphrase of the text.
Format: Typed, double-spaced.
Length: Maybe about 2-3 pages, or 500-600 words—however long it takes to fully answer the
questions for each poem.
MLA: When quoting or paraphrasing poetry, use the MLA formats for quoting poetry. No works
cited page is needed for the Reader Responses. We will do one for the Analysis Essay.
Before you write the response: Look up all the words you don’t know! Google any references in
the poem (if the poem refers to any mythological figures or historical events or people, for
example).
The questions: These are the same for all of the poems
1. What part of the poem (word, phrase, line, or several lines) appeals most strongly to
your senses—sight, sound, touch, taste, or smell?
2. What is the strangest, most confusing, or most mysterious part of the poem? This might
be a word, a phrase, line, or several lines. Discuss why it seems strange or confusing or
mysterious, and explore both what it might mean and how it connects to the rest of the
poem.
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3. What’s a part of the poem (word, phrase, line, or several lines) that seems to stand out
as important? Choose a different part from the part you chose earlier as being strange
or mysterious—even though this important part could be strange and mysterious also.
Explore why you think it might be important in the poem: it might present a meaningful
ambiguity or illustrate a theme or connect to other parts of the poem or…
4. If this poem were to have a thesis, what might that thesis be? (Poems don’t necessarily
have theses, but pretending they do will help us to explore the ideas in them.) To
compose the thesis, you can use any of the following templates:
The poem appears to be about ______________, but it is really about ______________.
In this poem about __________________, the writer shows that __________________.
5. How does this poem relate to any of the other poems we’ve read so far? For example,
do you notice any similar ideas or themes from one poem to another? Do any of the
poems seem to argue with each other or agree with each other?
Grading of Reader Responses (12 points):
 Answers fully, including examples from the text and your explanation or discussion or
exploration (3.5 pts)
 Shows that you have read and understood the assigned material (3 pts)
 Uses MLA conventions of quotation, summary, and paraphrase, and includes in-text
citations—for poetry, these will be line citations, not page numbers (3 pts)
 Is proofread and grammatical (2.5 pts)
Analysis Essay #1: A Theme Found in 3 - 4 Poems from The Hungry Ear
Schedule and Due Dates for the Analysis Essay
Fri 5/1:
Due: Three preliminary thesis sentences for Analysis Essay 1 (hard copy, may be
typed or handwritten). Each one can address a different theme, or two of them
can address the same theme, but they shouldn't all address the same theme. In
other words, in drafting these sentences, let yourself test out several different
themes. Don't fix yourself fully upon one theme just yet. For each sentence include
a list of which poems that thesis addresses. You will work with them during class
and turn them in to me at the end of class.
Thu 5/7:
Due: Analysis Essay 1 in writing groups. Bring three copies.
Tue 5/12:
Due: Analysis Essay 1, revised and complete. Bring The Hungry Ear.
Format: Use MLA format. See our “General Course Information” Module in Canvas for specific
instructions and examples. Highlights of the format are included in the bulleted points below.
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Double-space
Indent paragraphs by hitting the “tab” key once. Do not add an extra space between
paragraphs. Include the word count in upper left corner. The heading, the title, and the
works cited page should not be included in the word count.
12-point standard font such as Times or Courier.
One-inch margins on all sides.
Give your essay a title.
Includes a works cited page including citations for each of the poems discussed, using
the format for a work in an anthology with an editor. In our online OWL Purdue
resource, scroll down to “A Work in an Anthology, Reference, or Collection.”
Use MLA format for in-text citations of poetry to document all paraphrase, summary,
and quotation from the text.
Length: About 5 pages, or 1500 words, plus the works cited page. This is a general guideline. If
your essay is very much shorter than 5 pages, your thesis might not be focused or complex
enough, or you might not have gathered enough evidence, or you might not have explained
your ideas enough. If your essay is much longer than 5 pages, it’s likely that your sentences
waste words and require editing. So yes, aim for about 5 pages, but beyond that, aim to discuss
an interesting idea clearly and fully.
Required sources: Three or four of the poems we’ve read in The Hungry Ear. You may use any
of the poems that we’ve written Reader Responses for. If you would like to use a poem in the
book but not Reader Responsed, ask me first. You might be able to, but I want to make sure
that your choices will work.
Audience: The members of our class, including the instructor—people who are familiar with
these poems, but who might be interpreting them in a different way or looking at them from a
different angle.
THE ASSIGNMENT
Write an essay which examines a theme found in the three or four poems you have selected.
Your essay will assert and support a thesis about what these poets say about the theme. The
theme might not be obvious in all of the poems, and so part of the job of this paper is to
analyze each poem to show how it addresses this theme and what it says about this theme—
and to go beyond that, to find connections among all the poems, looking for ways that their
individual ideas about the theme add up to a bigger or more comprehensive idea about this
theme.
We will work together in class to create of list of possible themes and approaches.
Does this paper contain your own opinion? The entire analysis is your interpretation of the
poems, and so is a product of your brain, of your particular ways of looking. Your thesis
contains an idea of your own, an idea you have developed by analyzing and thinking about the
texts. This idea is supported by evidence from the texts, and by your analysis and discussion of
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this evidence. Your essay should not include any evaluation of the texts nor any opinion that is
not supported by evidence from the poems and by your analysis of that evidence.
Essay Structure:
Title and Opening Paragraph: Aim for a vivid, compelling beginning. In addition, the first
paragraph (perhaps in combination with the essay title) will name the poems and their authors,
and will point out an intriguing problem or question, which will lead to your thesis sentence at
the end of the first paragraph.
2nd paragraph: Use PIE (Point, Illustration, Explanation): The paragraph begins with a topic
sentence which is connected to an aspect of the thesis, and which says what point the
paragraph wants to make. The paragraph goes on, using quotations and paraphrases from the
texts to illustrate the point, and explaining for the reader exactly how those illustrations relate
to that point. PIE is a very basic map of paragraph structure; however, in reality, your
paragraphs, if they are fully supporting their points and engaging with the book, will be more
like PIEIIEEEIEE, since you will want to offer more than one illustration of your point, and since
each of these will need to be analyzed, explained, and tied back to the point of the paragraph.
After the topic sentence, the paragraph will contain a combination of quotation, paraphrase,
and your own thinking, taking care to explain your reasoning. You’ll explain how you are
interpreting a particular quotation or example from the text, showing how it feeds into your
point or thesis. The bulk of the paragraph will consist of these explanations and explorations of
the text that is being quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.
3rd and following paragraphs: These take the same pattern as paragraph 2.
Make sure that the opening sentence of the paragraph connects to the idea in the previous
paragraph before it introduces its new topic sentence. Write as many paragraphs as you need
to explore all the aspects of the poems that relate to your interpretation. Be sure also to look at
the parts of the poems that don’t at first seem to relate, or that seem to contradict your thesis.
How can you account for this contradiction or ambiguity? Such explorations often lead to very
important insights.
Meeting counterarguments: It’s hard to say whether your essay will be doing this within each
paragraph, as each point comes up, or all at once. However, do make sure that your essay
addresses any arguments readers might have with your interpretations. When we meet in
groups to go over the early version, we’ll practice arguing with your paper so that you’ll have
more ideas about what kinds of objections your paper should meet. Counterarguments are not
always required—do not invent fake and ridiculous points to argue against; however, do
address alternative interpretations, and explain why your interpretation is valid.
Complicate the thesis: Now that your essay has fully explored the topic, the reader is ready for
a more detailed version of your thesis. Perhaps your discussion has introduced a qualification—
a “but” or “however” or “sometimes” that needs to be incorporated. Perhaps additional ideas
want to be added.
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Final Paragraph: Your final paragraph should do two main things: 1) Leave the reader with
emotional impact, and 2) give us a new twist or introduce a new way of looking. Your ending
can:
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Emphasize an idea;
Suggest how the idea can go further. Explore its implications;
Think about how the idea relates to the larger world;
Discuss how the idea relates to your own experience—Yes, it’s ok to bring in the “I” at
the end.
Whatever it does, the ending gives the reader a sense of closure, a sense that the entire essay
has taken us somewhere and taught us something.
Reminder: Writing about Literature
 Make sure that the works’ titles and authors are mentioned in the first paragraph.
 After the first mention, refer to the author by last name.
 Write in the present tense:
Kinnell’s poem, “Blackberry Eating,” with all of its consonant clusters in the
“peculiar words / like strengths or squinched or broughamed” (9-10) imitates the
form of the blackberry, in which many drupes “squinch” together to make one
berry.
Grading: 100 points total
Basic MLA formatting (5 points): The entire essay is formatted according to MLA guidelines
(double-spaced, indented paragraphs, title, heading, etc.).
Thesis (13 points): The essay has a clear and meaningful thesis, complex enough to require
discussion, to which everything in the essay pertains.
Example, Explanation, Evidence (15 points): The thesis is illustrated with plentiful evidence
from the texts, which are deeply analyzed, explained, and connected to the thesis. Alternative
interpretations and counterarguments are addressed.
Opening and Ending (13 points): The opening is immediate and compelling. The conclusion is
meaningful, gives a sense of closure, and avoids repeating the beginning.
Organization (14 points): The essay follows the assigned structure. The paragraphs are
organized (PIE) so that each develops the point made in its topic sentence. Each paragraph
develops an aspect of the thesis. The paragraphs within the essay all relate to the whole, and
follow logically from one to another.
Style and Sentence Clarity (13 points): The writing should be clear and fluid. Verbs should be
strong and active. Word choice should be accurate and specific, and the words should be used
correctly. Clutter and wordiness have been eliminated.
MLA documentation and mechanics of quotation (13 points): The essay avoids plagiarism and
correctly uses the MLA system, including in-text citations and a works cited page. All quotation,
paraphrase, and summary from sources is formatted correctly.
Grammar and proofreading (14 points): The essay has been proofread and avoids distracting
errors. Grammar and spelling should be standard and correct.