Critical Analysis
Poetry
To analyze is to separate into parts and to examine them in order to
determine the nature of the whole. What are the most important parts of
X? What principle unites these parts into a whole?
Read selected sonnets as an introduction to Shakespeare and his poetry.
Students choose a sonnet to annotate and analyze. They may produce a
critical analysis focusing on theme, mood, or tone, of the selected sonnet or
present the analysis as an oral report to the class.
Write an original sonnet on any topic, following the Shakespearean,
Spenserian, or Italian sonnet form. Decorate or illustrate the final product
to be displayed in the classroom.
TEKS 1A-F, 2A-H, 3A-E, 5A-D,. 6A-C
SELECTIONS
William Shakespeare – Author Study, LOL pp. 314-320.
Selection of Shakespeare’s sonnets – LOL, pp. 302-307
DiYanni – Sonnets -pp. 611, 572, 503,687
Selection of Francesco Petrarch’s sonnets, LOL, pp. 308-312
TEKS 7A-F, 8A-I, 9C-D, 10A-C, 11B,D
READING/LITERARY STUDY
Sonnet form
Shakespearean
Petrarchan
Annotation
Determining Audience
Determining Author’s purpose
Main idea
Inference
Tone
Apostrophe
Metaphor
Paradox
Personification
Pun
Simile
Alliteration
Meter
Rhyme
Rhythm
TEKS 12A-G, 13E-F
INQUIRY/RESEARCH
Ethics of Research:
Web search of various college sites which emphasize the ethics of
research and penalties for plagiarism
Evaluation of Sources
Students research Shakespeare’s life in relationship to his sonnets.
TEKS 14A-G
VIEWING/REPRESENTING/PRODUCTION
View the PBS video on Shakespeare’s life, particularly noting aspects of his
life relating to the sonnets.
Students read their original sonnets aloud to the class and display them in
the classroom.
Listen to an oral interpretation of Shakespeare’s sonnets as they are read on
the McDougal CD, or students prepare and read aloud.
After annotating and analyzing a selected sonnet, working either individually
or in groups, students present their interpretations to the class. The
presentation may be on a transparency, a poster, or a medium using the
students’ own creative ideas.
TEKS 21A
RESOURCES
McDougal Littel – The Language of Literature
McDougal Littel Unit Two Resource Book – Sonnets
Robert DiYanni – Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama
William Shakespeare The Folgers Library Edition of. Hamlet
Critical Analysis
Drama
As students read the Hamlet, they will trace themes and motifs that recur
throughout the play and record them on a hand-out. Possible choices
include: supernatural influences, revenge, madness, decisiveness,
procrastination, garden imagery, decay/disease, specific relationships (i.e.
mother/son, father/daughter, friends, etc.), attitudes toward women, outer
space (star or heaven references), appearance vs. reality, light/dark,
biblical/ mythological allusions
As an ongoing aspect of reading the play, students will annotate as they
read.
Students will keep a list of QUOTABLES from the play, quotations both
suggested by the teacher as well as quotations selected by the students
that relate to themes and motifs.
After completion of the play, students will choose a favorite theme or motif
as the topic of their critical analysis. Plan a definitive thesis, which may be
approved by the instructor. In a paper on theme, present the theme and
apply it to a character or characters, WHAT the essay is about. In a motif
paper, relate the motif to another element (theme, irony, characterization,
etc.) WHAT the essay is about. The analysis with textual evidence
comprises HOW the paper will be developed. Insights about theme or
effects of motif provide the WHY of the essay.
Develop either an informal or formal topic outline. This essay may be
written either in class or outside of class. An essay of length which requires
literary research would be completed outside of class with a day allotted for
peer reading of drafts. For a shorter in-class essay, which includes minimal
literary criticism or strictly the students’ own analysis, students bring in an
outline, including the thesis/focus statement as well as topic sentences if
desired; the theme/motif chart; and selected quotations with MLA
documentation. The Works Cited page may also be printed out ahead of
time. Final essays will be typed using MLA guidelines with careful attention
to perfection of form and mechanics.
Assign AP timed writing prompts from Hamlet AP Applied Practice booklet.
When essays are returned, share notable introductions, insights, and
conclusions from students’ timed writings.
TEKS 1A-F, 2A-H, 3A-E, 4A-H, 5A-D,. 6A-C
SELECTIONS
William Shakespeare – Folgers Library Edition of Hamlet
“Shakespearean Tragedy,” LOL, pp. 321-322
Aristotle – “Tragedy and the Emotions of Pity and Fear” WOI pp. 681-696
Jamaica Kincaid – “Girl” DiYanni, p. 430 – Compare to Ophelia in terms of
parental attitudes and the girls’ responses.
“Writing About Drama,” and “Annotation,” DiYanni, pp. 863-4
“Formal Ways of Writing about Drama,” DiYanni, pp. 867-876 (includes
models)
Essays from The World of Ideas:
Niccolo Machiavelli – “The Qualities of a Prince” WOI pp. 35-50
Lao-Tzu –Thoughts from the Tao-te Ching WOI pp.19-31
Hannah Arendt – “Ideology and Terror: a Novel form of Government” WOI
pp. 85-102
Virginia Woolf – “Shakespeare’s Sister” WOI pp. 797-812
Simone de Beauvoir – “Woman: Myth and Reality” WOI pp. 817-830
Karen Horney – “The Distrust Between the Sexes” WOI pp. 357-370
Carl Jung – “Anima and Animus,” pp. 297-315
B.F. Skinner, “What Is Man?” pp. 351-377
Henrik Ibsen – A Doll’s House
George Bernard Shaw – Pygmalion
Robert Fagles, “The Starry Night,” Diyanni p. 585.
TEKS 7A-F, 8A-I, 9C-D, 10A-C, 11B-D, 12A-G, 13A-F
READING/LITERARY STUDY
Drama
Catharsis
Hamartia
Hubris
Antagonist/ Protagonist
Epiphany
Foil
Motivation
Stock
Diction
Idiom
Vocabulary
Style
Theme
Tone
Apostrophe
Metaphor
Metonymy
Paradox
Pun
Simile
Synecdoche
Alliteration
Meter
Rhyme
Rhythm
Allusion
Cause/effect
Characterization
Irony
Dramatic
Situational
Verbal
Motif
Symbolism
Practice multiple choice literary responses in Hamlet AP Applied Practice
booklet.
TEKS 12A-G, 13E-F
INQUIRY/RESEARCH
Schedule library time for researching online and print sources of literary
criticism.
Use of print sources
Use of the internet
MLA documentation of quotations, parenthetical citations, works cited.
Research Vincent Van Gogh’s life, particularly in relationship to his mental
state.
Research Robert Fagles’ life and works.
TEKS 13A-F, 14A-G
VIEWING/REPRESENTING/PRODUCTION
Students view three/four different interpretations of scene 1 of Hamlet.
Suggested:
Hamlet – Dir. Laurence Olivier, 1948;
Hamlet –Dir. Franco Zeffirelli, Perf. Mel Gibson 1990;
Hamlet – Dir. Kenneth Branagh, 1997;
Hamlet – Dir. Michael Almereyda, Perf. Ethan Hawke, 2000.
Analyze setting, music, costume, lighting, camera angles, building of
suspense, and acting, particularly the portrayal of Hamlet in the three
different versions. Write individual responses and discuss.
View the entire video of the drama, using a selected version. Compare the
dramatic interpretation of the film to students’ own interpretations from
the reading. Focus particularly on characterization, tone, building of
suspense, and mood.
Contemporary Adaptation of the drama:
Choose a scene or scenes from the drama, working as a pair or in a small
group. Adapt the scene(s) to a twenty- first century setting. Inspiration
can be provided by a comic strip, movie, or television program; or the
adaptation may be entirely original. The adaptation may be humorous or
satirical provided that it clearly relates to the lines from the scene(s) in the
play. Costumes and props are optional. However, creativity, enthusiasm, and
good acting are required.
In a journal entry, examine Vincent Van Gogh’s painting, “The Starry Night,”
DiYanni, p. 584, for tone, mood, and meaning.
Individually, in pairs or in groups, compose a mood poem relating to “The
Starry Night” and illustrate in color.
Reader’s Theatre
Groups of students are assigned one act of the play to prepare and read
aloud with enthusiasm and expression. Each student brings in a symbol of
the main character for whom he/she is responsible on the day that his group
reads the act. Groups are responsible for interpretation of their acts as
the need arises in class.
Annotate selected lines in the drama as an outside assignment. Share the
best examples of devices with the class. A group effort at annotating may
be shared by marking selected lines on a transparency.
Memorize the “To Be or Not to Be” soliloquy and quote it to the class or just
to the instructor, as time allows.
Working in groups, present a parody of the “To Be or Not to Be” soliloquy,
taking care to include specific literary devices as included in the original.
Participate in a Socratic dialogue at the end of the unit with each student
bringing in two insightful questions. All students must ask questions and
participate in the dialogue.
Analyze and relate the WOI essays to the play(s) using the questions in The
World of Ideas section of this guide.
Analyze the painting and Robert Fagles’s poem, “The Starry Night,” DiYanni
p. 585 in groups. Relate to Hamlet’s opening scene in terms of mood and tone.
How might Fagles’s ideas about madness relate to Hamlet?
TEKS 19A-C, 20A,D,F
RESOURCES
Folgers Library Edition of Hamlet
Hamlet – AP Applied Practice booklet
Lee A. Jacobus – A World of Ideas
Robert DiYanni – Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the Essay