Microtheme #1
20 pts.
L202 – Dr. Jacobi
Your name, date, L202 and my name in upper left corner of the paper. Bring TWO printed copies to class,
please, on your due date.
Description:
Min. of 2 pages; typed, double-spaced; MLA format
Due Date: SEE YOUR SYLLABUS
Assignment: Choose from EITHER Kumin’s“Woodchucks; Bishop’s “The Fish”; Lawrence’s
“Snake.”
How should we describe the speaker? Answer in one sentence, which will be your main claim, and then
develop this claim, supporting it with details from the poem. This is an ANALYSIS of the speaker, not
just a physical description. Use only one of the above poems.
Some Parameters:
 Give your essay a title (not simply the poem’s) which hints at your main claim.
 State the main claim in your first paragraph. Don’t make it just a blunt evaluation or simple moral
judgment (e.g., “She’s crazy”). Let it be more complex and thoughtful, so that developing it
will require two pages.
 Statements such as “I feel” or “I think” probably won’t help you develop your claim or make it
persuasive to others, so try to leave them out with this particular assignment.
 Quoting from the poem will support your claim, but keep each quotation as brief as possible (it
may even be just a word or phrase).The essay should be mostly your words.
 Your description of the speaker may differ from the speaker’s own self-description.
 Consider: How much is the poem about the speaker? Does the speaker change as the poem goes
on? Does the speaker seem inwardly conflicted? Does the speaker’s self-description alter? Is
there a difference between the speaker’s present and past selves?
Criteria for Evaluation:
20: Main claim is early, very clear, to the point, and well-supported. The essay is mostly your idea,
developed with details of the poem. Organization is good, sticking with the assigned focus. Grammar and
spelling are correct.
18: Main claim is pretty clear. The essay is mostly your ideas, but perhaps is not as well supported as it
could be. Structure is fairly good, sticking with the assigned focus. Grammar and spelling are mostly
correct.
16: Main claim is pretty clear but could be less obvious, show more thought, and/or be better supported.
Perhaps insufficient use of potentially relevant details. Maybe overreliance on the poem’s words and/or
plot summary. Structure is fairly good, though perhaps some straying form assigned focus. Perhaps some
mechanical errors that harm clarity.
14: Significant straying from the assignment. You have ideas, but the main claim isn’t clear or isn’t fresh
enough, and perhaps other points are vague or don’t seem relevant to the main claim. Some details from
the poem, but they don’t support a main claim addressing the assignment. Maybe overreliance on the
poem’s words. Perhaps some ignoring of potentially relevant details. If you mostly just retell plot, or have
many errors in grammar and/or spelling, or write significantly less than a full three pages, your essay will
get no grade higher than this.