ENG 101 College English I Major Paper #3b Poetry: close reading / rhetorical analysis

Transcription

1 ENG 101 College English I Major Paper #3b Poetry: close reading / rhetorical analysis Name Write a close reading paragraph (rhetorical analysis) of a song lyric or poem of your choosing. I want the complete lyrics or poem under the title, as in the example. If I don t have the lyric, I ll hand it back as incomplete. Here s how I ll grade it: 3 points: Topic idea identifies title and author and identifies a rhetorical method or choice that has an effect on the listener or reader. The paragraph closes by returning to this idea with greater power gained from the discussion (a synthesis). Remember that this is not about what it says, but how the author chose to express it. For ideas, use the handout close reading / rhetoric analysis tools in the right sidebar. 3 points: First supporting quote is trimmed to its essence, and the discussion of the quote is at least twice as long as the quote itself. Remember: Not what it says, but how it was expressed. 3 points: Second quote is developed in the same way. 3 points: Third quote is also developed in the same way. 3 points: The page is in correct MLA format, including the running header, information block, font style and size, margins, line spacing, indentations, and so on. The in-text citations refer precisely to the line number or numbers in correct format. The Works Cited is in correct MLA format. Refer to my example below (in the online version). TOTAL 15 points possible For your reference, my sample paragraph about The Sea and the Shore is included on pages 3-5 of the online PDF version of this page linked on the due date.)

2 Depth Focus Organization Style Conventions Total Revision totals Topic sentence gives title & author, states how author s method response, paragraph revisits topic at close First quote trimmed to essence, Second quote trimmed to essence, Third quote trimmed to essence, Correct MLA format of the page (font, spacing, margins, info, etc.), in-text citations, and Works Cited 15 possible. Scale: = A = B 11 = C 9-10 = D

3 Hackett 1 Kent Hackett Greg Bryant Composition I 26 March 2018 The Sea and the Shore by Amy Speace A Close Reading of The Sea and the Shore Said the Sea to the Shore when the evening tide came in "I am here to tell you tales of where I've been In the shells I've whispered my love songs in secret rhyme And left them at your door for you to find Tempered the force of my waves when your Gods would roar And took care of the ships full of men that you sent off to war I've longed for you for so long" said the Sea to the Shore Said the Shore to the Sea "You left me here too long I was promised to the moon while you were gone He waited until the brightest night To demand my hand under his fullest light And promised he'd always stay and watch over me Oh why did you wait 'til now" said the Shore to the Sea Said the Sea to the Shore "I swore I'd return And here I am with all that I have learned I can hold you now with arms of foam and spray Touching you at the coming of dusk and the breaking of day Smoothing out the folds on every stone" Said the Sea to the Shore "don't leave me here alone" Said the Shore to the Sea "You've said all these things before And I tell you I can't hear them anymore Oh there was a time once I'd have given in I'd hear your savage white caps rolling in Your troughs would come up slow beneath my chin Your mist would kiss me softly on my skin Leaving the salty trails where you had been My legs would give out in your undertow Oh but Sea that was a long long time ago" So the Sea took one last look and turned away And the Shore was more than strong enough to stay And castles melted back into the sand

4 Hackett 2 Driftwood drifted up onto the land Rocks rose up proud in shiny skin Shells began their gossiping again # Amy Speace s lyric The Sea and the Shore describes the end of a romance with metaphors that emphasize the sadness of leftover memories and memorabilia after they have lost their promise for the future, the meaning that made them precious. Two metaphors at the beginning reflect love s promise: seashells into which the Sea has whispered my love songs in secret rhyme (line 3) may refer to actual songs of courtship or to love letters he has sent. Sea s taking care of the ships full of men that you sent off to war (line 6) is less clear, but suggests he has helped Shore in her ambitions the best he could, supporting her enterprises even though they had little to do with him. After several verses where they discuss his long absence and her lost confidence, the final imagery reveals his failure to keep his promises and the ruined state of their dreams: And castles melted back into the sand Driftwood drifted up onto the land Rocks rose up proud in shiny skin Shells began their gossiping again (lines 30-33) Sand castles, which are children s dreams made visible through play as they imagine their fairytale futures, simply become sand again, common and shapeless. The shells whose whispered words were once promises of love are now gossiping, cheap words of no value. The driftwood and the rocks are harder to understand. The driftwood, now tumbled and scoured by the action of waves on the sand, may suggest the ships full of men that Sea supposedly took care of in his first speech, Shore s ambitions and hopes he said he supported. The proud rocks may be the

5 Hackett 3 ones that split and sank those ships, the hard realities of the world that claim victory over so many dreams, and from whose violence he could not, or at least did not, save her. These disappointments are now past and the Shore s memories, worked into this poetry like the polished curves of driftwood, are wreckage made sadly beautiful by time and experience. Works Cited Speace, Amy. The Sea and the Shore. How To Sleep In A Stormy Boat. Wind Bone Records, 2013.