I’m working on a writing discussion question and need a sample draft to help me understand better.
There are two steps to this discussion..
1.) CLOSE READING & ANNOTATION
Closely read and annotate the poem, “Dedication,” by Czeslaw Milosz. To do this successfully, complete the following:
- Recommended: You may want to print out a hard copy you can annotate by writing directly on the page. (If not, annotate on your screen)
- Look up any words you don’t know
- Take your time. Go slowly. Poems reward the reader’s close attention. Move from line by line, pausing to reflect on intent and meaning, then take in the lines together that form a verse.
- Go verse by verse. Look at how verses are divided, what each verse’s thematic focus is, how lines break, what images and other devices the poet uses, etc.
- As you read and analyze, rely on the handouts meant to assist you with poetry analysis. They were assigned at the beginning of the poetry unit and are listed again below. Use them to help you read, annotate, identify aspects of form, and analyze for meaning: (I will send them separate if you need them)
2.) WRITING TASK | YOUR FIRST POST HAS FOUR PARTS
Your first post to the discussion this week will be comprised of your responses to four questions. It’s recommended you draft your responses in another application FIRST, and then copy and paste here.
Note: Remember that in poetry, the poet is the person who wrote the poem, not the person who is inside of it. The voice who is speaking within the poem should be referred to as the “speaker” or the “persona.” This is not the poet. The poet is the writer who is situated outside of the text. Be mindful of this distinction
FOUR QUESTIONS TO RESPOND TO IN YOUR FIRST POST:
Successful, specific, insightful responses will be the result of patient attentive reading of the poem.
Number your responses to correspond to the numbers of the questions
- What is the speaker’s state of mind? What emotions is he feeling?
- How do you know? Where specifically in the poem, is there evidence to support your conclusions? Include it.
- What is the historical context for this poem? What situation has given rise to it? What sort of period has just ended?
- What clues lead you to your answer? Include your supporting evidence from the poem
- Who is the speaker addressing? What evidence do you rely on to form your answer?
- Finally, do a little Google research of your own to briefly answer: What is the significance of the place and year he includes at the conclusion of the poem: Warsaw, 1945? To begin, you might try simply by entering “Warsaw 1945” as your search term.
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