English Essay (1 Viewer)

[Shadowdude]

Post the question. I get the impression your approach is off the mark.

In An Essay on Criticism, Pope presents his views about literary criticism, but unlike Addison and Johnson, he does so in the form of poetry. What does he gain and what does he lose by doing it in this way?

 

[Absolutezero]

Re: The Thread that never Ends

In An Essay on Criticism, Pope presents his views about literary criticism, but unlike Addison and Johnson, he does so in the form of poetry. What does he gain and what does he lose by doing it in this way?

Cool, so you still need to pass a judgement, even if it's a discussion. You can argue whether or not it is successful.

The break it down into sections based on the area covered: language, form/structure, content etc. Pick the important ones. Ideally you want to balance each pro with a con.

Then conclude.

 

[Shadowdude]

Re: The Thread that never Ends

Cool, so you still need to pass a judgement, even if it's a discussion. You can argue whether or not it is successful.

The break it down into sections based on the area covered: language, form/structure, content etc. Pick the important ones. Ideally you want to balance each pro with a con.

Then conclude.

Are you sure I need to pass judgement? I feel I'm losing valuable word count if I have to put my own opinion in.


And Blue Suede, eh - well, it's justified praise. Less heinous, I suppose

 

[Absolutezero]

Re: The Thread that never Ends

Are you sure I need to pass judgement? I feel I'm losing valuable word count if I have to put my own opinion in.


And Blue Suede, eh - well, it's justified praise. Less heinous, I suppose

Well you need an argument.

 

[Shadowdude]

Re: The Thread that never Ends

Well you need an argument.

Would it suffice that my 'arguments' are just the things that he gains and loses?

 

[Absolutezero]

Re: The Thread that never Ends

Would it suffice that my 'arguments' are just the things that he gains and loses?

No, that's just talking about stuff.

 

[pony_magician]

Re: The Thread that never Ends

isn't the whole point of an essay to make a judgement/arguement or else you're just presenting a discussion/report

 

[Absolutezero]

Re: The Thread that never Ends

You need an overall argument. What impact do the pros and cons have on the validity of the text.

 

[Shadowdude]

Re: The Thread that never Ends

No, that's just talking about stuff.

But it answers the question. gah, conflicting perspectives

isn't the whole point of an essay to make a judgement/arguement or else you're just presenting a discussion/report

Argument sounds familiar. But wouldn't I be 'arguing', well say... one of my tentative points to make is that writing in poetry means that he sometimes has to invert word order and exclude words to make it 'fit' the poem style. So you get stuff like:

Tis hard to say, if greater want of skill
Appear in writing or in judging ill;
But, of the two, less dang'rous is th' offence
To tire our patience, than mislead our sense.
Some few in that, but numbers err in this,
Ten censure wrong for one who writes amiss;
A fool might once himself alone expose,
Now one in verse makes many more in prose. (1-8)


And I have no idea what lines 5-8 mean. Like... at all.

 

[Shadowdude]

Re: The Thread that never Ends

dammit, should've gone to consultation on friday afternoon and asked him about this.

All I know is that when someone asked him in class if they needed to make a judgement call, he said 'No, I just want you to argue what he gains and what he loses - and convince me of that' pretty much.

 

[pony_magician]

Re: The Thread that never Ends

just say whether you think the choice to use a poem was successful or not after considering the gains and losses

 

[Shadowdude]

Re: The Thread that never Ends

just say whether you think the choice to use a poem was successful or not after considering the gains and losses

I dunno, I can't help but think I'm not answering the question: "What does he gain and what does he lose...?"

That's why I'm thinking it suffices to make contestable points for what he gains and loses. So like that non-clarity thing, example 1 would be lines 5-8.

 

[pony_magician]

Re: The Thread that never Ends

Oh no, certainly base the essay on the gains and losses as that is the question, but I'd add in a paragraph when you're concluding about whether you think he made a good choice. It just seems awkward to have

here are the benefits and losses of using a poetry form. the end

 

[Absolutezero]

Re: The Thread that never Ends

I dunno, I can't help but think I'm not answering the question: "What does he gain and what does he lose...?"

That's why I'm thinking it suffices to make contestable points for what he gains and loses. So like that non-clarity thing, example 1 would be lines 5-8.

Intro:
Pope was a cool guy. He did cool things. He critiqued the modern state of writing. This was through his poem, which was different to what other people were doing at the time. Through the manipulation of form and content, Pope shows the validity of writing, not only through the critical dialogue but through its presence in the textual form. However, because of this, the criticism loses focus and depth of analysis. This is however, less critical than the support of form on content, and therefore, Pope successfully reimagines the state of textual criticism.

Oh no, certainly base the essay on the gains and losses as that is the question, but I'd add in a paragraph when you're concluding about whether you think he made a good choice. It just seems awkward to have

here are the benefits and losses of using a poetry form. the end

You don't even need a new paragraph. The intro/conclusion, and the last/second-to-last line of each paragraph should make it more than clear enough.

 

[ladiesman217_]

Re: The Thread that never Ends

But it answers the question. gah, conflicting perspectives



Argument sounds familiar. But wouldn't I be 'arguing', well say... one of my tentative points to make is that writing in poetry means that he sometimes has to invert word order and exclude words to make it 'fit' the poem style. So you get stuff like:

Tis hard to say, if greater want of skill
Appear in writing or in judging ill;
But, of the two, less dang'rous is th' offence
To tire our patience, than mislead our sense.
Some few in that, but numbers err in this,
Ten censure wrong for one who writes amiss;
A fool might once himself alone expose,
Now one in verse makes many more in prose. (1-8)


And I have no idea what lines 5-8 mean. Like... at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_medium_is_the_message

 

[pony_magician]

Re: The Thread that never Ends

Abz knows wassup.

In my defence I got a B3 in english and don't go to uni.

 

[Absolutezero]

Re: The Thread that never Ends

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_medium_is_the_message

Also, on a similar note, Beckett's:

Our Exagmination Round His Factification for Incamination of Work in Progress

AND

Three Dialogues

 

[Arcadian Empire]

Re: The Thread that never Ends

Abz knows wassup.

In my defence I got a B3 in english and don't go to uni.

and yet ur better than the english major

lyf

ironic

 

[Shadowdude]

Re: The Thread that never Ends

Oh no, certainly base the essay on the gains and losses as that is the question, but I'd add in a paragraph when you're concluding about whether you think he made a good choice. It just seems awkward to have

here are the benefits and losses of using a poetry form. the end

So you mean something like: "The end result is... *talk about whether the good overpowers the bad*" just at the end, but not say... at the beginning?

Or do I sneakily put it in and say something like "However, there are detriments to Pope's preference of poetry over prose - *list them here*, but despite these small faults, they do not take away from the sheer overall power of the poem. The poem itself is still astounding, elegant and refined - and though 'not free from faults', it is still not 'too vain to mend'."

And then get extra brownie points for quoting.


So basically put it in as the goody-goody fluff sentence at the end of the poem that leaves the reader/marker happy

Yeah, that could work. Good suggestion.

 

[Shadowdude]

Re: The Thread that never Ends

Intro:
Pope was a cool guy. He did cool things. He critiqued the modern state of writing. This was through his poem, which was different to what other people were doing at the time. Through the manipulation of form and content, Pope shows the validity of writing, not only through the critical dialogue but through its presence in the textual form. However, because of this, the criticism loses focus and depth of analysis. This is however, less critical than the support of form on content, and therefore, Pope successfully reimagines the state of textual criticism.





You don't even need a new paragraph. The intro/conclusion, and the last/second-to-last line of each paragraph should make it more than clear enough.

okay, so putting it in sneakily

gotcha




Also this is uni talk, which by definition is non-school.