Guide to Ib English Essays
Essay by asdjijiji • August 17, 2016 • Study Guide • 2,909 Words (12 Pages) • 1,308 Views
Page 1 of 12
Objective of commentary:
- Coherent, engaged, insightful close examination of passage/poem
- Make salient comments on the deliberate craftsmanship of the writer
- Discuss the literary effects achieved (what is used)
- Explain how such effects are accomplished and how they contribute to the passage as a whole (how/ why it’s used)
- Use language and writing style appropriate to essay
- Appreciate the way in which language/structure/techniques/style/musicality (these are the stylistic/literary techniques = Body Paragraphs) shape the meaning/tone/themes/atmosphere (are often times interchangeable/intrinsically tied) of the passage
General Questions/Areas to Answer/Explore:
- − How does diction influence tone/atmosphere?
- − How does the voice change the direction/feel of the passage?
- − How is tone developed/established?
- − How is atmosphere set/created/amplified?
- − What are the key themes?
- − How does author/poet develop the work/plot/theme/atmosphere/character by using a particular literary device?
- − How do the literary devices help draw the piece together as a whole?
- − WHY? Introduction: - What is this about? - Immediate impressions + reference to progression of the text - What does the overall passage allude to? Cite the effective stylistic techniques employed and suggest what the author/poet’s intentions are Body Paragraphs: Language/Sounds how do these affect tone/atmosphere/setting?
- − Connotations? Denotations?
- − Overall style – Simple? Decorated? Sarcastic? Formal?
- − Deliberate uses of:
- Irony/Contrast(Situational?Self-revealing?)
- Alliteration
- Repetition
- Metaphors– similes, personification–though perhaps better to talk
about in imagery paragraph)
- Understatement
- Euphemism
- Personification
- Iambic Pentameter
- Hyperbole
- Rhythm
- Oxymoron
- Allusion
- Assonance
- Allegory
- Stresses
- Rhyme
- Cacophony/Euphony
- Onomatopoeia
- − How do they enhance rhythm/musicality?
- − Are the sounds created harsh? Mellifluous? Guttural? How does that contribute to the tone/atmosphere/setting?
- -Voice/Chronology how is this established through diction?
- − Internal/External conflict? Tension?
- − Perspective – 1st/3rd? Limited? Omniscient?
- − Role of the narrator – significance?
- − How is tone developed?
- − How does diction influence tone?
- − Significance of deliberate voice/chronology? Imagery what is its impact on themes/tone/atmosphere/setting?
- − How are they created? For what purpose?
- − Do they allude to anything else? Are they an allegory for something else?
- − How do they contribute to the tone/themes? Key words to describe imagery:
- − What types of imagery? Visual? Auditory? Olfactory? Gustatory? Tactile?
- − Are the images figurative? Abstract? Concrete? Repeated? Literal? Vivid? Metaphorical? Subtle? Symbolic? Motifs?
- − How is the characterization done? Are characters dynamic? Static? Round? Flat? Manipulative? Sinister? Cynical? Conscientious? Direct/Indirect?
- − What’s the impact of it? Aesthetic/Emotional/Sensual? Structure/Syntax how does the author/poet use these tools to emphasize the progression of the passage? (poems more often than prose)
- − Why is it structured in a particular way? Impact on pace? Why?
- − Does this add to the flow?
- − Does it emphasis a climax/change?
- − Does it contribute to suspense? Create foreshadowing? Deja-vu?
- − Completion/Incompletion of ideas – why?
- − Is duality in meaning created?
- − E.g. use of fragments/punctuation/enjambment/caesura/run-on sentences/tempo
- − How does this connect to the tone/atmosphere/themes? Conclusion:
- − Reiterate first impressions and how that relates/contrasts with the overall passage’s themes/tone/atmosphere
- − Emphasis on how author/poet uses stylistic techniques to encapsulate ___ using
- − Piece is an artistic expression (in what way) that appeals to (certain) feelings (etc.) that allows audience to ultimately (something)
- − So what? (Persuasive element of the final intention/significance of the achievement of this intention)
[pic 1]
Useful verbs/adjectives/phrases:
- − Appears to reflect
- − Expresses
- − Reiterates
- − Begs emotions of ___
- − Appeals to
- − Lack of ___ sentiment creates
- − Elegiac tone compounds a sense of ___ (melancholy?)
- − Mood of ___
- − Imprints
- − Provides a profound expression
- − (Emotion) transcends
- − Indulges in deliberate ___
- − Transmits thoughts of ___
- − Slow, robotic
- − Stark, forthright
- − Supports
- − Ambivalence, suspension
- − Softer, euphemistic
- − Refers to
- − Reinforces an image of
- − Illustrates
- − Draws
- − Develops
- − Employs sounds
- − Fricative sounds
- − Harder, plosive sounds
- − Feelings that the poem/poet culminates
- − Powerfully captured
- − Progressive structure
- − Staccato agitation
- − Exploitation of hard, alliterative sounds
- − Aspires, moves [the reader], attempts
- − Dominates
- − Coincides
- − Expands
- − Shapes
- − Envelops
- − Insinuates
- − Convey
- − Impart
- − Confident/hubristic quality
- − Alludes
- − Criticizes
- − Alienates
- − Evoke
- − Allowing ___ to confront
- − Artistic expression
- − Encapsulates
[pic 2]
- − Inflated concept
- − Intensifies
- − Symbolizes
- − Conveys
- − Dehumanizes/ personifies by/in order to
- − Animate/Inanimate qualities
- − Imposes
- − Posits
- − Subtly hints that
- − Insightfully depicts
- − Undermined a sense of
- − Questioning
- − Implying
- − ___is striking in its simplicity
- − Reminisces
- − Drags us back from illusion/into reality
- − Parallels
- − Represents
- − Suggests
- − Draws attention to
- − Ingrained
- − Effectiveness in maintaining a ___mood
- − Utterance
- − Myriad of feelings
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