Major Assets of the Poem

VCCS Litonline Introduction to Literature
English 112 (English Composition II)

page 10 of 14

Major Assets of the Poem

The student wrote--

Major Assets

"Birches" is a memorable poem. It is lengthy and complicated enough to give the reader something to discover every time it is read.

In the poem, Frost uses several tools of the poetic craft to depict the theme. "Birches," written in generally unrimed iambic pentameter, includes rimes and variations in rhythm that stress major points of the theme.

"Birches" also contains several figures of speech and vivid language to depict reality and the power of the imagination.

A good poem should stir the reader and touch the emotions. This poem advocates using the imagination to deal with life's downs. In today's harsh, hectic world, this message definitely hits home.

Your turn to respond--

How Does Summarizing the Essay Help Draw to a Close?

typehand.gif (8738 bytes) Summarizing is one way to end an essay in a way that looks
organized. How helpful is this summary? What about the final paragraph of this excerpt?
If you were the editor for this essay, what praise would you give for this analysis of tone in connection with the theme while leaving this section as is, or what changes would you suggest to the author?

(Click here for a hint on re-opening a word processor.)

Commentary--

Again, this student was following a prescribed form when she wrote her essay. The rhetorical situation was that her class was "breaking in" a newly adopted textbook, so she and her classmates were asked to make selections of text readings from a list screened by the teacher and to write a recommendation of whether the entire class should read that selection or not. So this essay, although it is a detailed "explication" and directly deals with over half of the lines in the poem, resembles a review more than the usual collegiate essay.

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