Tutors 21 | - Freelance Writer
Jan 05, 2024 | #1
QUESTION I - Elizabethan English
I wrote an analysis of a poem and my teacher gave me a grade of 75, with the comment "Elizabethan English is Dead - Second warning" in big red letters at the top of the first page. I am not certain she even read what I wrote. What can I do?
Answer
Yours is a common problem. As a teacher, it is beyond me why otherwise intelligent individuals will sit down to write about poetry and, automatically, begin to speak in Elizabethan English. I have seen their other work. They do not write this way, in my class, unless the topic is poetry. I find the same problem in students who are writing in business. Sometimes, the plethora of heretofores, untowards, and neverthelesses sends me into gales of laughter but, sometimes, it is simply irritating and, of course, that is reflected in the grade I ultimately give the student. What I recommend is that you take your papers to your teacher. Tell her you understand that you have a very bad habit, especially when writing about poetry, and ask if she will allow you to edit the two papers into Standard English. Ask her if she would be willing to make a grade adjustment for you, if you are successful and if you never write in Elizabethan English again. I know that sounds like a simple fix but, if you do not break yourself of this habit, it can carry over into your other writing and could affect your financial future. No one wants to hire someone who writes in a manner that is inappropriate for the 21st Century. You are early in your college career. If you do not break this habit now, I can promise you that your professors in your major will not be as forgiving as a freshman English teacher will be.
QUESTION II - Poem analysis confusion
I have to do an analysis of a poem but, when I sat down to write, I looked at my class notes and they make no sense at all. The teacher either did not explain fully, or was talking so fast that I didn't get all the notes, or I was not in class when she did give the notes. Now, I am lost. What can I do?
Answer
It sounds to me as if you waited until the last minute to make sure your notes were in good order; but that is the answer to more than a few other questions. We need to address your immediate problem. I am assuming that your teacher gave you a list of points to cover in your analysis of this poem. You have access to the Internet, or you could not have sent this question. What you need to do, right now, is a search for "poetry analysis" (not in quotes on google). You should get enough hits on the very first page of returns to complete your paper. There are excellent online guides from major universities around the world that will assist you in understanding everything you need to know about analyzing a poem, from title, to historical context, to the actual mechanical techniques used by the poem's author. However, the first thing you need to do is calm down and know that help is there, in print, online. You are not "lost" so badly that you cannot find your way. Take some time, read through the web sites, and match what you find there with the criteria your teacher has given in her outline. You will be just fine. From now on, let me suggest that you keep up with your notes on a daily basis. If there is something you are missing, or do not understand, better to fix it daily than end up "lost" and in a panic again.
QUESTION III - Rhyming poem
I am really bad a writing poems and I have to pass in one tomorrow in English class but I am really nervous. It is supposed to have a rhyme scheme and I don't really know what that is and it is too late to ask the teacher. Could someone tell me what it is? And give me an example? The longer example the better!
Answer
You have asked a question that will help a lot of people, I think, when it comes to writing and understanding poetry. Whenever most people think of poems, they think of rhyming right away, and you can't really understand poetry, let alone write your own, unless you know how to order your rhymes. Of course, some people will complain to me that poetry doesn't have to rhyme, but I will say that, while this is true, knowing rhyme scheme is still very, very important for any poet. As you can see, from the question, you never know when you will have to make up a rhyming poem on short notice!
Thankfully, almost everyone knows how to rhyme, and which words rhyme with which other ones, so I can skip explaining that (but if you aren't sure, you need to get this explained to you immediately!). However, knowing how to put rhymes into a given pattern according to a poetic structure or form is not something that comes nearly as naturally, which is why it is something that has to be taught later on in school, whereas rhyme is something most children pick up before they even start kindergarten. There are many ways to arrange your rhymes in a poem, but I will focus on the two most popular ways to make things easy.
In this example, the four lines (separated by a /) have the rhyme scheme AABB: "The little dog/ Inside his log/ Rolled round and round/ Till he was found." The first two lines rhyme with each other, and the second two rhyme with each other, which is what AABB indicates. You can go through a whole poem repeating this kind of rhyming, and it will sound just fine. Another popular way of arranging rhymes is ABAB, which can look something like this: "I drove my car to school/ But didn't check the gas./ I feel like a fool/ Because I'm late for class!" The first line rhymes with the third line, and the second line rhymes with the fourth line, which makes the ABAB structure. Using either of these rhyme schemes can lead you to a good poem. Now, it is up to you to write it!
QUESTION IV - Shakespeare plays
I just had a class where a student said that all of Shakespeare's plays are actually poems. But aren't plays and poems different kinds of writing? Novels tell stories on paper in regular language. Plays tell stories on stage in regular language. Poems don't tell stories and they rhyme, which Shakespeare usually doesn't. So how are his plays poems? Do they mean that they sound poetic or something? I am finding this confusing.
Answer
Although it seems hard to believe, your classmate is correct about Shakespeare. All of his plays are actually composed in verse, or poetic form, and so they are all technically poems. Your confusion, though, is completely understandable, and I think it is based on the ideas of poems, plays, and novels that we have in modern society. The definition of a poem, or poetry in general, goes a lot further than many of us today might think.
If an author needs to tell a story today, he or she will usually put it into novel form, or the form of a play. Poems are usually short works that express something emotional, and have an engaging meaning, but which do not tell a series of connected events. However, if we go back into the distant (and not too distant) past, we find that people used poetry to tell stories even more often than they used prose (or regular language). A poem does not have to be short, and it certainly does not have to rhyme, so this leaves Shakespeare's plays possible candidates for inclusion under the label of poetry. Poetry is highly structured language, and although rhyme is the most usual arranging feature, there are many others.
In the case of Shakespeare, looking at any single line of his poetry, we notice that a definite pattern emerges, even though it is not obvious at first. Take any line from any of his plays, and count how many syllables it has. Compare this to any other lines, before it, after it, or even in another play entirely. Notice anything? That's right, they almost always have ten syllables! This might come as quite a surprise, but that is only the beginning. Read any of those lines you have chosen, and then another from somewhere else, and then another. Do you find yourself falling into a kind of sing-song way of reading them, with every second word seeming to come out with more importance or stress than the others? Believe it or not, this is completely intentional, and this is the structure that binds all of Shakespeare's plays together. This regular pattern of stresses is called poetic meter, and whenever you see (or hear) it, it is a sure sign that what you are reading is certainly poetry.
QUESTION V - Are female feminists?
Can it be said that all female poets are in some sense writers of feminist poetry?
Answer
No, I do not think that statement is based on the facts. While women poets in general have written on a wide variety of subjects, many (if not most) focus on and appeal to a general audience, both male and female. Feminist poets, on the other hand, have based their poetry on the experiences of women, and developed a formal reorientation based in a feminist consciousness. As women writing with the interests of other women in mind, these women have developed a poetics grounded in women's individual experiences, geared toward women's liberation from gender oppression, and therefore involving the need for both subjective and collective expression. As a result, they have combined older formal strategies with newer ones.
Rooted in the revolutions in American poetry that occurred in the 1960s, feminist poets have produced interesting formal innovations. They have begun to merge the lyric and the narrative to produce a hybrid form; they have used and revised prose poems because of the widespread need to tell individual women's stories and the histories of whole cultural groups of women; and they have used elements of various literary forms from non-Western cultures together with Western ideas about poetry.
QUESTION VI - The difference between the American and European poetry
Our class has been given an assignment to identify an important difference between American poetry and European poetry and write an essay about it. We have been given a lot of leeway for this paper, but I am not sure whether to talk about some specific style difference or maybe the history. Any suggestions?
Answer
Honestly, much depends on what your instructor may be looking for. But, not having that information, I would suggest avoiding simply writing about style differences since every other student will probably be doing that. Taking a unique angle may serve you well, such as the fact that poetry in America has rarely been granted the cultural importance it enjoys in countries such as England, France, and Germany. Since poetry in America does not have the lengthy history that it does in Europe, Americans have tended to view the novel, rather than poetry, as the literary genre best suited to the experience of a newer, more pragmatically minded nation. In American literary life, novelists are the celebrated stars of the profession while poets are too often relegated to the cultural sidelines.
Speaking from experience, this is the type of essay that I would have looked for when I was teaching. It does not simply address the obvious - but seeks to explore the topic from a different perspective. But, maybe your instructor is a more 'by the book' type, and in that case you might want to reconsider this line of advice. You may also seek research advice from professional essay writers on a message board.
Answers by Academic Eve, academiceve92@gmail.com
I wrote an analysis of a poem and my teacher gave me a grade of 75, with the comment "Elizabethan English is Dead - Second warning" in big red letters at the top of the first page. I am not certain she even read what I wrote. What can I do?
Answer
Yours is a common problem. As a teacher, it is beyond me why otherwise intelligent individuals will sit down to write about poetry and, automatically, begin to speak in Elizabethan English. I have seen their other work. They do not write this way, in my class, unless the topic is poetry. I find the same problem in students who are writing in business. Sometimes, the plethora of heretofores, untowards, and neverthelesses sends me into gales of laughter but, sometimes, it is simply irritating and, of course, that is reflected in the grade I ultimately give the student. What I recommend is that you take your papers to your teacher. Tell her you understand that you have a very bad habit, especially when writing about poetry, and ask if she will allow you to edit the two papers into Standard English. Ask her if she would be willing to make a grade adjustment for you, if you are successful and if you never write in Elizabethan English again. I know that sounds like a simple fix but, if you do not break yourself of this habit, it can carry over into your other writing and could affect your financial future. No one wants to hire someone who writes in a manner that is inappropriate for the 21st Century. You are early in your college career. If you do not break this habit now, I can promise you that your professors in your major will not be as forgiving as a freshman English teacher will be.QUESTION II - Poem analysis confusion
I have to do an analysis of a poem but, when I sat down to write, I looked at my class notes and they make no sense at all. The teacher either did not explain fully, or was talking so fast that I didn't get all the notes, or I was not in class when she did give the notes. Now, I am lost. What can I do?
Answer
It sounds to me as if you waited until the last minute to make sure your notes were in good order; but that is the answer to more than a few other questions. We need to address your immediate problem. I am assuming that your teacher gave you a list of points to cover in your analysis of this poem. You have access to the Internet, or you could not have sent this question. What you need to do, right now, is a search for "poetry analysis" (not in quotes on google). You should get enough hits on the very first page of returns to complete your paper. There are excellent online guides from major universities around the world that will assist you in understanding everything you need to know about analyzing a poem, from title, to historical context, to the actual mechanical techniques used by the poem's author. However, the first thing you need to do is calm down and know that help is there, in print, online. You are not "lost" so badly that you cannot find your way. Take some time, read through the web sites, and match what you find there with the criteria your teacher has given in her outline. You will be just fine. From now on, let me suggest that you keep up with your notes on a daily basis. If there is something you are missing, or do not understand, better to fix it daily than end up "lost" and in a panic again.
QUESTION III - Rhyming poem
I am really bad a writing poems and I have to pass in one tomorrow in English class but I am really nervous. It is supposed to have a rhyme scheme and I don't really know what that is and it is too late to ask the teacher. Could someone tell me what it is? And give me an example? The longer example the better!
Answer
You have asked a question that will help a lot of people, I think, when it comes to writing and understanding poetry. Whenever most people think of poems, they think of rhyming right away, and you can't really understand poetry, let alone write your own, unless you know how to order your rhymes. Of course, some people will complain to me that poetry doesn't have to rhyme, but I will say that, while this is true, knowing rhyme scheme is still very, very important for any poet. As you can see, from the question, you never know when you will have to make up a rhyming poem on short notice!
Thankfully, almost everyone knows how to rhyme, and which words rhyme with which other ones, so I can skip explaining that (but if you aren't sure, you need to get this explained to you immediately!). However, knowing how to put rhymes into a given pattern according to a poetic structure or form is not something that comes nearly as naturally, which is why it is something that has to be taught later on in school, whereas rhyme is something most children pick up before they even start kindergarten. There are many ways to arrange your rhymes in a poem, but I will focus on the two most popular ways to make things easy.
In this example, the four lines (separated by a /) have the rhyme scheme AABB: "The little dog/ Inside his log/ Rolled round and round/ Till he was found." The first two lines rhyme with each other, and the second two rhyme with each other, which is what AABB indicates. You can go through a whole poem repeating this kind of rhyming, and it will sound just fine. Another popular way of arranging rhymes is ABAB, which can look something like this: "I drove my car to school/ But didn't check the gas./ I feel like a fool/ Because I'm late for class!" The first line rhymes with the third line, and the second line rhymes with the fourth line, which makes the ABAB structure. Using either of these rhyme schemes can lead you to a good poem. Now, it is up to you to write it!
QUESTION IV - Shakespeare plays
I just had a class where a student said that all of Shakespeare's plays are actually poems. But aren't plays and poems different kinds of writing? Novels tell stories on paper in regular language. Plays tell stories on stage in regular language. Poems don't tell stories and they rhyme, which Shakespeare usually doesn't. So how are his plays poems? Do they mean that they sound poetic or something? I am finding this confusing.
Answer
Although it seems hard to believe, your classmate is correct about Shakespeare. All of his plays are actually composed in verse, or poetic form, and so they are all technically poems. Your confusion, though, is completely understandable, and I think it is based on the ideas of poems, plays, and novels that we have in modern society. The definition of a poem, or poetry in general, goes a lot further than many of us today might think.
If an author needs to tell a story today, he or she will usually put it into novel form, or the form of a play. Poems are usually short works that express something emotional, and have an engaging meaning, but which do not tell a series of connected events. However, if we go back into the distant (and not too distant) past, we find that people used poetry to tell stories even more often than they used prose (or regular language). A poem does not have to be short, and it certainly does not have to rhyme, so this leaves Shakespeare's plays possible candidates for inclusion under the label of poetry. Poetry is highly structured language, and although rhyme is the most usual arranging feature, there are many others.
In the case of Shakespeare, looking at any single line of his poetry, we notice that a definite pattern emerges, even though it is not obvious at first. Take any line from any of his plays, and count how many syllables it has. Compare this to any other lines, before it, after it, or even in another play entirely. Notice anything? That's right, they almost always have ten syllables! This might come as quite a surprise, but that is only the beginning. Read any of those lines you have chosen, and then another from somewhere else, and then another. Do you find yourself falling into a kind of sing-song way of reading them, with every second word seeming to come out with more importance or stress than the others? Believe it or not, this is completely intentional, and this is the structure that binds all of Shakespeare's plays together. This regular pattern of stresses is called poetic meter, and whenever you see (or hear) it, it is a sure sign that what you are reading is certainly poetry.
QUESTION V - Are female feminists?
Can it be said that all female poets are in some sense writers of feminist poetry?
Answer
No, I do not think that statement is based on the facts. While women poets in general have written on a wide variety of subjects, many (if not most) focus on and appeal to a general audience, both male and female. Feminist poets, on the other hand, have based their poetry on the experiences of women, and developed a formal reorientation based in a feminist consciousness. As women writing with the interests of other women in mind, these women have developed a poetics grounded in women's individual experiences, geared toward women's liberation from gender oppression, and therefore involving the need for both subjective and collective expression. As a result, they have combined older formal strategies with newer ones.
Rooted in the revolutions in American poetry that occurred in the 1960s, feminist poets have produced interesting formal innovations. They have begun to merge the lyric and the narrative to produce a hybrid form; they have used and revised prose poems because of the widespread need to tell individual women's stories and the histories of whole cultural groups of women; and they have used elements of various literary forms from non-Western cultures together with Western ideas about poetry.
QUESTION VI - The difference between the American and European poetry
Our class has been given an assignment to identify an important difference between American poetry and European poetry and write an essay about it. We have been given a lot of leeway for this paper, but I am not sure whether to talk about some specific style difference or maybe the history. Any suggestions?
Answer
Honestly, much depends on what your instructor may be looking for. But, not having that information, I would suggest avoiding simply writing about style differences since every other student will probably be doing that. Taking a unique angle may serve you well, such as the fact that poetry in America has rarely been granted the cultural importance it enjoys in countries such as England, France, and Germany. Since poetry in America does not have the lengthy history that it does in Europe, Americans have tended to view the novel, rather than poetry, as the literary genre best suited to the experience of a newer, more pragmatically minded nation. In American literary life, novelists are the celebrated stars of the profession while poets are too often relegated to the cultural sidelines.
Speaking from experience, this is the type of essay that I would have looked for when I was teaching. It does not simply address the obvious - but seeks to explore the topic from a different perspective. But, maybe your instructor is a more 'by the book' type, and in that case you might want to reconsider this line of advice. You may also seek research advice from professional essay writers on a message board.
Answers by Academic Eve, academiceve92@gmail.com