Other examples of more effective use of critical terms and concepts

Example 1

Essay question: Compare and contrast two Renaissance sonnets of your choice.

This extract is taken from an essay on the above question:

'[Sidney] uses soft diction with 'sweetest sovereignty' and enjambement between lines six and seven to reinforce the gentle feel. 'Sweetest sovereignty of reason' tells us that this gentle power is pure and regal. It is logically correct, almost a law.'

Example 2

Essay question: Compare and contrast two Renaissance sonnets of your choice.

This paragraph comes from a student essay in response to the above essay question:

'Shakespeare also uses various metrical feet (for example 'therefore' is a trochee and is used to effectively begin the concluding couplet) to control the sonnet’s pace and emphasise certain words. For example, 'false subtleties' is made up of a spondee and an iamb - the extra stress emphasising the important word 'false'.'

Q. Why are these examples effective?

TUTOR'S REPLY

Technical terms of the kind highlighted in bold above are very useful and sometimes irreplaceable when doing a close analysis of poetry. It can be very difficult to describe the poem’s formal characteristics without referring to precise terms such as 'enjambement'. What is significant in both of the examples given above is that the identification of particular technical features of the text (e.g. 'spondee' and 'iamb') is not offered as an end in itself. Each student considers how the presence of such features and devices in the poem affects its meaning.

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