Response to Literature - Mr Corral
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Writing
about
History Writing Model
Response to Literature: Feelings about a War Poem
ClassZone.com
Writing 2.2 Write responses to literature.
PURPOSE: To write a response to a literary work AUDIENCE: Classmates in your history and language arts classes Historians and authors of novels and poetry have different purposes for writing. The historian’s purpose is to convey information. The author’s purpose is to create a world as vividly as possible and invite the reader into it. Every word chosen affects how the reader imagines that world. The author also uses word choice to try to influence the reader’s feelings about the subject. You can explore your feelings and understanding of a literary work by writing a response to it.
The author of the poem below would have disapproved of the colonial woman shown here with her “rifle gun” raised against the British.
Organization & Focus �� �� ��
Your assignment is to write an essay on how an author’s choice of words, literary style, and techniques affects you. Read the two verses from the poem here called “The Rebels,” which was written by John Ferdinand Dalzell Smyth and published in 1778. Smyth was a captain in the Queens Rangers, a group of loyalists who fought against the colonial revolutionaries. As you read the verses, ask yourself how the author makes you feel about the rebels and the loyalists. In your notebook, write a sentence expressing your overall impression of both the rebels and the loyalists from this poem. You can use this sentence to help you draft the thesis statement, or main idea, of your response.
from “The Rebels” Ye brave honest subjects who dare to be loyal, And have stood the brunt of every trial, Of hunting shirts and rifle guns; Come listen awhile and I’ll tell you a song; I’ll show you those Yankees are all in the wrong, Who, with blustering look and most awkward gait,1 ‘Gainst their lawful sovereign dare for to prate,2 With their hunting shirts and rifle guns. Forgetting the mercies of Great Britain’s King, Who saved their forefathers’ necks from the string, With hunting shirts and rifle guns, They renounce all allegiance and take up their arms, Assemble together like hornets in swarms, So dirty their backs, and so wretched their show, That carrion-crow3 follows wherever they go, With their hunting shirts and rifle guns.
1 gait: manner of walking 2 prate: to rant or shout about 3 carrion-crow: a bird of prey that feeds on the dead
287A • Unit 2
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IDENTIFYING PURPOSE AND AUDIENCE Your purpose is to write a
500–700 word essay explaining your response to the poem. Support your judgments using references to the text. You should also make inferences about the effect of the poem on a larger audience. The audience for your response is made up of your classmates in both your history and your language arts class. Keep in mind that your language arts classmates probably will not have read the selections from this poem. FINDING DETAILS Reread the verses and complete this chart. List details
from the poem about the loyalists and the rebels and write down your response to them. Samples are provided. Details about Loyalists Response Brave, honest, loyal
Strongly positive
Details about Rebels
Response
Blustering look
Makes rebels seem noisy and rude
OUTLINING AND DRAFTING THE ESSAY Express the main idea about your
response to the poem in your thesis statement. Then use your chart to outline and provide supporting details for your response.
Research & Technology ������������������������
� �
You can find the whole text of “The Rebels” online. Enter the title of the poem and the author’s name in a search engine. If you like, you can analyze the other verses to find more supporting details for your response.
Technology Tip
Use the thesaurus in your word processor to help you find words that exactly express your response.
Evaluation & Revision When you are satisfied with what you have said in your essay, reread it to see where you can improve how you said it. Pay special attention to your thesis statement, your choice of words, and your organization and transitions.
Publish & Present Exchange essays with your history and language arts classmates and talk about your responses to other war literature you have read.
Self-Check
Does my response to literature have . . . a clear thesis statement that expresses my response? references to the text that support my judgment? inferences about the effect of the poem on a larger audience? good organization and smooth transitions? a strong, clear conclusion?
287B
Writing
about
History Writing Model
Response to Literature: Feelings about a War Poem
ClassZone.com
Writing 2.2 Write responses to literature.
PURPOSE: To write a response to a literary work AUDIENCE: Classmates in your history and language arts classes Historians and authors of novels and poetry have different purposes for writing. The historian’s purpose is to convey information. The author’s purpose is to create a world as vividly as possible and invite the reader into it. Every word chosen affects how the reader imagines that world. The author also uses word choice to try to influence the reader’s feelings about the subject. You can explore your feelings and understanding of a literary work by writing a response to it.
The author of the poem below would have disapproved of the colonial woman shown here with her “rifle gun” raised against the British.
Organization & Focus �� �� ��
Your assignment is to write an essay on how an author’s choice of words, literary style, and techniques affects you. Read the two verses from the poem here called “The Rebels,” which was written by John Ferdinand Dalzell Smyth and published in 1778. Smyth was a captain in the Queens Rangers, a group of loyalists who fought against the colonial revolutionaries. As you read the verses, ask yourself how the author makes you feel about the rebels and the loyalists. In your notebook, write a sentence expressing your overall impression of both the rebels and the loyalists from this poem. You can use this sentence to help you draft the thesis statement, or main idea, of your response.
from “The Rebels” Ye brave honest subjects who dare to be loyal, And have stood the brunt of every trial, Of hunting shirts and rifle guns; Come listen awhile and I’ll tell you a song; I’ll show you those Yankees are all in the wrong, Who, with blustering look and most awkward gait,1 ‘Gainst their lawful sovereign dare for to prate,2 With their hunting shirts and rifle guns. Forgetting the mercies of Great Britain’s King, Who saved their forefathers’ necks from the string, With hunting shirts and rifle guns, They renounce all allegiance and take up their arms, Assemble together like hornets in swarms, So dirty their backs, and so wretched their show, That carrion-crow3 follows wherever they go, With their hunting shirts and rifle guns.
1 gait: manner of walking 2 prate: to rant or shout about 3 carrion-crow: a bird of prey that feeds on the dead
287A • Unit 2
Page 2 of 2
IDENTIFYING PURPOSE AND AUDIENCE Your purpose is to write a
500–700 word essay explaining your response to the poem. Support your judgments using references to the text. You should also make inferences about the effect of the poem on a larger audience. The audience for your response is made up of your classmates in both your history and your language arts class. Keep in mind that your language arts classmates probably will not have read the selections from this poem. FINDING DETAILS Reread the verses and complete this chart. List details
from the poem about the loyalists and the rebels and write down your response to them. Samples are provided. Details about Loyalists Response Brave, honest, loyal
Strongly positive
Details about Rebels
Response
Blustering look
Makes rebels seem noisy and rude
OUTLINING AND DRAFTING THE ESSAY Express the main idea about your
response to the poem in your thesis statement. Then use your chart to outline and provide supporting details for your response.
Research & Technology ������������������������
� �
You can find the whole text of “The Rebels” online. Enter the title of the poem and the author’s name in a search engine. If you like, you can analyze the other verses to find more supporting details for your response.
Technology Tip
Use the thesaurus in your word processor to help you find words that exactly express your response.
Evaluation & Revision When you are satisfied with what you have said in your essay, reread it to see where you can improve how you said it. Pay special attention to your thesis statement, your choice of words, and your organization and transitions.
Publish & Present Exchange essays with your history and language arts classmates and talk about your responses to other war literature you have read.
Self-Check
Does my response to literature have . . . a clear thesis statement that expresses my response? references to the text that support my judgment? inferences about the effect of the poem on a larger audience? good organization and smooth transitions? a strong, clear conclusion?
287B
