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CRITICAL APPRECIATION

General Advice

Throughout you A level course you will be writing critical appreciations in class and at home, but most of the advice here is geared to examination demands in which you have to complete an essay in a restricted time.

Many A level English Literature syllabuses ask you to write a critical appreciation of a poem that you have not seen before or to make a critical comparison of two unseen poems. You may e asked to write a general appreciation, but often the wording of the question directs you to consider specific aspects of the poetry, such as diction, imagery, form and style. Sometimes you are asked to compare poems in terms of how the writers handle similar subject-matter or a similar theme.

In proceeding to answer these questions, it is obvious that you mist address yourself to the specified task and not launch into a general critical appreciation, if that is not required of you: make sure you pay attention to the exact wording of the questions in examination papers. This is a cardinal rule for all examination candidates.

Another simple but important rule to remember is to read the passage through several times before starting on your answer and if it is poetry, make sure you listen to the sound of the verse by sub-vocalising. You will not be able to begin your essay impressively and with a coherent plan unless you have a good grasp of your subject-matter.

Whatever the task the question sets, you must find a way of structuring your answer, of organising your material. All English examinations are a test of your ability to write English, including English Literature examinations. An unstructured, rambling essay will largely undo any cogent analysis you may have hidden among the confusion that meets the examiner's eye. Think of all examiners as extremely crotchety individuals, ploughing their way through masses of exam answers: point the way clearly for these important people! Aim for clarity, conciseness and continuity.

Critical appreciation involves giving your opinion about the worth of the writing, but it also involves the analysis of theme, treatment, diction, imagery and form. This analysis should lead naturally to your critical evaluation, sometimes called the value judgment. Do not launch into giving your critical evaluation without first considering the material in some detail, or your opinion will carry little weight.

It is very important to follow this rule in any critical analysis of literature and at every stage of the essay: always back up your analysis and opinions by referring to specific evidence in the text. If a candidate writes; "The imagery of the poem is rather cliched and repetitive" and leaves it at that, then the opinion stands on its own, without any evidence from the text to illustrate what is meant. It would be much better to follow the statement above with some appropriate evidence such as: "For example, the image of the falling leaves as a symbol of decay is over-familiar and the image of the iceberg in the second stanza as a metaphor for emotional coldness as too cliched to have much impact." The reports of chief examiners on the performance of candidates in literature exams are full of complaints that candidates make generalisations which they fail to support with relevant references and quotations from the text.

Of course, be careful not to be excessive in the amount you quote in your analysis of unseen literature. You have the text in front of you, so it is not a great feat to b able to lift chunks out of it. Remember also that examiners have the text in front of them as well, so copying out long stretches of text has no point: refer to and quote from the relevant line of the passage briefly.

General Advice Summary

The main points covered can be summarised as follows:

1 Look at the question carefully and make sure you answer only to specific question asked.

2 Read the poem or poems several times before starting your essay so that you have a good grasp of the subject-matter.

3 Aim for clarity, conciseness and continuity in your essay.

4 Do not give your critical evaluation before you have considered to poem fully in your essay.

5 Always back up your analysis and opinions by referring to specific evidence in the text.

6 Refer briefly to the relevant line of a poem or quote briefly when supporting your opinions with evidence from the text. Do not waste time in copying out long passages.

Structuring a Critical Appreciation Essay

There is no one correct formula for writing a structured essay of critical appreciation, but the guidelines which follow will at least give you the basis for a structured approach.

When you start writing your essay, the first rule to remember is: Do not waffle! Don't write an opening paragraph that says nothing at all. if you are writing a general critical appreciation, start by saying what you think the theme of the poem is and commenting on its tone. Then proceed to discuss the treatment the poet gives to the theme in the content of the poem. Analyse the content, not line-by-line, or even stanza-by-stanza, but by tracing the development of the theme through the poem.

Next, discuss the way theme and subject-matter are realised in the poem. meaning and form, diction, imagery and tone - these can hardly be separated from one another. Yet it is possible to discuss form, imagery and diction separately, as component parts of a poem, as long as they are analysed in terms of their contribution to the meaning and impact of the whole poem. If you are tracing the imagery of a poem, try to show how the images created the emotional tone of the verse and, therefore, crucially affect its meaning. Similarly, an analysis of the form, versification or any other features of the poem is only useful if it is shown how they affect the meaning of the poem.

Only after working your way through a poem in this way, will you be in a position to comment on the writing as a whole. Now it is time to give a value judgment of the whole work. That is not to say that you will not have expressed opinions on some aspects already - the quality of the imagery, the appropriateness of the diction, the rhythm of the verse. By all means, comment on the effectiveness (or the reverse!) of these aspects as you deal with them, but the general critical evaluation should come at the end of the essay. As you have written your analysis in detail and in a considered manner, you will want to continue this approach in the section where you are expressing your opinions. 'A considered manner' does not mean that you cannot express strong opinions; you should respond to the writing. Whatever the opinions you express, however, avid sweeping generalizations that totally dismiss or widely over-praise, especially of you do not back up your opinions with good reasons. Examples of this kind of criticism would be to say that 'This poem is the most boring I have ever read', or 'This poem is the best I have ever read.' Perhaps! But in the way the opinions are expressed, the examiner is bound to sniff hyperbole, the Stand-by substitute for real critical analysis.

A much more fruitful approach is to state your response in a clear unvarnished way and then explain your reasons, using the critical terminology with which you have become familiar during your A level course. It is permissible in an A level English Literature exam to state a preference between two unseen poems, but support your opinions with good reasons and back them up with relevant evidence from the text.

Essay Structure Summary

Although, of course, there is no set formula for writing a critical appreciation essay, the following outline may provide a useful skeleton structure:

1 Discuss the theme, including the tone of the poem or poems and the attitude of the poet to the subject-matter.

2 Analyse how the poet handles the theme by tracing its development through the poem.

3 Discus the component parts of the poem, including imagery, diction, rhythm and form, in relation to the meaning and impact of the poem.

4 Give your own critical evaluation of the writing

One obvious danger is that section 2 of the structure will take up too much space and become a sterile line-by-line, stanza-by-stanza summary. In this part of your essay, concentrate on covering the most important content: a full-scale summary is not what is wanted.

It should be stressed again that you must find a way of linking these sections together; you are being examined on your ability to write an essay as well as your critical ability. All good essays have continuity. Paragraphs should be linked together by referring back to a topic discussed in the previous paragraph, using linking phrases such as 'Another aspect of the diction....' or 'Not all of the imagery, however, is as forceful as....'

Of course, you may use your own structure for your essays. The important thing is that you have a discernible plan.

(The origins of this essay are unknown).