Literary Evaluation

 Assignment Sheet An evaluation essay is a composition that offers an analysis, interpretation, and evaluation of a text. Usually intended for an academic audience, an evaluation essay often takes the form of an argument. The word evaluation does not connote negativity as it does in everyday conversation; rather, it is used in its original Greek meaning, ‘to separate’ and ‘to discern.’ Performing a literary evaluation does not necessarily involve finding fault with a work. On the contrary, a thoughtful literary evaluation may help us understand the interaction of the particular elements that contribute to a work’s power and effectiveness. If you are evaluating a piece of writing, then you are going to need to thoroughly read the work. While you read the work, keep in mind the criteria you are using to evaluate. Make a list of prominent, widely recognized standards for judging your subject. The evaluative criteria may be: Whether the writing appealed to its target audience? Whether or not the writing met thematic expectations? Was there an emotional appeal? Did the author engage the audience, or was the piece lacking something? For this assignment, you will choose a poem from the THEMATIC TABLE OF CONTENTS on page XXXI in your Literature and the Writing Process textbook and evaluate in 3-4 pages how well it conveys its central theme. Decide how well the poem achieves its central purpose. Do all the elements work together to accomplish the central purpose as efficiently and as compellingly as possible? Think about the elements contained in a poem: plot (action), theme, setting, persona, conflict, and language. Some poems might focus more on one or two elements; others might blend them effectively. As you consider the elements contained in a particular poem, do not make the mistake of taking one element of the story and judging it in isolation. Once you have judged a poem as having successfully integrated its elements into a unified whole, then it is time to evaluate the depth, range, and significance of what the poem has achieved. As you explore poems in more depth, it does not take long to see that your experiences, your prejudices, your intelligence, your sensitivity, how much you have read, how observantly you’ve lived–all these things affect your literary judgment. This is where the fun begins because, as you can see, one reader could argue effectively why “Ozymandias” is a more significant poem than “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” while another reader could argue just as strongly and effectively the opposite. (It’s called “judgment” for a reason.) Be very mindful of the poem that you choose, since this choice will heavily influence your Essay 3. This essay is setting up a future Compare/Contrast type of essay for Essay 3, and changing your mind after you have written Essay 2 will really put a burden on you for Essay 3. Make sure you feel confident and excited over whatever poem you choose. This should be the number one thing you consider when deciding what you want to write.