School Essay 17 346 Ns - article by Whimsical Wire Articles

While many elements make up a school essay, and many different requirements are made of you—depending upon the mode, goal, and tasks at hand, one type of school essay will be useful for interpretation and evaluation assignments.

So today, let’s consider writing an interpretation/evaluation of song. Doing so will help you write school essays on poetry, especially, but might even help guide you in writing a review, a report, or other types of essays wherein you study and assess a subject.

You might already know what creative details, rhythm, speaker, tone, and metaphor do for a song or piece of poetry. For this task, then, which will take about an hour to note, outline, and draft, consider a song that appeals you in some way (that is funny, dramatic, that makes you think, that makes you angry, etc.). For this experiment we will use Aerosmith’s song, “Amazing,”* from their album, Big Ones.

**************************

Amazing

I kept the right ones out

And let the wrong ones in

Had an angel of mercy to see me through all my sins

There were times in my life

When I was goin' insane

Tryin' to walk through

The pain

When I lost my grip

And I hit the floor

Yeah, I thought I could leave but couldn't get out the door

I was so sick and tired

Of livin' a lie

I was wishin' that I

Would die

[Chorus:]

It's Amazing

With the blink of an eye you finally see the light

It's Amazing

When the moment arrives that you know you'll be alright

It's Amazing

And I'm sayin' a prayer for the desperate hearts tonight

That one last shot's a Permanent Vacation

And how high can you fly with broken wings?

Life's a journey not a destination

And I just can't tell just what tomorrow brings

You have to learn to crawl

Before you learn to walk

But I just couldn't listen to all that righteous talk, oh yeah

I was out on the street,

Just tryin' to survive

Scratchin' to stay

Alive

[Chorus]

Desperate hearts, desperate hearts

© Aerosmith, Nov. 1, 1994

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First, name the song/poem title in quotes and take a guess at what the title suggests:

EXAMPLE: "Amazing" (something spiritual or emotional)

Next, write down who you think the speaker is and what his/her tone is:

EXAMPLE: In Aerosmith's "Amazing", the speaker is an angry, sad, depressed man who contemplates a third world kind of suffering (as one of my students, Christian, described it).

Next, write down what words/phrases tell you this:

EXAMPLE: "I let the right ones out/let the wrong ones in"

Next, write down any elements you find striking or significant, and note what you associate with each:

EXAMPLE: “light”--redemption/ knowledge /death and rebirth:

EXAMPLE: “hit the floor”—passed out; hit bottom; was lost, defeated

EXAMPLE: “lost my grip”--screwed up/wasted

EXAMPLE: “couldn't get out the door-- incompetent

Next, reconsider the title, noting any associations you have with it:

EXAMPLE: "Amazing"---reminds me of "Amazing Grace"

Then, add up all of the notes, drafting one overall opinion in a complete statement (which will be your thesis statement):

EXAMPLE: Aerosmith's "Amazing" is a song of death and redemption, its theme made clear in the symbolism and imagery the writers use.

If you do all of this, you will have all the ingredients for a complete piece of writing--in note form--and will only need to make each set complete sentences and paragraphs. In other words, you will have the THEME, which will be your thesis; you can put that theme right inside your THESIS.

You can then write a school essay that goes like this: introduce with a grabber/opener; add your statement; then break down your findings, using one example in each SUPPORTING paragraph that follows.

Closing can be the most challenging part, so in this kind of essay, you could add your personal opinion of the song (or poem, if that is what you are working with). This will be the evaluative part, wherein you can say yeah or nay, can recommend readers listen to or buy the album/CD, or can discourage people from wasting their hard-earned cash. But NOT, of course, with Aerosmith! They rock!

And may you rock your school essay, on whatever topic you are assigned.

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