Poetry Literary Analysis Essay Summative Assessment

Grade 9 Language and Literature 2019-2020

Assessed on Criterion A strand 1-4 and Criterion B strand 1-3

For your summative assessment you will be writing an in-class literary analysis essay on a
previously unseen poem. The poem will be by an author we have previously studied or in the
form of a poem we have already studied. For example, you could receive a Sijo poem to write
about that we haven’t looked at prior to in class or you could receive another poem by
Shakespeare (as we read his sonnet) for you to respond to in your essay. In the 90 minute class
you will use the color marking method to analyze the poem and then construct an outline of your
literary essay before writing your final literary analysis essay. The final essay and each of the
steps in the process (listed below) must all be turned in stapled together.

Process:

● Color Marking→ ​This should be completed and add to your understanding of the poem
so that you can share a more detailed, textually-supported analysis.
 
Step One - Find Patterns: Color Mark and identify patterns and find terms to categorize them in.

Step Two --Notice Where They Appear in the Poem: By looking at specific colors, notice where
certain patterns appear in the poem. Look at the appearance of color throughout the poem -- do
patterns become more or less prevalent at certain points in the poem, are they consistent
throughout the poem -- Do they appear at the beginning of lines, the ends, are they consistent or
sporadic?

Step Three -- Ask questions: How might where and when your pattern appears in the poem be a
clue to what the pattern (or poem) reveals. For example, if your poem begins with lots of light
imagery, but concludes with imagery that is dark, the author might be revealing their ultimately
pessimistic or hopeless feelings towards the theme of the poem. How might where they appear in
the poem answer questions 1-9 in the color marking document?

Step Four -- Choose Three Patterns That Tell A Story: Choose three patterns you identified that
based on what they are and where they appear in the poem will work together to tell a story about
the poem. How can you tie three patterns together into a story that reveals the below-the-surface
details of the poem? For example, you might have identified nature imagery, shadows/darkness
imagery, and references to winter in your poem -- how might each of these add up together to tell
a story about the poem that reveals the hopelessness the author feels about being a refugee in a
new country?
 
 ● Developing your thesis statement→ Develop your own thesis statement/argument
about the poem. If you are struggling to develop your own ideas about the poem you
can choose one of the questions below to respond to, but you must still use your
color marking analysis to support your response.
Alternative Questions
■ How is symbolism used to convey meaning?
■ How does the punctuation used influence the poem’s theme?
■ How is figurative language used to convey the content?
■ What is the relationship between the title and the poem itself?
■ In what ways does the tone shift throughout the poem?
■ How does the final stanza change your understanding of the poem?
■ How does the progression of ideas contribute to the development of the theme?
■ How does the speaker define themself within the poem?
■ How does the central metaphor reinforce/establish the poem’s theme?
● Outline→​ You must create a brief outline prior to writing the essay. The purpose of this
is to think about how to structure your commentary most effectively as you are being
assessed on criterion B. Your final essay should at least be five paragraphs with at least
three pieces of direct textual evidence from the poem included.

● Final Draft→ ​The final draft of your commentary must be clearly handwritten and,
before being turned in, photographed and uploaded to ManageBac​.

CRITERION A Task Specific Rubric

 
Band  Criterion A Strands 1-4  Task-Specific Clarification of Descriptors 

1-2 The student: provides limited  Your performance on this assessment shows that you need 
analysis of the content,  more support to be successful on this task.  
context, language, structure, 
technique and style of text(s) 
and the relationship among 
texts, provides limited analysis 
of the effects of the creator’s 
choices on an audience, rarely 
justifies opinions and ideas 
with examples or 
explanations; uses little or no 
terminology, evaluates few 
similarities and differences by 
making minimal connections 
in features across and within 
genres and texts. 

3-4  The student: provides  You do some of the following, but not all, and not always 
adequate analysis of the  with accuracy: analyze the content (what the poem is 
content, context, language,  about), the context (historical background, author 
background, or other relevant information besides the 
structure, technique and style  poem itself that contributes to the meaning), language 
of text(s) and the relationship  (connotation, figurative language, poetic devices), structure 
among texts, provides  (metrical pattern, rhyme scheme, rhythm, or lack thereof), 
adequate analysis of the  technique (any other stylistic features the poet uses such as 
arrangement of the text on the page, images, use of 
 effects of the creator’s choices  punctuation etc.), style (attitude, tone, mood), relationship 
on an audience, justifies  among texts (connections that can be made to other texts) 
opinions and ideas with some  Analyze the effects of the author’s choices on the audience 
and make inferences about the audience’s response, but 
examples and explanations,  not always with accuracy or with much complexity.  
though this may not be  Attempt to justify your analyses with specific lines from the 
consistent; uses some  poem, but your ideas are not fully supported by the text. 
terminology, evaluates some  You attempt to interpret and analyze the poem and 
support your interpretation and analyses with text 
similarities and differences by 
evidence, but your explanations are not always thorough. 
making adequate connections  You use some terminology/ subject-specific language, but 
in features across and within  not always with accuracy.  
genres and texts.  Attempt to evaluate similarities and differences between 
the poem and other texts you’ve encountered before, but 
not always effectively.  

5-6  The student: competently  Competently analyze the content (what the poem is about), 
analyses the content, context,  the context (historical background, author background, or 
language, structure,  other relevant information besides the poem itself that 
technique, style of text(s) and  contributes to the meaning), language (connotation, 
the relationship among texts,  figurative language, poetic devices), structure (metrical 
competently analyses the  pattern, rhyme scheme, rhythm, or lack thereof), technique 
effects of the creator’s choices  (any other stylistic features the poet uses such as 
on an audience, sufficiently  arrangement of the text on the page, images, use of 
justifies opinions and ideas  punctuation etc.), style (attitude, tone, mood), relationship 
with examples and  among texts (connections that can be made to other texts) 
explanations; uses accurate  Competently analyze the effects of the author’s choices on 
terminology, evaluates  the audience. Make inferences about the audience’s 
similarities and differences by  response.   
making substantial  Sufficiently justify your analyses with specific lines from the 
connections in features across  poem. Correctly interpret and analyze the poem and 
and within genres and texts  support your interpretation and analyses with text 
  evidence. Explain this thoroughly. Use accurate 
terminology/ subject-specific language (terms we’ve 
studied throughout this poetry unit)  
Evaluate similarities and differences between the poem 
and other texts you’ve encountered before.  
 

7-8  The student: provides  Perceptively analyze the content (what the poem is about), 
perceptive analysis of the  the context (historical background, author background, or 
content, context, language,  other relevant information besides the poem itself that 
contributes to the meaning), language (connotation, 
structure, technique, style of  figurative language, poetic devices), structure (metrical 
text(s) and the relationship  pattern, rhyme scheme, rhythm, or lack thereof), technique 
among texts, perceptively  (any other stylistic features the poet uses such as 
analyses the effects of the  arrangement of the text on the page, images, use of 
punctuation etc.), style (attitude, tone, mood), relationship 
creator’s choices on an 
among texts (connections that can be made to other texts) 
audience, gives detailed  Perceptively analyze the effects of the author’s choices on 
justification of opinions and  the audience. Make inferences about the audience’s 
ideas with a range of  response.   
examples, and thorough  Justify your analyses by providing a range of specific 
examples/ lines from the poem. Correctly interpret and 
explanations; uses accurate  analyze the poem and support your interpretation and 
terminology, perceptively  analyses with text evidence. Explain this thoroughly. Use 
compares and contrasts by  accurate terminology/ subject-specific language (terms 
making extensive connections  we’ve studied throughout this poetry unit)  
in features across and within  Critically evaluate similarities and differences between the 
poem and other texts you’ve encountered before.  
genres and texts.   
 
  

Criterion A Strand 1 KEY:  

❏ Content = what the poem is about 
❏ Context = historical background, author background, or other relevant information besides the 
poem itself that contributes to the meaning of the poem  
❏ Language = connotation, figurative language, poetic devices 
❏ Structure = how the poet chose to arrange/ craft the poem; metrical pattern, rhyme scheme, 
rhythm, or lack thereof 
❏ Technique = any other stylistic the poet uses such as the deliberate arrangement of the text on 
the page, images, specific use of punctuation or lack thereof, etc.  
❏ Style = attitude, tone, mood  
❏ Relationship among texts = connections to other texts

Criterion B: Organization 
At the end of year 5, students should be able to:  At the 7-8 Band, this looks like: 
  i. makes s ​ ophisticated​ use of organizational 
i. employ organizational structures that serve the  structures that serve the context and intention 
context and intention   effectively 
ii. organize opinions and ideas in a sustained,  ii. e
​ ffectively​ organizes opinions and ideas in a 
coherent and logical manner  sustained, coherent and logical ​manner with ideas 
ii. use referencing to create a presentation style  building on each other in a ​sophisticated​ way 
suitable to the context and intention.  iii. makes ​excellent​ use of referencing​ t​ o create an 
effective​ presentation style.