An Exercise in Analysis

1. Describe the text. What does it seem to be about?
2. Break the text into its parts and then describe each part.
3. Interpret the parts: what does each seem to mean? how are they related to one another?
4. Can you re-arrange the parts into new patterns? Explain the connections you see--why you think the parts fit into these new patterns of meaning.
5. What claim does the text seem to be making? 
6. And how is each “pattern” related to that primary claim?
7. What claim can you make about the text?

As a class (or in small groups) go through these steps with the poem below and then, using the guidelines at the bottom of the page, map out a draft of your interpretation of the poem:

“Metaphors”

By Sylvia Plath

I’m a riddle in nine syllables.

An elephant, a ponderous house,

A melon strolling on two tendrils.

O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!

This loaf’s big with its yeasty rising.

Money’s new-minted in this fat purse.

I’m a means, a stage, a cow in calf.

I’ve eaten a bag of green apples,

Boarded the train there’s no getting off.

To map out a draft of an interpretation, think of:

q       (#5)  the “claim” of the text = what you think the text’s message (or over-all significance) is

q       (#4) each new “pattern” becomes a paragraph

q       (#3) the parts (and the interpretation of them) = the evidence of the paragraphs

q       (#6) your explanation about how the pattern is related to the primary claim = a topic sentence (or the point of your paragraph)

q       (#7) and the claim you make about what the text means = your thesis.