Determine the theme, the purpose, the reason for the story/poem. What is the author trying to tell us?

Poem:
Water hollows stone,
wind scatters water,
stone stops the wind.
Water, wind, stone.
Wind carves stone,
stone’s a cup of water,
water escapes and is wind.
Stone, wind, water.
Wind sings in its whirling,
water murmurs going by,
unmoving stone keeps still.
Wind, water, stone.
Each is another and no other:
crossing and vanishing
through their empty names:
water, stone, wind.
Three outside sources to support your interpretations. The piece you are examining does not count as
a source. However, it must be on the Works Cited page. Any other class materials that are relevant
may also be used, but do not count as research. So, you must find 3 sources yourself to incorporate
into the essay.
● A properly formatted Works Cited page is present, and all formatting follows MLA guidelines.
Prompt
● Determine the theme, the purpose, the reason for the story/poem. What is the author trying to tell us?

● What aspect of the bigger picture (life, the human condition, pain) is the author trying to explore?

● Use the details of the story or poem, as well as the outside sources to support your interpretation.

● Discussions of plot, setting, character, narration, and symbolism should all directly support your
interpretation.

● Consider that your audience is familiar with the text itself, but does not ‘know what you mean’ when
you are making your interpretations.

● Avoid unnecessary praise for the greatness of the selected piece of writing.

● Avoid summarizing the piece. This is an analysis.

● As you quote the piece to prove your points, remember to explain the significance of the quotation as
it relates to your thesis.
Considerations

● Research should be directly related to the study of literature. Google is a fine jumping off place,
however, I doubt the sources that you use will come from those searches. Google Scholar may be of
some use, however you will need to cite the work from its original publication.

● Wikipedia is not a source; blogs are not sources. I do think, however, that often wikipedia can lead you
to interesting and expert sources.

● There are scores of books written about many authors, their literary movements, and how to write a
literary critique.

Last Completed Projects