Progressive Insanities of a Pioneer Margaret Atwood

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Progressive Insanities of a PioneerMargaret
Atwood

• Steps to Writing anAnalytical Poetry Review

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Step 1

• Read the whole poem aloud.

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Progressive Insanities of a Pioneer Margaret
Atwood i He stood, a point on a sheet of green
paper proclaiming himself the centre, with no
walls, no borders anywhere the sky no
height above him, totally un- enclosed and
shouted Let me out!
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ii He dug the soil in rows, imposed himself with
shovels He asserted into the furrows, I am not
random. The ground replied with aphorisms a
tree-sprout, a nameless weed, words he couldn't
understand.
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iii The house pitched the plot staked in the
middle of nowhere. At night the mind inside, in
the middle of nowhere. The idea of an
animal patters across the roof. In the darkness
the fields defend themselves with fences in
vain everything is getting in.
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iv By daylight he resisted. He said,
disgusted with the swamp's clamourings and the
outbursts of rocks, This is not order but the
absence of order. He was wrong, the
unanswering forest implied It was an ordered
absence
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v For many years he fished for a great
vision, dangling the hooks of sown root under the
surface of the shallow earth. It was
like enticing whales with a bent pin. Besides he
thought in that country only the worms were
biting.
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vi If he had known unstructured space is a
deluge and stocked his log house- boat with all
the animals even the wolves, he might have
floated. But obstinate he stated, The land is
solid and stamped, watching his foot sink down
through stone up to the knee.
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vii Things refused to name themselves
refused to let him name them. The wolves
hunted outside. On his beaches, his
clearings, by the surf of under- growth
breaking at his feet, he foresaw disintegration
and in the end
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through eyes made ragged by his effort, the
tension between subject and object, the
green vision, the unnamed whale invaded.
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Step 2

• Read the poem again.(this time with a pencil in
  hand)

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Read the Poem Again

• Highlight areas of interest,
• Make a note,
• Add a question mark,
• Underline key words or phrases,
• Make connections.

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Progressive Insanities of a Pioneer Margaret
Atwood i He stood, a point on a sheet of green
paper proclaiming himself the centre, with no
walls, no borders anywhere the sky no
height above him, totally un- enclosed and
shouted Let me out!
?
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ii He dug the soil in rows, imposed himself with
shovels He asserted into the furrows, I am not
random. The ground replied with aphorisms a
tree-sprout, a nameless weed, words he couldn't
understand.
?
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iii The house pitched the plot staked in the
middle of nowhere. At night the mind inside, in
the middle of nowhere. The idea of an
animal patters across the roof. In the darkness
the fields defend themselves with fences in
vain everything is getting in.
repetition
?
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iv By daylight he resisted. He said,
disgusted with the swamp's clamourings and the
outbursts of rocks, This is not order but the
absence of order. He was wrong, the
unanswering forest implied It was an ordered
absence
repetition? opposites?
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v For many years he fished for a great
vision, dangling the hooks of sown root under the
surface of the shallow earth. It was
like enticing whales with a bent pin. Besides he
thought in that country only the worms were
biting.
?
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vi If he had known unstructured space is a
deluge and stocked his log house- boat with all
the animals even the wolves, he might have
floated. But obstinate he stated, The land is
solid and stamped, watching his foot sink down
through stone up to the knee.
?
one line stanzas?
theme of isolation isolated lines?
irony?hyperbole?adynaton?
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vii through eyes made ragged by his effort, the
tension between subject and object, the
green vision, the unnamed whale invaded.
?
parts of speech?
Meaning?
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vision, the unnamed whale invaded.
?
?
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Step 3

• Now what?

Ask some general questions like
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Is there vocabulary I don't know?
The ground replied with aphorisms
What does this word mean?
a terse saying embodying a general truth,or
astute observation, as Power tends to
corrupt,and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
But obstinate he stated, The land is solid
Does this mean what I think it means?
firmly or stubbornly adhering to one's
purpose,opinion, etc. not yielding to argument,
persuasion,or entreaty.
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Who is speaking?

• "He stood"
• "He dug"
• "He fished"
• "He stated"
• "His feet"

Who says
Objective Third Person Observer
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What is the situation?

• The title tells me this is a "progression"
  implying that this poem is a series of stages
  over a long period of time.
• This is mimicked in the structure of the poem
• seven sections of unequal length,
• each containing several irregular stanzas.
• Take a moment to mention that the poem is written
  in free verse.

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Imagery? Symbolism?

• Earth imagery
• soil,
• furrows,
• ground,
• swamp,
• forest,
• Water imagery
• fishing,
• whales,

• Allusions?
• Section VI
• Noah and the Ark
• Section VII
• Adam (naming the animals)
• Section VII
• Jonah and the Whale?
• Wolves?
• predators?
• manifestations of his insanities?

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Themes?

• Do you have any ideas?
• I came up with three
• the futility of effort it is pointless to try
• the nature of madness
• the isolation of the individual (best one?)

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Syntax and Diction?

• Do you have any ideas?
• What can we say about line length?
• What can we say about stanza length?
• What can we say about language and mood?
• Does the diction contribute to the mood of each
  section and the poem as a whole?
• List some words and the mood each suggests.

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Conclusion?

• What are your ideas?
• Try to make it relevant to today
• Something like
• The pioneer is a symbol representing modern
  humanity. Like the pioneers of old we have
  isolated ourselves not in a natural wilderness
  but in a technological one.
• The pioneer in Atwoods poem takes this to the
  extreme, neglecting the importance of community,
  which contributes to his eventual decline.
• Are we also neglecting community? In this age of
  home theatres, personal computers and iPods are
  we doomed to the same fate?

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Step 4

• Prewriting and Writing

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Make a Review Outline

• Now all you have to do is sketch out the review
  in point form.

BUT WAIT!
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Edit Edit - Edit

• Theres way too much material here for a 500-word
  analytical review.
• Select only that which is MOST important.
• Then create a new review outline.

Now you can go and write the first draft.
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Step 5

• Revision and Editing

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Use Your Rubric
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