Author: Connie Shelnut

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Pre-AP English The 5-S Strategies for Passage
Analysis

• Author Connie Shelnut

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• Why Pre-AP and the 5-S Strategies?
• To introduce AP terminology and analysis
  strategies gradually in grades 6 through 12.
• To provide the building blocks for writing
  success to ALL college bound students.
• To provide teachers and students tools to
  efficiently target important components of poetry
  or prose for analysis.
• To provide teachers and students a structure to
  develop close reading skills in all grade levels
  and all subjects.

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• Apply three basic literary terms (Diction, Syntax
  and Imagery) used in passage analysis to a short
  poem to gain a deeper sense of how, through close
  reading, such terminology can focus and deepen
  the quality of any analysis.

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• Helpful Hints for Beginning Analysis
• Have dictionaries handy for students to look up
  unfamiliar words.
• Choose a word definition appropriate for the
  context of the passage.
• Re-read the passage or poem and seek answers for
  what is unusual or significant in the diction,
  syntax or imagery?

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• Opportunity by Edward Sill
• This I beheld, or dreamed it in a dream--
• There spread a cloud of dust along a plain
• And underneath the cloud, or in it, raged
• A furious battle , and men yelled, and swords
• Shocked upon swords and shields. A princes
  banner
• Wavered, then staggered backward, hemmed by foes.
• A craven hung along the battles edge,
• And thought, Had I a sword of keener steel
• That blue blade that the kings son bears but
  this
• Blunt thing! he snapt, and flung it from his
  hand,
• And lowering crept away and left the field.
• Then came the kings son, wounded, sore bestead,
• And weaponless, and saw the broken sword,
• Hilt-buried in the dry and trodden sand,
• And ran and snatched it, and with battle-shout
• Lifted afresh he hewed his enemy down,
• And saved a great cause that heroic day.

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• Activity with the poem, Opportunity
• Circle words that you think are significant or
  important and ask yourself why this use of
  diction is important.
• Underline places in the passage that contain
  significant syntax and ask yourself why it is
  important. What does it do?
• Put an asterisk over words or phrases that evoke
  imagery. Ask yourself what creates this imagery.
• Discuss with group and share results

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• Review basic literary terms most often used in
  analysis
• Become familiar with the 5-S Strategies for
  Passage Analysis and reflect on the skills that
  effective close reading entails

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• Basic Terms for Passage Analysis
• Allusion reference to a famous person or
  fictional character, assuming the reader knows
  the connection
• Crux the most crucial line(s) in a poem or
  prose passage that shows the main point
• Dialogue - conversation between two or more
  characters set off by quotation marks
• Diction an authors choice of words, i.e.
  denotation, connotation, slang, etc.
• Figures of Speech states something that is not
  literally true in order to create an effect, i.e.
  comparisons such as similes, metaphors, and
  personification OR tropes such as allusions,
  apostrophes, oxymorons and hyperboles
• Imagery descriptive words that appeal to the
  five senses
• Irony surprising, interesting or amusing
  contrast between reality and expectation

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• Basic Terms for Passage Analysis continued
• Meter the rhythmic pattern of poetry iambic,
  anapest, dactyl, trochee and spondee and number
  of measures tetrameter, pentameter, hexameter,
  etc.
• Mood feeling created by the passage or poem
• Motif a thematic pattern repeated in the
  passage
• Organization the means by which the passage is
  presented chronological, thematic, etc.
• Plot the sequence in which the author arranges
  the story events developed by conflict,
  flashback, foreshadowing, suspense
• Point of View from whose view is the passage
  related note any shifts of speakers
• Punctuation dashes, commas, italics, etc.
• Sentences (Syntax) types, functions, patterns
• Sentence Variety short, long, openings, order

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• Basic Terms for Passage Analysis continued
• Setting the place and time period of the story
• Sound Devices alliteration, assonance,
  consonance, onomatopoeia, rhyme, rhythm
• Style a writers typical way of expressing
  himself, including his choice of diction, syntax
  and imagery
• Syntax Techniques anaphora, antithesis,
  ellipsis, juxtaposition, parallelism, repetition,
  inversion, rhetorical question, punctuation, etc.
• Symbolism a physical object that stands for an
  idea, i.e. our flag represents American ideals
• Theme the unifying idea of the story that
  answers the question, What is the work about?
• Tone authors attitude toward the subject
  (shown by the diction used) any shifts are very
  important
• Voice the speaker or narrator telling the
  story, 1st, 2nd or 3rd person, omniscient, etc.

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• Activity with the poem, Opportunity
• Reflect on the list of terms and check the ones
  that you use with your own students.
• Place check marks next to the terms used
  regularly and place a tentative grade level next
  to those terms.
• Working with the table group, compare
  annotations, discuss order and level for
  introduction of the top 10 terms
• One person serves as the recorder to share table
  results with the whole group

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• Activity with the poem, Opportunity
• Reflect upon on your own teaching to determine
  the aspects of diction, syntax and imagery that
  you should emphasize with their students.
• Write out your list and share it at your table
• One person serves as the recorder to share table
  results, in grade level order, with the whole
  group

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• Purpose of 5-S training
• To provide students the building-blocks needed to
  develop reliable close-reading and analysis
  skills
• To give students using the 5-S close-reading
  skills an edge for better reading and analysis in
  any class

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5-S Strategies for Passage Analysis

• 1. Discover the key sentences. Preview the
  passage by reading the first sentence, the last
  sentence, and by skimming the text in between to
  determine the scope of the work. By carrying out
  this step first, you gain an overview that allows
  for effective pacing.
• 2. Discover the speaker. Look for such things as
  the number of speakers and the narrators point
  of view this is most often either first-person
  (omniscient, limited omniscient, or objective).
  Unless otherwise specified, analyze from the
  speakers vantage point. Note anything that
  gives a clue about the speakers attitude

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5-S Strategies for Passage Analysis

• 3. Discover the situation. What is happening?
  State the situation in one clear sentence. Be
  sure to examine the title of the piece and its
  relevance to the situation.
• 4. Discover the major shifts in structure,
  syntax, or diction, such as wording that evokes
  certain connotations and sudden changes in tone,
  attitude of the author, sentence length, rhythm,
  punctuation, or patterns of imagery. Find areas
  of the passage where you can locate the most
  dramatic changes, and closely annotate them.

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5-S Strategies for Passage Analysis

• 5. Discover obvious concentrations of unusual or
  otherwise significant syntax and its purpose.
• Look for changes in sentence length, sentence
  order, use of punctuation, and typographical
  elements such as italics, sentence inversion, or
  rhetorical questions, etc. that create emphasis.
• Mark the predominant syntax. Often it will guide
  the reader to the part of the passage that
  conveys the most meaning the crux.

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• Activity with the poem, Opportunity
• Participants need to extend the list of elements
  that cause a sudden change or shift within a
  passage.
• Shifts are the clues to meaning that students
  must recognize to successfully decode writing.
• Participants should brainstorm ways that shifts
  occur for instance, changes in sound is a
  helpful beginning
• Using the list of terms as a guide, work at each
  table to find shifts in the poem and the effect
  produced

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• Purpose To demonstrate how the 5-S Strategies
  may be applied to poetry analysis
• Activity with the poem, Richard Cory
• Read the E. A, Robinson poem, Richard Cory,
  aloud. A second and even a third reading aloud is
  helpful to students unused to or afraid of poetry
• Write out your responses to the 5-Ss of the poem
  and share with your group

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• Richard Cory by E.A. Robinson
• Whenever Richard Cory went down town
• We people on the pavement looked at him
• He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
• Clean favored, and imperially slim.
• And he was always quietly arrayed,
• And he was always human when he talked
• But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
• Good-morning, and he glittered when he walked.
• And he was rich yes, richer than a king,
• And admirably schooled in every grace
• In fine, we thought that he was everything
• To make us wish that we were in his place.
• So on we worked, and waited for the light,
• And went without the meat, and cursed the bread

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• There are 3 basic rules for Poetry or Prose
  Analysis
• All of the details within the poem must be
  accounted for in the interpretation none should
  contradict the interpretation.
• The best interpretation is that which requires
  the fewest assumptions but that allows for
  reasonable and logical inferences to be made from
  word clues.
• If you run out of supporting evidence from the
  poem, stop interpreting some things may be left
  unknown. We cannot know why Richard Cory killed
  himself, just that he was distraught enough to do
  so.

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• When creating an Analysis prompt for students
  to address, dont forget
• Analysis comes in two varieties
• The What How type that requires the student
  to identify a What, such as the authors
  attitude or purpose, or the effect of the passage
  upon the reader, and How the author achieved
  the What, such as with the rhetorical
  strategies of diction, syntax, imagery,
  personification, irony, satire, humor,
  punctuation, allusion, etc..
• The Compare Contrast type that requires the
  student to read two passages and compare them for
  similarities and differences in such areas as
  noted above in the What and How discussion.

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• An Example Prompt of the What How sort
• Read the excerpt from A Day in the Life of a
  Writer. Then, analyze the authors attitude
  toward the subject of the passage (what) and its
  effect upon the reader (what). Discuss the
  rhetorical strategies used to achieve both (how)
  and (how).

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• Students should begin their paragraph or essay
  with a claim that broadly answers the what and
  the how, then go on to prove it with evidence
  and explain what is revealed.
• Of course, students are expected to provide
  specific examples from the text of the poem or
  passage to support both the what and the how
  that they claim is true.

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• Activity Prose Analysis
• The following passage contains wording that
  connotes speed, but the syntax does not enhance
  the effect of diction.
• Think of some syntactical tools you could use
  i.e., punctuation, repetition, or clauses and
  phrases linked together in different patterns and
  orders.
• Then experiment with syntax to create a fast
  pace, so the reader feels the rush of the wind
  and the racing vehicle. Change any diction that
  you feel would add to the pacing.
• Share your ideas with your table group and choose
  one sample to read aloud to the whole group.

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• Around the bend sped the yellow racecar.
  Sparks darted from the wheels. The car tilted
  slightly at the bend. Roaring was everywhere.
  The driver felt the whoosh of wind flatten the
  skin on her face. She navigated yet another
  hairpin turn and kept on zooming around the
  track. The wheels appeared to hover above the
  ground. The crowd soon became dizzy with motion.

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Excellent Good Needs Work
Sentences -accurate forecast -examples
Speaker -accurate forecast -pt of view effect
Situation -accurate -connect to title
Shifts -examples -thorough -devices
Syntax -examples -discussion -connection
Crux -main message