A Claim About a Poem
IntroducedThe same two components, a shorter text
- A claim requires defense with evidence from the text, and the paragraph's initial components are the claim and that evidence.
- A poem gives you fewer words, so the evidence is denser and the claim must be narrower.
- A claim about a whole poem in one paragraph is nearly always too wide.
A short poem can support a precise claim; demanding that it prove everything is packing a wardrobe into a teacup.
"The poem is about grief" is a claim that requires defence.
Nobody could disagree with it, so it is not a claim at all.
Details in combination
- Writers read closely to identify details that, in combination, enable a claim.
- In a poem the combination is often a device plus a position: a metaphor in the final line.
- One device alone rarely supports a claim; a device doing something structural usually does.
A claim that needs five quotations to defend is probably...
A one-paragraph claim should be defensible with two or three quotations.
Quoting a poem
- Quote by line, and mark a line break with a slash: "she never / forgave the house."
- Keep quotations short — two or three words is often the strongest evidence a poem offers.
- Quote the exact words your claim depends on, not the whole line they sit in.
Is this claim the right size for one paragraph?
Sort each statement by whether a single paragraph could defend it.
When quoting across a line break, mark the break with a ____.
"she never / forgave the house."
A claim about the whole poem is too wide for one paragraph. "The poem is about grief" cannot be defended or disagreed with. Narrow until the claim names something a reader could contest — a speaker's evasion, a metaphor's failure, a break that delays a word.
Match each claim to its problem or strength.
Contestable and defensible in two or three quotations — that is the target.
Sizing the claim to the paragraph
- A one-paragraph claim should be defensible with two or three quotations.
- If it needs five, it is really two claims and should be split.
- The speaker cannot say the word is a paragraph; the poem is about grief is not a claim at all.
Select all the questions in the poetry-paragraph check.
Length is not one of the components.
A poetry-paragraph check
- Could a careful reader disagree with my claim?
- Can I defend it with two or three short quotations from this poem?
- Does each quotation contain the exact words the claim rests on?
Claim: the speaker can name everything at the funeral except the person. Evidence: the poem lists "the weather, the flowers, the length of it," and its only reference to the dead is "the reason we were there." Two quotations, one narrow claim, and a reader could argue with it.
The paragraph's initial components are the claim and the textual evidence — a claim requires defense, so if nobody could disagree, narrow it. In a poem, look for details in combination: a device plus a position. Quote by line with a slash for a break, and keep quotations short.