Resources for the Critical Lens Essay

Here is a webpage with directions for how to write your Critical Lens essay, as well as a sample essay:

Directions for Writing the Critical Lens

A "6" on the Critical Lens uses multiple apt literary elements, sophisticated voabulary, and skilled transitions.  Here is an example:

Level 6 Critical Lens

A "5" on the Critical Lens is not as detailed as a  "6", but shows good control by maintaining a strong focus.  Scroll down to pages 36 and 37 of this document to see an example:

Critical Lens Sample Essays

Question 27: The Literary Element Question

This question is a softball.  Think of it as your free throw question - as long as you've practiced, it's an easy two points.

Here's the question.  It never changes.

Choose a specific literary element (e.g., theme, characterization, structure, point of view, etc.) or literary technique (e.g., symbolism, irony, figurative language, etc.) used by  one of the authors. Using specific details from either Passage I or Passage II, in a well-developed paragraph, show how the author uses that element or technique to develop the passage.

Step 1.  Choose the passage you want to use.  You only need to use ONE passage for this question.  Repeat this out loud:  I only need to use ONE passage for question #27.

Step 2. Decide which literary element you will be using.  I recommend using characterization, figurative language, imagery.  One of them will surely be evident in one of the passages. Choose the one that is most apparent and important in the passage.  (For a reminder about literary elements, click here.)

Step 3.  Choose two examples of that literary element in the text.

Step 4.  For each of your examples, explain how the example contributes to the meaning of the passage.

Okay, let's practice with the poem "Today" by Billy Collins and an excerpt from "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" by James Thurber.

Passage One 

If ever there were a spring day so perfect,

so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze

that it made you want to throw

open all the windows in the house

and unlatch the door to the canary's cage,

indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,

a day when the cool brick paths

and the garden bursting with peonies

seemed so etched in sunlight

that you felt like taking

a hammer to the glass paperweight

on the living room end table,

releasing the inhabitants

from their snow-covered cottage

so they could walk out,

holding hands and squinting

into this larger dome of blue and white,

well, today is just that kind of day.

Passage Two

"We're going through!" The Commander's voice was like thin ice breaking. He wore his full-dress uniform, with the heavily braided white cap pulled down rakishly over one cold gray eye. "We can't make it, sir. It's spoiling for a hurricane, if you ask me." "I'm not asking you, Lieutenant Berg," said the Commander. "Throw on the power lights! Rev her up to 8,500! We're going through!" The pounding of the cylinders increased: ta-pocketa-pocketa-pocketa-pocketapocketa. The Commander stared at the ice forming on the pilot window. He walked over and twisted a row of complicated dials. "Switch on No. 8 auxiliary!" he shouted. "Switch on No. 8 auxiliary!" repeated Lieutenant Berg. "Full strength in No. 3 turret!" shouted the Commander. "Full strength in No. 3 turret!" The crew, bending to their various tasks in the huge, hurtling eight-engined Navy hydroplane, looked at each other and grinned. "The Old Man'll get us through," they said to one another. "The Old Man ain't afraid of Hell!" ...

Step 1.  Choose your passage.  I will use Passage One.

Step 2. Choose your literary element.  I notice a lot of figurative language.  I am going to use that.

Step 3.  I need to find two examples of imagery.  I will use:

"the garden bursting with peonies"

"into this larger dome of blue and white"

Step 4.  How do these images contribute to the meaning of the poem?

Well, Collins is clearly trying to create a mood of exuberance and liberation.  The first quote, "the garden bursting with peonies,"  puts an image in the reader's mind of a garden full of life and vitality.  That is a very joyful and happy image.  The second quote, "into this larger dome of blue and white," portrays the sky as much more expansive and big than the little globe the "inhabitants" were stuck in before.  So, it gives the reader a feeling of freedom.

Time to put it all together!  Here's mine:

The poet uses imagery to create a mood of exuberance and liberation.  For example, when he describes "the garden bursting with peonies," it paints a picture of a beautiful garden full of life.  This contributes to a joyful, exuberant mood.  In the final stanza, he describes inhabitants of a snow globe walking out "into this larger globe of blue and white."  This image makes the sky seem expansive and the reader imagines the freedom the inhabitants must feel.  Both these images develop a mood of exuberance and liberation in the poem.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE:

Let's say I chose Passage 2.  Imagery is not such a good literary element for this passage.  I would use characterization instead.  Here's my paragraph:

The author uses characterization to portray the Commander as a brave, dominant person.  For example, the author describes the Commander as "wearing his full-dress uniform, showing the reader that he is official and serious man.  When the ship is in trouble, the Commander tells his Leutenient, "I'm not asking you, sir," showing that he knows he is in charge.  We can also see the Commander's character through the opinion sof other characters.  One of the men says, "The old man ain't afraid of Hell," showing that his men believe the commander is fearless.  The author uses many different kinds of characterization to show that the Commander is a brave and dominant leader.

Both these examples use the same basic template:

The author uses <LITERARY ELEMENT> to show that ____________.  For example, <INSERT FIRST EXAMPLE>.  This shows that <EXPLAIN WHAT YOUR EXAMPLE SHOWS>.  Similarly, <INSERT SECOND EXAMPLE>.  This shows that <EXPLAIN WHAT YOUR EXAMPLE SHOWS>. The author uses <LITERARY ELEMENT> to show that ____________.  The author uses <LITERARY ELEMENT> to show that ____________.