So, you say, studying seems surreal – especially in English class? Then, consider reading this: a post written to dispel some of the mystery behind literary analysis using SOAPStone.

It’s truly a wonder. Through SOAPStone: How could we possibly know the author’s or poet’s intended audience (to whom a piece was written), without knowing the writer’s background or any pertinent historical facts about that time period? How could we possibly know the purpose of (why the author wrote) a piece of literature, without personally meeting, let alone speaking to, him or her? How could we possibly know the writer’s particular tone (the attitude of the writer) without being in person, making inferences on where the writer is –figuratively-speaking – coming from? Each question appears like an ice block on a beach in Iceland. How could this be?

Back at school, each English class has a set of instructions on SOAPStone that may vary in answer to these questions. Each class follows specific step-by-step instructions as presented by the teacher. These instructions, generally similar in nature across schools, work well for many students. No ice blocks for them. Yet, for some English language learners, mathematicians, or anyone else for whom reading literature is not his or her strength, this might be an especially hard task. Ice blocks galore! To bridge over these surreal impressions, here is a more simplified version of SOAPStone that emerged during a recent lesson with a student of mine.

  • Draw a frame. Before you begin your analysis, draw a frame around the piece of literature: a poem or any other prose. This helps you stay within the borders of the piece. When thoughts come that are a bit far-fetched (and they will come) or ideas come that you have not thought through carefully, discard them. They do not fall within the frame. It’s just like putting a picture frame around something. It serves to keep your thoughts in check: thinking about what is framed, rather than ideas that swarm around about the area outside of the piece of literature.
  • Quick read. Next, skim over the piece initially to get the gist of it – without any worries about comprehension. Just take it in like basting in sunlight. Then, during the second pass, read more closely. Did you know that if you walk away or do something else, before you return to your assignment, in the background of your mind, your thoughts keep trying to problem solve? Give your brain time to process what is being taken in. When you come back to your work, read to fully analyze the piece by following these steps.
  • Do SOAPStone. Let’s look at each step of your analysis. When you take this one step at a time, it actually builds up to a strong study of the piece. As you find answers for each step, remember they build off one other. In other words, naming the speaker helps to describe the audience and the audience to whom the speaker writes. Looking at pervious answers, as you work, helps to connect your ideas. Think in terms of ‘the speaker’ in the piece, what is happening as the speaker writes, who the speaker is writing to, the speaker’s reason behind writing the piece, as so forth :
  • S (speaker) – only the speaker. You might think about different things that, or people who, interact with the speaker, but that would be outside the frame. Once you decide who the speaker is, you might mention action taken by the speaker. But, that’s all that goes here – nothing more.
  • O (occasion) – what happens. This is the event that happens. It’s easy to mention the place here, but this is more about the event that happened, not just a place where something happened. Think what exactly is happening here.
  • A (audience) – who should read it. We might think that the author or poet is writing for himself or herself, especially when it is a reflective piece. But actually, this is far from the case because there is some intention outside of just writing it down. We know this because it takes a while to put something together in a meaningful way. Taking all that time must be intended for someone – whether it is in honor of, or to apologize to and anything in between – someone or a group of people.
  • P (purpose) – why the audience reads it. Depending on the piece, there is going to be a reason behind writing it. There could be so many different reasons. Stay inside the frame, looking at context clues that would hint to why. At this point, you could look above at your work so far. This will help give you hints, too. Try to connect the ideas you wrote down so far as to the reason behind why it was written.
  • S (subject) – what is the bigger picture. The general topic should come, once you consider to whom the speaker is writing and why. If it is hard to pinpoint the subject, just ask yourself: If someone could only listen (for whatever reason) unable to communicate or question, how would you tell them in a short phrase or word about the framed piece compared to anything else the person might be thinking? Share the general nature of the piece.
  • Tone – exactly how the poem sounds. There are kinds of tone words, like categories. For example, negative tones, positive tones, indifferent tones, etc. So, it’s good to think what tone is in the framed piece. What impression does it give? Are you thinking the piece came out of someone angry or optimistic or bored? Besides the categories, another way to find tone is to use DIDLS, look at (diction, imagery, details, language use, and sentence structure). That really helps. They are all clues to the tone. In other words, short, choppy sentences might signal anger, whereas, long drawn out sentences might hint to thoughtful reflection.
  • Your own unique analysis. Remember, whatever you come up with – when you are on the right track – it will all fit together nicely. The ice block begins to melt away. Your hard work will uncover possible meanings. The piece will get clearer as you reread it, even if you move slowly but surely along. Being methodical (an orderly, step-by-step manner) is a plus. Give yourself time to let the ideas sink in. It takes time for ice blocks to melt.

Turn the surreal into the startling. Your thoughts belong to you. They are uniquely your ideas. This is a startling, very cool thing to create – your very own startling analysis of a piece of literature.

 

Each week a photograph wins the Travel Photography Competition through The Big Picture website. This week (Jan. 26, 2018) Emma Stone from Kent won. It’s a surreal image of the frosty Jokulsarlon Beach in Iceland. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/the-big-picture/the-big-picture-photography-competition-round-464/