Paper 1: Ballad Close Reading
From UCSB English Department Knowledge Base
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Short paper #1: Ballad close reading
Due: October 26, 2005
In this short paper, you will be doing a close reading of one of the ballads to explain/argue its relation to the popular. What this means is that you will be looking carefully at the language, structure, imagery and plot of the ballad to try to figure out how it is representing or commenting on a particular type, group, or class of individual(s).
You might consider one or more of the following questions:
- Does the ballad present this type/group/class/individual as normative or aberrant?
- Does the piece have a moral or particular social message?
- What is the apparent purpose of the work; in other words, how is it designed to affect the reader? Does the structure and meter of the poem match the subject matter, or is there a conflict between these?
- What kind of effect do the syntax, imagery, and figurative language of the poem have in creating our understanding of the groups or individual(s) it discusses?
- Does it privilege its subject matter or demean it?
- What is the speaker’s attitude towards the material?
- How does the poem’s structure shape our understanding of the story; what parts of it are emphasized or glossed over?
Your paper should be 3 - 4 pages in Times Roman 12 pt font, with 1-inch margins. It should follow MLA format guidelines, and should (read must) contain the following:
- A clearly articulated argumentative thesis that stakes a claim about representation(s) of the popular or popular culture in the ballad. (This means that your paper should not just tell us what you see happening in the ballad, but also what the broader significance of this is; in other words, “so what”.)
- Specific textual evidence and support for your claims (this means quoting the relevant lines of the ballad and explaining how they relate to and develop your thesis).
- A conclusion that briefly summarizes your argument AND relates your argument back to its broader context (if we now understand your argument, what does this do to our understanding of the ballads, their possible social context, etc.)
Remember that you need to work closely with the text. This assignment involves you working within the ballad to examine the language, imagery, structure and narrative. You need to quote relevant parts of the work AND also explain how these sections develop your meaning. Avoid making claims that you cannot and/or do not support from the text. Also, please explain the significance of all the quotes that you do use, and trim the quotes accordingly.
