Lesson 2: Personal Response vs. Analysis
Read the poem below once and focus on how it makes you feel or what it makes you think about.
THE EARLY PURGES by Seamus Heaney
I was six when I first saw kittens drown.
Dan Taggart pitched them, 'the scraggy wee shits',
Into a bucket; a frail metal sound,
Soft paws scraping like mad. But their tiny din
Was soon soused. They were slung on the snout
Of the pump and the water pumped in.
'Sure, isn't it better for them now?' Dan said.
Like wet gloves they bobbed and shone till he sluiced
Them out on the dunghill, glossy and dead.
Suddenly frightened, for days I sadly hung
Round the yard, watching the three sogged remains
Turn mealy and crisp as old summer dung
Until I forgot them. But the fear came back
When Dan trapped big rats, snared rabbits, shot crows
Or, with a sickening tug, pulled old hens' necks.
Still, living displaces false sentiments
And now, when shrill pups are prodded to drown
I just shrug, 'Bloody pups'. It makes sense:
'Prevention of cruelty' talk cuts ice in town
Where they consider death unnatural
But on well-run farms pests have to be kept down.
Read the samples attached to this unit to see a few reactions to this poem.
A personal response is your gut reaction to a piece of writing, art or music. Your response is formed by your own background, beliefs and emotions, and there is no one right way to respond. Each of the above students reacted differently to the poem based on who they are. They key to personal response is trying to make some sort of connection to a piece of writing. If you find you cannot immediately connect, try thinking about what the poem reminds you of such as a book you read, a movie your saw or someone you know, or what similar situations you can bring to mind, like Michael did in the last response. Personal response is all about connection, and we cannot truly learn until we can connect with the material.
For each of the poems covered in this unit, try writing a personal response. Only one of the responses will be evaluated by your teacher for a summative grade, so choose your best one.
For the next two assignments, you will be marked according to this rubric.
THE EARLY PURGES by Seamus Heaney
I was six when I first saw kittens drown.
Dan Taggart pitched them, 'the scraggy wee shits',
Into a bucket; a frail metal sound,
Soft paws scraping like mad. But their tiny din
Was soon soused. They were slung on the snout
Of the pump and the water pumped in.
'Sure, isn't it better for them now?' Dan said.
Like wet gloves they bobbed and shone till he sluiced
Them out on the dunghill, glossy and dead.
Suddenly frightened, for days I sadly hung
Round the yard, watching the three sogged remains
Turn mealy and crisp as old summer dung
Until I forgot them. But the fear came back
When Dan trapped big rats, snared rabbits, shot crows
Or, with a sickening tug, pulled old hens' necks.
Still, living displaces false sentiments
And now, when shrill pups are prodded to drown
I just shrug, 'Bloody pups'. It makes sense:
'Prevention of cruelty' talk cuts ice in town
Where they consider death unnatural
But on well-run farms pests have to be kept down.
Read the samples attached to this unit to see a few reactions to this poem.
A personal response is your gut reaction to a piece of writing, art or music. Your response is formed by your own background, beliefs and emotions, and there is no one right way to respond. Each of the above students reacted differently to the poem based on who they are. They key to personal response is trying to make some sort of connection to a piece of writing. If you find you cannot immediately connect, try thinking about what the poem reminds you of such as a book you read, a movie your saw or someone you know, or what similar situations you can bring to mind, like Michael did in the last response. Personal response is all about connection, and we cannot truly learn until we can connect with the material.
For each of the poems covered in this unit, try writing a personal response. Only one of the responses will be evaluated by your teacher for a summative grade, so choose your best one.
For the next two assignments, you will be marked according to this rubric.
Assignment 10F: (email to your teacher when finished)
In separate paragraphs, write personal responses for each the following poems: The Early Purges, Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening (from Lesson 4) and Dulce Et Decorum Est (from Lesson 5). Please indicate in the title or first few sentences of your paragraph which poem/poet you are responding to.
Assignment 11S: (email to your teacher when finished)
Select your best response from assignment 10F. Edit it based on the feedback you received from your teacher, and submit it as a good copy.