General Category Basic Relevant Analytical Questions (See An

Data Dumps for Literature

Writing to Understand/ Discover

These are only the steps for the data dump: you can print as a front to back page for your convenience. Be sure you have read through the entire Data Dumps handout a few times, with all the rationales and details so you know _why_ you are doing this.

Diction/Tone:

o What words/ideas/images keep coming up? List at least 3 specific quotations of 4-15 words each.

o What words have double meanings/ extra connotations? That is, the word has a literal, dictionary, definition, but also brings in another meaning/idea: in Robert Frost’s famous poem “Some say the world will end in fire,” fire is literally the flames that will end the world, but also connotes hell. Identify one such word and the possible meanings it carries in this text.

o Sometimes it's useful to list all the parts of speech, using at least 7 examples in a short poem or in one section of a longer work. For instance, list all the adjectives or nouns or verbs; notice the kind of language the author employs. Is it joyful? Musical? Monotonous? Ebullient? (You get the idea. The list could go on forever.) How? Write a brief sentence explaining.

o Pretend you are the author and read the text as you imagine he or she intended it to be read. Is it satirical, read with dripping sarcasm? Is it full of wonder, read with profound feeling? Romantic? Disparaging? Hopeless? Even-keeled? Now read the poem aloud as if it offended you, delighted you, fascinated you, confused you. How does it change with each kind of reading? This should help you get at the tone of the poem. What tone do you sense? What words/phrases/ images suggest that? List at least 3 specific quotations of 4-15 words each from more than one paragraph.

Word Order:

o What is the sentence rhythm like? Short and choppy? Long and flowing? Does it build on itself or stay at an even pace? What is the style like? List at least 2 examples of these tendencies.

o Look at the punctuation and/or word order. What odd or repetitious moments do you see? List at least 3 specific quotations.

o Is there any repetition of groups of words within the passage? What? What content does it get attached to? List at least 3 specific quotations of 4-15 words each.

o Look at the form of the poem on the page. What does it look like? Is it blocky? Elegant? Ragged? What about line length--are the lines uniform? Uneven? Short? Staggered? How? [This only applies to poems—not prose pieces!]

Time/Person/Voice:

o In what tense is the narrative told? Where do you see it shifting or being surprising? List the actual tense shift, and what is happening before, during and after.

o In what person is the narrative told? Where do you see it shifting or being surprising? List the actual person shift, and what is happening before, during and after.

o In what voice is the narrative told? Where do you see it shifting or being surprising? List the actual voice shift, and what is happening before, during and after.

Symbolic Language:.

o What sort of comparison is being made? Identify the elements of each side of the comparison. [that is “the eye of heaven” compares a part—the eye—to a very big whole—the sun” ] Some possibilities: Object to Object? Part to Whole? Adjacent to Object? Exaggerated to Actual? Understated to Actual? [I care less about your knowing the exact term and more about you identifying the relation set up by the symbolic language.]

o If an object does represent something else, isolate the way that object is described and list key terms: check not just nouns, but adjectives and adverbs. What is rich/detailed about the description? List at least 3 specific quotations of 4-15 words each.

o Also, look for specifics: is the sun compared to God, or are the rays of the sun compared to God’s vision? Point out the specifics of the comparison. List at least 3 specific quotations of 4-15 words each. How do they put surprising concepts together?

o If the symbolic language has a traditional connotation (e.g. water=rebirth), does the author employ that, or does s/he play with that in some way? Example: “withered leaves” are usually associated with death, but at the end of “Ode to the West Wind,” the leaves are driven “over the universe” to “quicken a new birth” of “an unawaken’d earth,” suggesting that they are about rebirth, not death. What terms play with the expected meaning?

Prosody/Poetics:

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• Can you get a sense of meter? Pound out the rhythm on your knee. Are there places where strong stresses take over? Where softer sounds abound? Identify the places where meter changes and what you see it as doing. List the actual meter shift, and what is happening before, during and after.

• Try counting syllables in a number of lines. Does it vary at any point? List the actual syllabic shift, and what is happening before, during and after.

• What about rhyme scheme, if any? Where do rhymes appear unexpectedly, or are forced, or disappear? List the actual rhyme scheme shift, and what is happening before, during and after.

• Does the poem have alliteration (the repetition of consonant sounds) or assonance (the repetition of vowel sounds)? List the actual alliteration, and what is happening before, during and after.

1. Starting Observation: there's a lot of snow in "The Dead"

2. Cluster Dump: Choose at least 2 dumps, preferably to 2 different Data Dump Questions, related to your Starting Observation

I observe the last paragraph

"It had begun to snow again. He watched sleepily the flakes, silver and dark, falling obliquely against the lamplight. The time had come for him to set out on his journey westward. Yes, the newspapers were right: snow was general all over Ireland. It was falling on every part of the dark central plain, on the treeless hills, falling softly upon the Bog of Allen and, farther westward, softly falling into the dark mutinous Shannon waves. It was falling, too, upon every part of the lonely churchyard on the hill where Michael Furey lay buried. It lay thickly drifted on the crooked crosses and headstones, on the spears of the little gate, on the barren thorns. His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead."

way snow is described "falling obliquely." "general all over ireland" "falling on every part" "softly falling"

"lay thickly drifted" "falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling"

so it's connected to place a lot

snow + place

students don;t know what details to put together (ie step 1 of collation) this step lets them start really broad and then back it up with details and hopefully narrow through looking atactual details. note here that there's a little bit of pattern making after first answer--then go back and look for dumps about snow+place. reasonable?

This could start with a data dump of course. This forces them to link it with another dump under the aegis of an "observation"--we might want to map out what taht would look like

on O'Connel bridge "Gabriel pointed to the statue, on which lay patches of snow."

driving away: "only streaks and patches of snow lay on the roofs, on the parapets of the quay and on the area railings. "

Gabriel comes in: "A light fringe of snow lay like a cape on the shoulders of his overcoat and like toecaps on the toes of his goloshes;

"the buttons of his overcoat slipped with a squeaking noise through the snow-stiffened frieze, "

observation with data: snow is connected with place and how it covers/doesn't cover it

student could go either way here--assign a broad category (how do we get them to think about those?) and then narrowing to question and thus specific category. or asking an analytical question which would then link to specifuc category.

well duh. the snow.

2. so now we have an observation with data. Which broad category would this fall into? A what? a how? a why?

HINT: cross out the one you can answer right away!

What connects snow with place and how it covers/doesn't cover it?

How does snow connect with place and how it covers/doesn't cover it?

Why is snow connected to place and how it covers doessn't cover it?