Writing+a+commentary+for+unseen+passages+and+extracts

= [|Writing the Commentary in English A1] = = = HOW TO WRITE A COMMENTARY = = Create an organizing principle for your commentary around which your answer is based. Often this will be centered around the question which directs you towards an element to analyze. However, you need to begin by focusing on a detail which you can use to lead in to the main thrust of your answer to the question. = = A commentary benefits by paying close attention to the use of language. 1. After reading the passage and tracking it for repeated references, patterns of imagery, structure, movement, sounds etc; you should step back and first ask: = = What is the main point of this passage? What is the message in this particular extract? What do we learn about the characters here? How does the writer convey this message using__? = = What is my personal response to this scene? How do I react as a member of an audience? = = 2. You then decide on overall answers to these questions and introduce your response by picking a detail from list of features above and mentioning it as a striking feature of the passage. = = 3. You then further support your answer by showing how the other elements reinforce your interpretation. = = 4. It is important to pay attention to the means of representation and to address not only the question of WHAT is said but that of HOW it is said. Questions concerning voice, perspective, and point of view may be considered, as might, for example, the relations between the voice of the text and the reader/addressee. Equally, a good commentary may well consider the assumptions that are implicitly or explicitly made by the text or attributed to the reader and the ways in which configurations of imagery and thematic developments are set up and manipulated. = =  However, certain tendencies should be avoided: = = 1. A commentary should not be a précis of the passage. Summary and description are not commentary. It is generally preferable not to proceed line-by-line through a passage from beginning to end; instead, one should identify important themes or elements and then discuss each of those in turn, illustrating with examples from the passage. = = 2. A commentary should not __dwell __ on the context of the passage. NOTE WELL:any comments that do concern the wider context should remain secondary. They must emerge directly from an analysis of the passage or illuminate it in some way. Venturing into other parts of the work from which the extract is taken may work well with oral commentary and World Lit Paper #2. As an aside, it is quite possible to write a successful commentary on a passage drawn from a text with which one is unfamiliar, as commentary is meant to be an exercise in analysis OF THE GIVEN PASSAGE (hence, the UNSEEN COMMENTARY). = = 3. There should be a clear distinction between a commentary (focused on a particular passage) and an essay that discusses an entire work or authorial oeuvre. = = <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">4. It is not necessary to write out LONG quotations from the passage. This can waste valuable time. Passages for commentary in examinations always have the lines numbered and it is easier and more economical to refer to extracts by citing these. = = <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Final points:  <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">The introduction must make an impact on the reader. NEVER, NEVER TELL THE EXAMINER WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO IN YOUR COMMENTARY. GET STRAIGHT DOWN TO ANALYZING. THERE ISN <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande',serif; font-size: 9pt;">’ <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">T TIME TO WASTE! Students who begin saying what they are going to do clearly haven <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande',serif; font-size: 9pt;">’ <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">t planned their answers and are not ready to start writing. = = <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;"> Source: //<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages //<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">, University of Cambridge Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 9DA