A+ Example of Style and Organization, but I'm Not Sure about the Rest
“More often, however, the third stanza has been perceived as central to the ode’s structure and development. For example, Kenneth Burke described it as ‘the fulcrum’ in the poem’s ‘swing.’”
-From David A. Kent’s essay “On the Third Stanza of Keats’s ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn,’” in Donald Keesey’s Context for Criticism, page 113.
Reading this article to assess the way that it was written was extremely helpful. I have a better picture of how to organize a critical essay, mainly because this one was well organized and easy to understand. I also see that including the authors of opposing arguments is helpful in refuting them an backing up one’s own argument, as we discussed in class. I had not done this in my other essays, and I now see that not doing so made them much weaker than they could have been.
However, I'm not sure that I agree that the third stanza is the climax of the poem as Keant suggests. I would choose the fourth stanza, mainly because the sentence forms used there. Most of them are questions, very different from the other stanzas. If climax is based upon emotional height, then I would agree, but doesn't climax also suggest a turning point. I think the turning point, based on both structure and content, occurs in stanza four, but I'm not the published author. Maybe I'll have to write my next casebook essay on this idea. Even though I don’t
really buy Kent’s entire argument, I do respect the way that he wrote the essay
and learned a lot from looking at its style and organization.
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Katie Vann on A+ Example of Style and Organization, but I'm Not Sure about the Rest: Erica, I liked that you disagr
Jenna on A+ Example of Style and Organization, but I'm Not Sure about the Rest: Erica, I can see what you mean
Erica, I can see what you mean about stanza three. According to dictionary.com, climax is “a decisive moment that is of maximum intensity or is a major turning point in a plot.” With that being said, I agree more with Kent about stanza three being the climax. Before stanza three, there are questions and a description of the people on the urn. Then, bam! Stanza three tells exactly what is happening on the urn as leaves cannot shed and it is spring forever. There are no questions in stanza three; it tells of the life on the urn.
Erica, I liked that you disagreed with some of what Kent said. I read Jenna's blog and then saw your note about your blog. I'm glad I read yours because I see what you mean about the turning point being in the fourth stanza.
Maybe the key to creating a good casebook essay is to find something you don't agree with and write about that. You have a very good point so far.