How to Develop a Commentary

IOCs & IOPs

--Oral Commentaries on a PASSAGE--

BEFORE arriving for your oral commentary...

1.  Know where the book/whole text is going for yourself! You should already have settled on 1-3 major themes and judgments.

2.  Know what the key passages are! You should not come into the commentary and be surprised about any passage that awaits you.  All the passages should be ones we've covered in some way in class and most are probably ones you isolated out in your own reading as notable.  Spend some time reviewing passages you know we've covered so you are well-prepared.

 

DURING your PREPARATION time (20 minutes)...

1.  Identify the passage, familiarize yourself with how/if it has been cut (i.e., there's an ellipse--[...]), and access your prior knowledge about the passage. Again, you should not be surprised about any passage you might get.  You should already know quite a lot about any key passage you might get.

2.  Read the passage and start taking notes and marking techniques. Highlight, underline, circle, mark it, mark it, mark it and make sure you can understand your own markings for easy reference during your commentary.

3.  Re-read the passage and add more markings as needed.

4.  Settle on your thesis (quickly!) and the function of the passage. Sample language to use: "This passage reinforces the idea...." "This passage introduces..." "This passage opposes..."

5.  Organize your commentary, particularly the order of your evidence and analysis. Remember, your commentary should have a beginning, middle, and an end (see next section).

 

DURING your oral commentary...(remember: 15 mins.!)

1.  Begin with a brief statement of where you're going. This should not be a formal, long, and detailed thesis like you'd write out in an essay.  You should introduce your theme and the function of the passage, though.

2.  Present your evidence and analysis. Build your evidence and analysis up step by step to fully prove your thesis.

3.  Wrap up your analysis with a conclusion. This is your opportunity to really make sure you've "sold" your thesis.

--Oral Commentaries on a POEM--

BEFORE arriving for your oral commentary...

1.  Know major themes the poet focuses on! You should already have settled on 1-3 major themes for each poet.

2.  Know the poems we've covered! You should not come into the commentary and be surprised about any poem that awaits you.  All the poems should be ones we've covered in some way in class.  Spend some time reviewing poems you know we've covered so you are well-prepared.

 

DURING your PREPARATION time (20 minutes)...

1.  Identify the poem, familiarize yourself with how/if it has been cut (i.e., there's an ellipse--[...]), and access your prior knowledge about the poem. Again, you should not be surprised about any poem you might get.  You should already know quite a lot about it.

2.  Read the poem and start taking notes and marking techniques. Highlight, underline, circle, mark it, mark it, mark it and make sure you can understand your own markings for easy reference during your commentary.

3.  Re-read the poem SEVERAL times and add more markings as needed.

4.  Settle on your thesis (quickly!) and how the poem fits in the work we've studied by this same poet. (Also, if the poem is only part of a poem, be aware of how it functions within the whole of the poem.)  Sample language to use: "This poem explores <insert theme here> but with different results than <this other poem by the same author>...." "This poem revisits <insert theme here> which the poet explores in <name of other poem>..." "This poem opposes the idea of _________ presented in <this other poem by the same author>..." "This part of the poem clearly [pick one of the following]concludes/introduces/opposes/provides evidence for/changes the tone of/changes the mood of..... the earlier/later parts of the poem..."

5.  Organize your commentary, particularly the order of your evidence and analysis. Remember, your commentary should have a beginning, middle, and an end (see next section).

 

DURING your oral commentary...(remember: 15 mins.!)

1.  Begin with a brief statement of where you're going. This should not be a formal, long, and detailed thesis like you'd write out in an essay.  You should introduce your theme (and if appropriate, the function) of the poem, though.

2.  Present your evidence and analysis. Build your evidence and analysis up step by step to fully prove your thesis.

3.  Wrap up your analysis with a conclusion. This is your opportunity to really make sure you've "sold" your thesis.

Practice

Okay, slow down - practice before each oral is also very important. But more important is how you carry this out. Ineffective 'practice' only wastes time.

Before actually carrying out a mock run-through, make sure you know all the poems, play extracts, speeches and novel well. Particularly useful is knowing the themes, major scenes (for plays & novels), characters, literary features and context of the author/poet/playwright - which you can refer to throughout the commentary to gain marks in 'Knowledge', 'Interpretation'.

Remember also to look at the markscheme! Its worth noting that if you don't name literary features & say its effect, you can't expect to get higher than a 4/5 out of 10 for for 'Interpretation & Personal Response'.

Also, it helps to time yourself writing a commentary about one of the extracts because, although you're not speaking, it (1) lets you structure and convey your analysis in more detail and helps you expand on your ideas (since the aim of an oral commentary is essentially the same - to analyse an extract in detail) , (2) lets you practice for your Paper 1 coming at the end of the year,  and (3) gives your vocal chords a well-deserved rest. [Here's one for Daffodils - though I admit I did go slightly overboard for this]

One thing I found very helpful when I prepared for my own oral was to let my teacher see these written practice commentaries to (1) correct any mis-interpretations, (2) show my dedication and hard work ;) for this subject, and (3) mark it according to the criteria to see which areas to improve in. I also recorded myself reading these written essays and played them once or twice over to make use of what I call dead-time (eg. whilst on the bus to school).

Honestly, although it really helped, it was very unpractical to do this for all the 15 extracts we were given, so, I only did these for a few, and made bullet-point notes for the rest. [Here's one for Solitary Reaper - Wordsworth]

Anyhow, even with the joy of writing with no time limit, it might be helpful to keep these in mind:

BEFORE writing your commentary...

1.  Know major themes the author focuses on! You should already have settled on 1-3 major themes.  If you're writing on a passage in a book, you should also have considered judgments for those themes.

2.  Only write on a key passage or a poem you understand well. A passage should not be longer than 40-60 lines.  The same rule applies to poems, so some of the poems we've read this year will have to be cut down.

3.  Study the passage/poem and mark it up.  Use class notes to help with this.

4.  Settle on your thesis statement.  Remember, if you're doing a passage commentary or part of a poem, you need to demonstrate how the selection functions within the text as a whole.  If you're doing a poem or a short essay that can stand on it's own (not an excerpt), you need to demonstrate how that text fits into other works by the same author/poet.

5.  Outline/organize your commentary.  No matter how much time you have to write, outlining makes your writing time more efficient and, theoretically, it will help you put together a stronger argument.  Also, because you are writing a commentary, you need to make sure you have a conclusion to reinforce your ideas about the function of the text and your judgment statement.

WHILE writing your commentary...

1.  Stay focused. Follow the outline you made.

2.  Present as much textual evidence as possible and analyze each piece in depth. Build your evidence and analysis up step by step to fully prove your thesis.

3.  Tie your analysis of each piece back into all or part of your thesis.

4.  Proofread/read aloud to yourself to check for clarity and errors.

Back to Main IOC Page