How to Kick IB Language A Paper One's Butt by Analyzing a Poem - Part Two: Criterion B

Now Nardvark (via his alter-ego Nerdvark) has ripped a poem to shreds ("I am Tourist" by Adrian Mitchell) and is ready to apply "Criterion B: Appreciation of the writer's choices."

Here "the writer's choices" refers to such features as form, words, literary techniques the author/poet used, and so on.  So in Criterion A you needed to show your understanding, which you arrived at by analyzing the stylistic features.  Now you need to explain HOW your discoveries shaped your understanding, and you need to do this with PEE.

Let's look at an example.

Nardvark taunts Nerdvark with a delicious mayo and pb sammich in an effort to get some quality homework out of him.

Nerdvark realizes that the poem mocks tourists.  To prove it, he makes a point:

In this poem, tourists are conveyed as being stupid.

He gives an example:

For example, the poet makes very little use of punctuation in the poem.

And he explains how his example proves his point, and ultimately answers the question or refers back to his thesis.

Omitting such a basic feature of the language as punctuation makes the poem sound very childish and therefore makes the narrator, the tourist, appear idiotic.  The poet uses this feature to mock the tourist-narrator.

Nerdvark can now go through the rest of the features he found in the same manner.  Enough PEEing, and your "analysis and appreciation of the ways in which language, structure, and technique shape meaning" will be considered very good.  Ta-daa: five out of five on Criterion B!

Now go to "How to Kick IB Language A Paper One's Butt - Part 3: Criterion C" and "How to Kick IB Language A Paper One's Butt - Part 4: Criterion D."

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