Purpose

For this Spotlight, write a paragraph that introduces your reader to the poem you’ll be writing about, and that leads them toward your own ideas about the poem.

Content

There are several things that this paragraph needs to do. In this case, you know that I’ve assigned these poems, and so you can be fairly confident that I’ve read them. However, what we’re practicing for in this class is college writing, and very often—both in your classes and your career—you’ll be asked to write about something your readers haven’t read. Therefore, this paragraph has several jobs.

First, you need to introduce the poem, very literally. Early in the paragraph you’ll need to mention the title and author, so that your readers know what poem you’re talking about. Depending on what you want to say in the paper, you might also want to provide some details or background about the source—facts like where the poem takes place, when it was written, who Martín Espada is, things like that.

Second, you’ll need to summarize the poem. You need to provide an overview of the poem, explaining the “what happens” part. This shouldn’t be long—this is one part of one paragraph, after all—but it should give your readers enough that they know what’s going on in the poem.

Finally, you’ll want to suggest what you’re wanting to say about the poem. You might think about this as a topic sentence for your paper.¹ As you conclude your summary, try to lead your reader toward what you see in the poem. Tell them the point you’ll want to make in your paper.

Where It Fits

This Paragraph Spotlight is one that has a specific place in your paper: the beginning. This doesn’t necessarily need to be your first paragraph, but it should work fine there if you like. Whether or not you want it to be your very first paragraph, though, you’ll definitely need to put this paragraph before you start discussing the details of the poem.