1. Thesis Statements Dr. Nelson

2. Activity: Build a Better Thesis
Prompt: write an essay analyzing Huckleberry Finn
1) Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn is a great American novel.
What is missing?
2) In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain develops a contrast between life on the river and life on the shore.
3) By developing a contrast between the river and the shore, Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn suggests that in order to find the true expression of American democratic ideals, one must leave "civilized" society and connect with nature.

3. What is a thesis statement?
Addresses the prompt
is clear, potentially disprovable argument about a topic
not a “fact,” an “opinion,” or the “topic of your paper,” but an interpretation that requires supporting evidence.
An interpretation should notice something about a text (how it uniquely applies a literary device, for example) and make a specific claim about how that observation relates to the text’s meaning.

4. Advice Be specific: narrow is better than broad
A broad thesis requires too much information to prove / might feel inconsequential or obvious
“interesting” isn’t specific
Be focused: address one main argument, not several smaller arguments
This is an essay, not a boo; this is a thesis, not an outline
Be objective, not subjective
Interpretations vs. opinions (enjoyable, difficult, etc)

5. Brainstorm: what is your argument?
Think of a specific argument your critic offers that you want to engage with (disagree is easiest)
Cleanth Brook’s reading of beauty and truth as a paradox
What do you want to say? Be specific, not just “I agree/disagree.” There are more than two sides to an interpretation, so you want a specific claim, an alternate reading.
The urn, as a work of art, cannot be anything except beautiful! That’s its truth! How is this a paradox? It’s an equivalency.

6. Now, build your parts Highlight your critic’s claim
Cleanth Brooks interprets the relationship between subjective beauty and objective truth in “Ode on a Grecian Urn” as a paradox
State your engagement (without using “I”)
Beauty and truth are not a paradox, but an equivalency.
The permanent state of beauty is the poem’s conflict

7. Now, build more parts: video
Introduce the video production that you have chosen
Director Justin Kurzel’s 2015 film production of Ode on a Grecian Urn exemplifies this concept of beauty and truth as a paradox
State your engagement (without using “I”)
Kurzel’s artistic interpretation allows the audience to view them less as a paradox, and more as equivalent

8. Now, build another part: Literary Theory
Introduce the vein of literary theory, it’s author, and it’s main claim.
In the novel A Thousand Plateaus by post- structuralist writers Deleuze and Guatarri, they explore the idea of how we understand, gain, and process knowledge.
State your engagement without using “I”.
Within the world of Ode on a Grecian Urn, we can apply the rhizomatic theory of the process of knowledge to the main character’s engagement with the visitors.

9. Now, piece it together and test it
Brook’s interpretation of Ode on a Grecian Urn expresses the idea that beauty and truth are a paradox, which is challenged by Justin Kurt’s 2015 production of the poem, where they are presented as more of an equivalency; this view is further supported by Deleuze and Guatarri, whose rhizomatic understanding of the acquisition of knowledge can be applied to the main character’s interactions with the visitors of the urn, and how they perceive it.

10. Test it: Does it address the prompt? Specific critic + your engagement
Is it clear?
Is it a disprovable interpretation that requires evidence?
Is it specific enough that it won’t require a book to prove?
“Stretch goal”:
Does the interpretation establish a relevant consequence for the poem’s meaning?