What would a good grabber be for this paper?

Question

I am writing a very formal paper explaining a poem. The poem is "Brahma" by R. W. Emerson. I've never written an essay that had to be so formal that you can't use personal pronouns, so could you help? Thanks.

Answer 1

You'll have to employ "clefting" in order to speak about the poem as an object of study. Instead of thinking of the essay as being addressed to an individual audience, or even a group, consider that you are talking about an object that both you and your audience are looking at.

Good sentence starters that might help you are:

"In line 9, the poem conveys..."

"It is clear that..."

"Emerson's intent with the third stanza seems to be..."

etc.

Remember that your audience (your professor) is familiar with the poem, so you don't have to spell everything out in exacting detail. Just be sure you are making it clear which line or stanza you are talking about (use line numbers or stanza numbers, as in my example).

Good luck!