Developing a Thesis Statement
When it comes time to write a close analysis essay, the first thing to do is formulate a thesis statement. You may end up changing it as you go, but having some idea of your argument will help you stay focused. Your teacher will likely have provided you with a prompt or an assignment, and if you’ve done a thorough job of reading and taking notes in the form of annotation or a graphic organizer, you will probably have more ideas than you can actually use in the essay.
For example, your reading may have revealed the intense and vivid imagery that Komunyakaa develops. You may have also noticed mythic allusions to Mercury and sea monsters, and underlying themes — like the transformative power of the game. You might also have noticed the feeling that trouble always seems to be looming nearby, but never seems to touch the players while they’re playing.
You may have noted the poem’s syntax, with lines that alternate between sentences and fragments. Does this pattern suggest the quick movements of the game? There are several ways to approach this poem and many possible interpretations. Let’s say your teacher has assigned you the following prompt: Write an essay in which you discuss how the style and structure of Yusef Komunyakaa’s “Slam, Dunk, & Hook” convey the speaker’s attitude toward the game of basketball.
Remember, your thesis must be an interpretation: an argument about the meaning of the poem that you will support with evidence from the text. You should avoid creating a thesis statement that is so broad that it just restates the prompt or assignment, such as the following: Yusef Komunyakaa uses style and structure to convey the speaker’s attitude toward the game of basketball in his poem “Slam, Dunk, & Hook.” Not only does this thesis fail to mention which specific elements the writer plans to discuss, but it also fails to identify the speaker’s attitude.
The thesis needs to focus on specific characteristics of the poem’s style and structure, so that in the body of the essay you can analyze how they help convey your interpretation of the speaker’s attitude toward the game of basketball. On the other hand, it is important not to narrow your thesis so much that there is nothing to say about it, such as the following:
Although this thesis isolates a style element — classical allusions — it does not interpret the speaker’s attitude, nor does it recognize the complexity of the poem. You could not discuss a thesis like this for long before running out of things to say. A good thesis should be expressed clearly and should inform the reader of the essay’s purpose. It is the backbone of your essay, and everything in the essay will connect to it. Working with the prompt above, let’s consider the poem’s style and structure.
Looking back at what we’ve noted about “Slam, Dunk, & Hook” in the annotations, we see many vivid images of action, grace, beauty, and the players’ “sprung rhythm.” We also find danger: the danger of a “roundhouse / Labyrinth,” and “Trouble . . . slapping a blackjack / Against an open palm.” The players are also “Beautiful & dangerous,” and when they are on the court they are able to outmanoeuvre the “bad angels” in their lives.
The game seems to help the players both escape the world, and transcend it. They are not just playing basketball with a rickety hoop nailed to an oak tree; they are gods like “Mercury,” they are “sea monsters,” they are “metaphysical.” Remembering that it is always important to address a work’s complexity, we might develop the following thesis — though this is only one possibility — for an essay that examines the way the style and structure of “Slam, Dunk, & Hook” conveys the speaker’s attitude.