Literary Theory Graphic Organizer
“The History Lesson”
Note: Not all theories will yield rich interpretations. As such, you only need to analyze the text from three of the four perspectives provided.
| Theory | Evidence from the text | Analysis (What does this theory reveal about the text that you might not otherwise notice?) |
| Reader Response | “Out of the belly of Christopher’s ship.” | The poem offers the readers some insight into Columbus’s achievements and the things that took place between Europeans. In the first reading, it was hard to look at what they had been talking about until I read it repeatedly several times. Some other achievements from Columbus that can be noted from this part of the poem include civilization, although, as can be noted in the poem, this came with many fatal ailments that the Native Indians were not used to before the conquest. These include smallpox, which reached America and much devastated the Natives. Further, the Europeans Columbus came with participated in activities that turned out to be breathing/burying fields and forests. This part of the poem places dents on the vast history of the eminence of the Americas before and after colonization by presenting how the civilization furthered the demolition of the natural environment. |
| .Archetypal | “unholy search for the power glimpsed in a garden forever closed forever lost” | The approach the Europeans used in gaining their land was through starting war and violence. This part of the poem subverts the written history of how Europeans brought about civilization in America through war and violence. The poem defeats the history lessons by giving prominence to the antagonistic repercussions of America being taken by the Europeans even though the historical chronicles focus on the positive consequence of culture to America. Firstly, the Europeans did this by devastating wildlife by an indiscriminate bombardment that cannot be written off as merely a practice of civilization as such would be somewhat satirical. |
| Feminist | “Red coated knights gallop across the prairie to get their men and to build a new world.” | It looked as if the only people given the responsibility of making decisions were men, as there were given the responsibility of making money and going to war. There had been no option for women to take part in anything. It may not necessarily mention in the poem, but have a likelihood of women staying home and cooking and raising children. |
| Post-colonial | “waiting to mutilate whole civilizations ten generations at a blow.” | The Europeans came to the Americas, destroyed everything, took everything they wanted like land, and took it over controllably and powerfully. The Europeans ruined the Native and with a curse (alcohol, Rice Krispies). |