MA self-critical essay

[sleslieuk2021]

If anyone has any tips to get a more critical analysis within in an essay I am all ears!
I really struggle with analyses - even when I'm writing about my own work.
I always fall down on this - I'm a very mature student who did a Maths first degree in the 80s and now doing an MA in Poetry.
Thanks in advance

You might be my separated-at-birth/doppelganger/alter-ego - living my dream. I'll pm you if you like. I can talk reading/writing poetry until the cows come home.

So - to be clear - are you actually critiquing your own work now or is this a more general problem you (think you) have? Are you working to a deadline and a word limit now?

When did you start the MA?

Started it Sept 2020 - went part time.
Ah so kind of you. Any advice gratefully received!
Best
Sarah

P.S.

Its critiquing my own poetry - 15 poems

Have you thoroughly checked your course handbook? There should be very clear criteria on the specific marking system your institution is using.

(Another almost-twin. Your OP makes me so nostalgic for the frantic July / August I spent on a similar-ish MA essay a few years ago.)

Hi
Yes - I use it all the time! I just struggle with critical analysis - both when I read the literature on the course and when I'm writing about it.

This is what I get for my essays in one form or another:
It does tend to stay at description of process rather than consideration of larger issues in poetics – eg. somatics, or testimony, with which you might engage more conceptually.

Are you me? I too did a Maths degree in the 80s, then an MA in Creative Writing (finished 2019).

For critical analysis, I found it helped to think of it as a scientific experiment: premise, selected methodology, results and conclusion. (With examples along the way). (Still hated it though!)