Literary Critiques have always been a large aspect of Creative Writing. And while many of our students dread the so-called “Lit Crit Week,” I have found a method that alleviates that trepidation, at least for me. After choosing a piece of writing to analyze, instead of holing up alone in my room and painstakingly trying to squeeze every bit of analysis that I can out of a piece, I sit down with my peers to discuss it. This way, we all get a wider range of insight, and brainstorm in active conversation, as opposed to just thinking about the writing independently. This week, we have been teaming up in groups of four or five to work on our essays, and by the time we take our daily 2:30 break, the poems are heavily annotated, and some group members even have several paragraphs written, ready to be reviewed by a peer or two. 

I have found this to not only be more enjoyable, but also more productive and fruitful in terms of quality of work. Working in small groups is wildly helpful for getting good analysis work done. However, when it comes to more personal poetry, I find that that type of work is more pleasant to write solo. In the case of the lit crits, the accompanying Creative Response is one of these poems that I would much rather complete with a cup of tea alone in my room. Collaborative essay writing is a great help for many of my classmates as well as myself, and I am so glad to have incorporated this tactic into my peers’ writing habits as well.