Good critical questions should be open, not closed. A closed question leaves no room for discussion; it either leads to a single, factual answer (i.e. What year did the Titanic sink?) or a yes/no answer (i.e. Did the engineers who designed the Titanic screw up?).

Open questions leave a lot of room for interpretation and varying points of view. They usually begin with “Why” or “How,” and never lead to a “yes” or “no” answer. Consider the difference between the above questions and the open questions below:

Ø       In the movie Titanic, why was Rose so willing to turn her back on privileged society and a safe, comfortable marriage?

Ø       How does the movie Titanic show class and gender stereotypes?

Ø       Why does the band keep playing as the Titanic sinks? Why don’t the musicians leave when they have a chance?

Ø       Why did they launch lifeboats that were less than half full? What were the consequences of that decision?

As you can see, these four questions can actually lead to a lively class discussion.

Developing critical questions can also help you develop ideas for your papers, as a critical question usually lies at the heart of any good thesis. (Reminder: A thesis is the analytic point of your paper; it is the interpretation you are attempting to prove. It is important that you look at your analysis as a form of persuasion.)

These comments will also serve as material for your class participation, so take your time on them.

Below are two sets of sample critical questions. The poems they refer to are also included.

In the Station of the Metro
by Ezra Pound

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;

Petals on a wet, black bough.

1. What are the connotations of the word "apparition"? How do these connotations help the reader understand how the speaker feels about the people he sees in the subway?
2. Pound compares the "faces" of line 1 to "petals" in line 2. What does this metaphor mean? How does the comparison further the point of the poem?
3. What is the mood of the poem? How do you know this? How does the absences of verbs in the poem reinforce its mood and meaning?

Metaphors

by Sylvia Plath

I'm a riddle in nine syllables.
An elephant, a ponderous house,
A melon strolling on two tendrils.
O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!
This loaf's big with its yeasty rising.
Money's new-minted in this fat purse.
I'm a means, a stage, a cow in calf.
I've eaten a bag of green apples,

Boarded the train there's no getting off.
 

1. What is the answer to the poem's "riddle"?
2. How does the speaker feel about her condition? How do you know this? How is this an atypical reaction to her situation?
3. How can this poem be read from a feminist perspective? Psychoanalytic/Psychological?