Instruction
Please answer the following questions after reading Incarceration Nation.
1)What genre(s) does Incarceration Nation belong to? Why/How do you know? Are there more than one genre at work here? Is it part of a new genre? What would you call that new genre?
2) What are the features/conventions of this genre or genres? Format, content, tone, conventions, etc?
3) What limitations does this new genre and its features/conventions have on what Hartnett wants to accomplish? On the other hand, what does this new genre and its features/conventions allow Hartnett to do? What can Hartnett do that others who have made the same “argument in prose” did not (Hartnett 1)?
4) Hartnett says that poets, scholars, and activists have all
reacted in various ways all with doubt and skepticism. Explain to each group mentioned
above how investigative poetry could inform their purpose by answering the questions on the top of page three, “Is it poetry? Is it scholarship? Can poetry make difference?”(Hartnett 3).
5) How does Hartnett use research to justify the validity of his work? How does he use those sources in his piece? i.e chorus, refutation, expert witness, etc.?