"Don't do such serious things." Who said this ? What does he mean by serious things? (From the lesson: The Image By RK Narayan)

Answer 1

First, the answer to "Who said this?" is referring to the poet R.K Narayan. I would assume here that the student studied the author, or one of his poems in her class at some point.

Second, doing some research on this poet seems to be important in relation to the quote, "Don't do such serious things" and question #2,"What does he mean by serious things?". The poet's identity in terms of time period, culture, and literary themes will help shed light on the quote's relevance and significance.

Finally, the prompt is about defining what these "serious things" are, and why they should not be done.

Once the student has defined the nature of "serious things" by showing them in the poem, she can focus on analyzing them by providing context and literary commentaries on how they are expressed as a theme and through poetic language.

Revealing the meaning of the quote already constitutes in and of itself the biggest prompt's challenge, but the student may also disagree with the poet's message and create a counter argument, which will unpack new ideas and put the poet's quote in a new perspective.

So, remember that an academic essay starts with the understanding of the prompt and taking it apart can be very helpful to ensure you are on the right track.