1. Paraphrasing A step-by-step demonstration

2. What is it? In Seamus Cooney’s words, a paraphrase is “A piece of modern speech you can imagine the speaker of the original poem saying that conveys in different words exactly and fully every shade of meaning in the original poem, both what’s said and implied.”

3. Demonstration With him ther rood a gentil PARDONER Of Rouncival, his freend and compeer. That steight was comen fro the court of Rome. Ful loude he song, “Com hider, love, to me.”

4. With him ther rood a gentil PARDONER Of Rouncival, his freend and compeer. A noble, kindly Pardoner accompanied the Summoner as they traveled. A good buddy of the Summoner, this Pardoner operated out of Rouncival [London hospital featuring many unauthorized pardoners], so you can imagine just how “noble” he was.

5. That steight was comen fro the court of Rome. Ful loude he song, “Com hider, love, to me.” In fact (according to him), he had just arrived from the Vatican. He sang a love song [somewhat inappropriate!] at the top of his lungs: “Come hither, love, to me.”

6. Tips and Tools Read your paraphrased writing aloud to be sure it “flows” like regular speech. Spell out all implied meanings. You can use [brackets] to show meanings that are not directly stated in the original. Your paraphrase should be LONGER than the original!