Category: Poetry

Your first major writing project for English 110 will give the opportunity to read and write about poetry using close reading. Students should analyze the development of an author’s ideas throughout a poem. Which is to say the essay should not read as a summary, but as an analysis of literary technique.

In the last few weeks of class, we’ve discussed annotating, terminology, close reading, and writing about poetry. We’ve read poems and discussed how some poets might employ special tools (the elements of poetry) to explore different subjects and themes, in short, to ‘say’ something.

For this assignment, you will choose a poem and focus on the specific poetic elements in the poem. Strictly focus your analysis of the meaning of the words, ideas, and themes as they are on the page to produce your explication essay.

Choose one of the following prompts:

• Poetic Analysis: Choose 1-2 poems and apply the methods of poetic analysis we have discussed in class to determine what the poem/poet is saying about a subject. Break down the mechanics of the poem and talk about the elements the author is using to get their point across.
• Narrative Connection: Choose a poem. What do you and the poem have to say on a common topic? In what way do you and the poem relate to a subject mentioned in the poem. What does the poem evoke in you as a reader? What elements is the author using to do that?
• Compare and Contrast: Choose 2 poems. Compare and contrast the main idea, theme, or tone of each chosen poem on a common topic. What similarities do the poems share? How do they differ? Examine thematic, stylistic, and structural elements the poems utilize.

Your essay should include the following:

A 4 page explication of 1-2 poems from the poetry packet (or, if you and I talk about it first, one poem of your choosing). The explication will use the poem as a primary source. You may choose to analyze things such as lines, metaphors, symbolism, lyrics, rhythm, or other elements we have covered in class.

Essay Requirements:

The first few paragraphs of your essay should introduce the poem: (very briefly) its author and context, its mode (lyric, narrative, dramatic lyric, elegy, ars poetica, etc), and some of its major subjects (love, war, growing up, aging, etc.). At the conclusion of your introduction, make a central claim as to how the poet uses literary techniques to advance what you understand to be the poems theme (what it has to say about one of its major subjects).

• Your body paragraphs should ideally address each particular element of the poem youre focusing on. Each paragraph should offer a close analysis of how the poet uses these means to achieve their ends as you understand them. Quote and analyze, relating to what you observe in the poem to what you understand to be the poems meaning.
• Unless youre writing on the personal narrative connection, avoid using the first-person for this piece; instead, focus your sentences with the author and/or the speaker of the poem as your subject as in, Here, Dickinson uses metaphor, describing hope in terms of a bird, that thing with feathers and that perches in the soul. Or, Wrights speaker, snug in his hammock, watching the sun go down, reflects on his life. Avoid: I find Whitmans repetition, or anaphora, to be moving and inspiring.
• Your essay should include brief quotations and specific evidence from the poem you are exploring. To avoid merely summarizing the poem, work hard to demonstrate how whatever you choose to quote illustrates what you perceive to be the theme of the poem. Allow that theme to develop/become more complex based on your analysis. In other words, derive what you feel the poem is saying from your close reading, apart from any meaning you might be tempted to apply to the poem or from broad generalizations, eg. war is horrible, or new love is exciting, or depression sucks.
• Your explication should be at least 4 full pages long, proofread, and formatted in MLA Style where need be.

Assignment Tips and Things to Avoid:

Essay’s main focus should be on the poem as opposed to the author of the poem. By this, I mean that you should avoid expanding on the poets biography or the historical context of the poem unless it is relevant to your claim.

Avoid looking for answers to poems on the Internet. This is a subjective analysis of your reading of a poem.

I strongly recommend that you come to see me during your writing process so we can discuss your essay.

The poem you write about should be from the poetry packet (unless otherwise agreed upon).

Essay Requirements:

Minimum 4 pages long

12-Point Standard, Times New Roman Font

Formatted in MLA Style, where need be

Double Spaced

Include a Thesis.

British Poetry Anthology Project

Comment: Note that the rubric is inherent in the guidelines for the assignment.

Dr. Jackson

Requirements:

One poem by Shakespeare

Three poems by living British authors (either born in Britain or current, permanent residents) Three poems by Irish authors (either born in Ireland or permanent residents)

Four poems by contemporary British authors (must have been living and writing 1945 or later) Four additional British poems o f your choice (must be published as literary works)

Guidelines:

5 points?The anthology will be bound securely and permanently so that i t does not come apart?plastic spirals, 3 fastener folders, etc. N o clear plastic folders with sliding strips, please.

5 points?The title page will include a unique title you have created for your anthology, plus the subtitle: A Personal Anthology, your name, school, grade, the year. It may include additional information i f you choose.

10 points?The preface will introduce your anthology. The preface is a personal essay that reflects your thoughts, observations, and/or feelings about the works you have chosen and the process o f choosing them, as well as your affective or emotional responses to those poems. The preface will be no less than two and no more than three pages typed, double-spaced in 12 pt. Times, with a 14? left margin and 1″ margins top, bottom, and right side. The preface comes before the table o f contents in your anthology.

10 points?The table o f contents must b e clearly and logically organized i n the order o f the category requirements listed above (i.e. Name o f School Poet, Living British Poets, etc.; titles, authors, and page numbers must be listed in the table o f contents. Listings for the bibliography and the biographical data pages should b e included i n the table o f contents.

10 points?All works will be neatly typed; hand lettered in black ink on unlined paper; or in exceptional cases (and after obtaining special permission), photocopied very cleanly and neatly with no black edges. I f photocopying, it may be necessary to make one copy, then cut and paste that copy to a second sheet and copy again. Format for poems (type face, special bolds for titles, etc.) should be consistent throughout anthology, but poems should be typed just as they appear in their original source (if aligned left, align left; i f all lower case, all lower case, etc.). Include the poet?s name and pagination on each page.

10 points?A bibliography delineating the source information for each poem will appear at the end o f the anthology. The bibliography will follow APA guidelines and will be in alphabetical order. Record the bibliography information (author & title o f poem, book/anthology, page number, editor i f applicable, place o f publication, date o f publication, etc.) on one side o f a note card as soon as you locate each poem.

10 points? Biographical data on each author represented in the collection will be presented in alphabetical order following the bibliography pages. Make sure you can locate biographical information before you choose a poem. Many times this information is available in the book where you find the poem. Record this information on the opposite side o f the note card containing the bibliographic information at the same time , you copy the poem.

10 points?The anthology will include all required works, and these works will be in the same order as they are listed in the table o f contents.