Learning Goal: I’m working on a poetry question and need an explanation and answer to help me learn. 5 pages of poetry or five different poetry of one page each with explanation
NEW poems created by you, or a combination of both
Make sure to demonstrate an understanding of the different types of figurative language AND the different types of poetry
Requirements: 5 to 6 page | .doc file
Poetry
Poetry
Compose an analytical essay of 3-5 pages, double-spaced, in which you examine together two poems of your choosing from the Renker anthology. Please do not choose poems that have been discussed at length by Marsh or covered in depth in class. Make sure you have a clear, arguable thesis that covers both poems and indicates what we gain by looking at them together. In other words, your essay should explain what we can learn by considering these poems in relation to one another that we couldn’t see if we looked at one or the other in a vacuum. What makes one poem more effective than the other?
If approached in a formulaic manner (for example, arbitrarily choosing three poetic devices—for example, word choice, imagery, and figurative language—and jumping from one poem to the other), this could lead to a dull paper, as Marsh cautions in Chapter 13, “Thirteen Ways of Writing about Poetry.” As he writes, you need to begin with a “motive” for writing and you need to find “a problem or question about a poem [or poems] that readers will want—need—you to solve or answer for them” (250). You need a thesis about the poems you’ve chosen, a good reason for looking at them together.
Please spend the necessary time and effort on this assignment, which will be worth 25% of your final course grade. I’ll be happy to discuss your poems, and ideas, with you at any stage of the project. Before you begin, please read Marsh’s Chapter 12, “Evaluating Poetry” (pp. 224-45). It would be a good idea to reread Marsh’s Chapter 13, “Thirteen Ways of Writing about Poetry” (pp. 246-69). You will need to provide specific details from the poems to support your points, and explain the contexts in which they appear, but don’t waste time summarizing.
Do not conduct outside research for this assignment. I am interested in seeing how you apply what you’ve been learning about reading poetry to real world examples. As Marsh writes, “you never fully understand a poem until you have written about it” (248). If you disregard this instruction and borrow anything from any outside source (including Marsh), you need to provide full and specific citations (and indicate any use of the source’s language in quotation marks) keyed in to a complete Works Cited entry in MLA style. Please ask if you have any questions about what to cite or how to cite it.
Suggested Topics:
1. Analyze together two poems from Renker that utilize comparable speakers.
2. Analyze together two poems from Renker that utilize comparable imagery and/or figurative language.
3. Analyze together two poems from Renker that take the same form (e.g., two sonnets, two poems written in free verse).
4. Analyze together two poems from Renker that treat the same general theme (e.g., love). Renker’s “More Poems in Conversation” index, pp. 723-39, may help you find specific poems.
5. Analyze together two poems from Renker that you find particularly interesting when looked at in relation to each other. Obviously you’ll need to explain and justify your grounds for comparing and/or contrasting them.
Please note: regardless of your topic, you’ll probably want to stress differences in poems that are superficially similar or similarities in poems that appear superficially dissimilar. Don’t just enumerate differences (or similarities): explain them and relate them to your larger thesis.
