Poetry Essay Instructions
In Module/Week
5, you will write a 750-word (3–4 pages) essay that analyzes 1 poem from the
Poetry Unit. Before you begin writing the essay, carefully read the guidelines
for developing your paper topic that are given below. Review the Poetry Essay
Grading Rubric to see how your submission will be graded. Gather all of your
information, plan the direction of your essay, and organize your ideas by
developing a 1-page thesis statement and outline for your essay as you did for
your Fiction Essay. Format the thesis statement and the outline in a single
Word document using current MLA, APA, or Turabian style (whichever corresponds
to your degree program). You have the opportunity to
submit the thesis and outline by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Monday of Module/Week 4 for
instructor feedback.
The Poetry Essay is due by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Monday
of Module/Week 5 and must include a title page (see the General Writing
Requirements), a thesis/outline page, and the essay itself followed by a Works
Cited/References page of any primary or secondary texts you cite in the essay.
Guidelines for
Developing Your Paper Topic
Chapter
40 of the Kennedy and Gioia textbook provides some helpful pointers for reading
poems, taking notes, brainstorming, developing a clearly-defined thesis
statement, preparing an outline, writing a cogent literary analysis of a poem,
and citing your sources. This chapter specifically addresses Robert Frost’s
“Design,” which is studied in this course, so be sure to read it before doing any
further work for this assignment. Also, take notice of the example of a poetry
thesis and outline on pp. 1,385–1,386.
Choose
1 of the poems from the list below to address in your essay:
- The Lamb”
or “The Tiger” or “The Chimney Sweeper” by William Blake; - “Batter my
heart, three-personed God” or “Death Be Not Proud” by John Donne (watch
the video lecture on John Donne’s “Batter my heart, three-personed God”for more ideas to help you write your essay on
this poem); - “Journey of
the Magi” by T. S. Eliot; - “God’s
Grandeur” or “Pied Beauty” or “Spring” by Gerard Manley Hopkins; - “Ode on a
Grecian Urn” or “Ode to a Nightingale” by John Keats; - “Ozymandias”
by Percy Bysshe Shelley; - “My Last
Duchess” by Robert Browning (watch the video lecture on Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess”for more ideas to help you write your essay on
this poem); - “Sailing to
Byzantium” by William Butler Yeats; - “The Road
Not Taken” or “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost; - “It Sifts
from Leaden Sieves” or “There’s No Frigate Like A Book” by Emily Dickinson
(Read Gilbert and Gubar’s “The Freedom of Emily Dickinson”for more ideas to help you write your essay on
Dickinson’s poetry); - “Ulysses”
by Alfred Lord Tennyson; and - “That Time
of Year” (Sonnet 73) by William Shakespeare (watch the video lecture on William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 73”for more ideas to help you write your essay on this poem).
Consider
the following questions for the poem that you have chosen:
- What is or
are the theme(s) of the poem? - Is there a
literal setting or situation in the poem? What lines from the poem tell
the reader this information? What details does the author include? - Is the
setting symbolic? - How would
you describe the mood of the poem? What elements contribute to this mood? - Is the
title significant to the poem’s content or meaning? How? - What major
literary devices and figures of speech does the poet use to communicate
the theme(s)? - How are
rhyme and other metrical devices used in the poem? Do they support the
poem’s overall meaning? Why or why not? - Is the
identity of the poem’s narrator clear? How would you describe this person?
What information, if any, does the author provide about him or her? - Does the
narrator seem to have a certain opinion of or attitude about the poem’s
subject matter? How can you tell?
NOTE:
These questions are a means of getting your thoughts in order when you are
collecting information for your essay. You do not need to include the answers
to all of these questions in your essay; only include those answers that
directly support your thesis statement.
