Essay 1: Poem Analysis
Due September 28, 2015 by 9am
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In your first essay, please thoughtfully analyze and write a response about a poem you have read and been drawn to (so far) this semester. Your selected poem must be a poem from chapters 13, 15, 17, or 26. As you strategize on how to write about your poem, consider certain elements of the work such as its aesthetic beauty, organization and form, stimulating ideas, poetic identity of the poet, and poetic techniques.
Your analysis must possess a solid thesis sentence. I will not look kindly on generalities, be specific (always) as you write in support of your main thesis. Be sure to use good transitions (Links to an external site.) between body paragraphs. Please quote (and correctly cite) (Links to an external site.) multiple passages from the poem to support your observations of the piece. Please demonstrate more than basic understanding of your chosen poem. In your essay, you must exemplify a mastery of writing skills. As your professor, I do not want to stumble over poor syntax, spelling, and punctuation.
Look at the example writing assignment on imagery in your textbook (766). This essay might act as a solid guide for your own essay.
Some poetic and literary devices to look for and remark upon within the essay:
· The structure of stanzas (is there a pattern? What does the lineation look like? Short lines? Long lines? Why does the poet make such choices?)
· Imagery: especially images that make good use of the sensory experience (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste). Do not merely list the nice images. How do the images enrich/shed light on the meaning of the poem?
· Similes, metaphors, personification/anthropomorphism (and how these figures of speech illuminate meaning and intellectual texture within the poem)
· Look for mnemonic devices: alliteration, consonance, assonance, true rhyme, slant rhyme, internal rhyme, anaphora, and the music and rhythm of the lines. How do these devices add to the tone and mood of the poem? Does that mood give insight into meaning?
· Consider the poet’s and speaker’s personal identity. Look at the poet’s biography for clues. Is the poem’s subject matter fashioned by gender, race, age, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, or religion? Is the poet the speaker?
A “solid thesis sentence” will do the following things:
· Indicate the direction of your thoughts and ideas about your chosen poem
· Prepare the reader for your idea by making a straightforward, specific proclamation
· Provide a structure to be supported by the body paragraphs within the essay
Basic Parameters (see attached rubric for precise expectations):
1. Essay 1: Poem Analysis and Annotation must be at least 350 words long (roughly 1 ½ pages). Be certain to include the word count.
2. Double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, 1-inch margins.
3. You may NOT quote from Wikipedia or Sparknotes (or the other sites mentioned on your syllabus).
4. You must include a correctly formatted MLA style Works Cited page. If you need another refresher on citation, look at the Purdue Owl website. This site provides further help in this area. Writing tutors are trained in this area as well.
5. If this essay is turned in late, you will lose a full letter grade each day after September 28th.
6. Professional writing tutors are located on the bottom floor of Page Library as outlined in your syllabus. I recommend you visit them for assistance with any part of this assignment you are having difficulty with.
An example thesis statement:
It is difficult to underscore the important effect Plath’s usage of mnemonic devices in “Daddy” plays in the overall success and emotional impact of the poem. Plath makes unmistakable use of assonance, especially the vowel “o” sound, to communicate a subconscious feeling of both pain (“Ow”) and childhood (“Oo”) to her readers.
For an analysis, it is important to remember to focus on one or two manageable aspects of a poem. You must illustrate in your paper how these aspects or element contribute to themeaning and/or the success of the poem as a whole. As Kennedy/Gioia state in your text, “While no element of a poem exists apart from all the others, by taking a closer look at one particular aspect of a poem, you can see the whole more clearly” (1945). Look at something specific the poet does in the poem—how does this element/aspect contribute to the meaning or success of the
