English 102 – Poetry Analysis
Length
• 4-to-5 pages, double-spaced, 10” or 12” font size
• Remember: Each essay must be 4 to 5 pages, double spaced. Essays that are not 4 pages in length will automatically lose ten points from the final grade.
Requirements
1. Title Your Essay – be sure to make your title specific to your topic and focus; also, be sure to include the name of the author and the names of the poems that you’ll be analyzing (titles of plays are italicized)
2. Put your name, the class, instructor, and the assignment due date (all double spaced) at the top left corner of page 1
3. Insert a header with your last name and page number – (go to View, select Header, hit the tab key twice, type in your last number and a space, hit the # icon, and close the header)
4. Cite poetry by lines, not pages (see student essay example; use a “/” to indicate line breaks)
Special Requirements
• Essay Time Log (see below)
• Two (minimum) in-text citation (poetry line reference) per paragraph – you’ll probably have many more poetry line references per paragraph
• You will need a minimum of six sources:
a. At least three of your sources will be your poem selections from the textbook
b. Two of your sources will be literary criticisms of the poems you selected. You may use either articles or books.
c. One of your sources will offer a non-fiction context to the poem selections (i.e. these could be historical connections, important policies passed during the time of the story, a cultural awareness about the types of communities in the works, facts or characteristics about the backgrounds of certain jobs characters hold, etc.)
Assignment:
A personal response to literature explores your thoughts and feelings about a piece of writing. A review discusses why a particular literary piece may or may not be worth reading. A literary analysis, however, presents your thoughtful interpretation or understanding of a literary work. It is the most challenging form of writing about literature.
Choose one of the following essay questions, and write a concise literary analysis essay. Base the ideas in your analysis on a close and careful reading of the text. Make sure to connect all of your main points with specific references to the text. Finally, present the results of your work in a carefully planned essay containing a thesis statement, supporting paragraphs, and closing remarks.
Topic Choices (Select One)
1) Think about the literary terms and applications discussed through your chapter reading assignments. Each is relevant when assessing a work in its ability to convey a message. Focus your essay on how one precise literary technique can be approached for varying results. For example, you may analyze the usage of the simile, metaphor, satire, or dramatic monologue. Are they essential for the reader to better understand the theme, speaker, or subject?
OR
2) Read carefully the group of poems assigned. Pick out a theme that one of our authors discusses – such as the meaning of life, love, death, humanity, etc. – and write an essay that interprets the meaning of your chosen theme. – Be sure to limit yourself to the poems of one author. Keep in mind that you want to demonstrate how such literary terms (those that apply) as symbolism, irony, imagery, and/or figure of speech, help reinforce the theme. Once you have located your respective author, you may need to use additional poems found within the text that fall outside of our reading list.
OR
3) Test the accuracy of one of the following statements based on your own careful reading of three-to-five of the poems we’ve read this semester:
“The most adequate and convincing poetry is that which accommodates mixed feelings, clashing ideas, and incongruous images.”
“What poetry most significantly celebrates is the capacity of man to face the deep, dark inwardness of his nature and fate.”
Note: For each topic, you will need to select at least three-to-five poems for analysis. The poems should have commonalities. Either they will be written by the same author or they will be addressed for identical or contrasting styles surrounding specific literary tactics. All poems have to come from the textbook, though they may not all come from the chapters outlined in the schedule. And even though you are using multiple poems, you still need to have a central topic.
WARNING
Students found to submit papers written by others, either in part or in whole, will receive zeros for plagiarism. Depending on the level of academic dishonesty, further actions may also be taken, including receiving an F in the course.
If you ever have any doubt about whether or not you’re plagiarizing, please ask me. Even if you are taking information from a source and writing it in your own words, you must still document your use of the source.
Time Log Requirement
I am requiring that you keep track of how much time you spend working on this assignment – from the invention stage to the finished, perfect essay – everything except the actual first reading of the novel. Refer to the format below for a guide of what you’ll be doing:
Essay Time Log
Date Task Time Spent Total Time Spent on Project
2/6 Brainstorming 30 minutes 30 minutes
2/7 Library Research 90 minutes 2 hours
2/8 Reviewing Journal Notes 30 minutes 2.5 hours
2/9 Rough Draft 60 minutes 3.5 hours
etc.
• Keep track of every task you perform, the time you spend on each task, and the total amount of time you spend on the project.
• Break it down by tasks – inventing, researching, drafting, reviewing, revising, editing, etc. Whatever you do for this assignment, mark it down as specifically and as accurately as you can on your Time Log.
• Please include your Essay Time Log in the same file attachment as your paper; I do not want to receive multiple file attachment submissions from students.
*** Students who do not submit a time log will lose 10 points. ***