English Question – POEMS

II. Task

Write an essay on one of the poems you’ve read that deal with one of the following issues: love, family, friendship, or nature. This essay must incorporate quotations from two reliable, college-level sources of research—you must provide at least one quotation from each source (see below for a list of approved websites and suggested databases from the college library). Use of Wikipedia and similar general knowledge websites is not permitted.

All quotations must be integrated, cited, and quoted correctly. Your essay must contain a Works Cited page. Remember to include quotations from the poem to support your observations. Your scholarly sources can comment on the poet, the particular poem you’ve chose, or on a particular poetic technique.

Please remember that the elements of poetry you choose to discuss depend upon the poem itself. While one paper might have to spend a significant amount of time discussing imagery and metaphor, another essay about a different poem might focus on sonic elements of a poem like assonance/consonance, alliteration and rhyme. Allow the elements of the poem and its primary theme(s) to decide what you will focus on in your essay.

Your essay must have an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. It must also have a thesis statement; you are writing a literary analysis, so your essay must make an argument addressing how the poet employs the elements of poetry to address its central issue and convey key themes. Present your thesis in the introduction, then develop each of your points in support of that thesis. Do not spend time too much time on biographical information beyond the introduction—stay focused on the poem.

Your analysis should consider each of the following:

What point or theme is the poem is trying to convey? It may be helpful to write out a summary of the poem before beginning your essay.

What is the poem’s structure and how does it contribute to conveying it central theme(s)?

What poetic techniques is the poet using, and how do they contribute to conveying the poem’s central theme(s)? Be sure to consider imagery, symbolism, simile, metaphor, and irony.

1. What are the sonic elements of the poem? Do they contribute to conveying the poem’s central themes? Be sure to consider rhyme, alliteration, consonance, and assonance.