DIRECTIONS: Write a poetry analysis of a minimum of 600-700 words on one of the following topics. The main purpose is to let the reader understand the interaction of the specific elements that add up to the piece’s power and effectiveness. It aims to show professor how deep your understanding of the poem’s message and how well you can use your analytical skills.
Your paper should have an introduction that engages the reader’s interest and presents the thesis statement to be developed in your essay; supporting paragraphs, each with a topic sentence; and a concluding paragraph consisting of a summary and a final thought. Keep in mind that organizing your essay and supporting your ideas will be as important as your command of grammar and usage. This assignment is due Wednesday before 11:59pm.
What is the purpose of a poetry analysis paper?
- Demonstrate your comprehension of the assigned readings discussed in class;
- Provide your analysis of the assigned readings.
Essay #2 Topics
Funeral Blues by W. H. Auden
- Discuss how the poet has used hyperbole, structure and rhyme scheme in order to highlight the theme of death and loss.
We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks
- Brooks has stated that she consciously uses lineation, rhyme, tone, as instruments to create meaning in her writing. Analyze how she employs these elements to convey her attitude and final message toward the protagonists in the poem.
Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden
- After reading and analyzing the poem, write an essay in which you explain how the poet’s use of diction and imagery reveals the speaker’s complex attitude toward his father.
***Please submit this assignment to Turnitin before Wednesday 07/10/19 by 11:59pm today. All assignments will be graded electronically.
ESSAY GRADING RUBRIC
Assignment
Possible Points
Points Earned
Content
10 points
Format & Organization
5 points
Grammar, Punctuation & Spelling
5 points
TOTAL
20 POINTS
Introduction
Starting with the title for the analysis can be something very basic or a clever quote, a statement from the piece. Moving onto the introduction to poetry analysis, this should open with a “hook” to get the reader’s attention. Follow up with the Authors name and title for the piece. Add some interesting trivia or background info that is not known to the audience, but try to keep it short. To finish off the introduction to a poetry analysis state your thesis.
Body
The bulk of ideas and comparisons need to be explored here in a clear, focused way. When writing a poetry analysis, each paragraph should be devoted to one point or feature you are comparing. You can divide each point by using the corresponding letter from the outline. Try to make it a coherent and specific about what is being compared (example: when stating your ideas about what the poetic devices do to the piece check whether you state each one and do not generalize). Using transition words and phrases will keep the paragraphs flowing well and more helpful to read.
Conclusion
It’s important when looking at how to analyze a poem to finish with a set-out conclusion. Firstly, start by restating the thesis in different words. Summarize the most important findings to prove the thesis. From this, you can draw up your own opinions and take a step back and say what it all means with one key idea. Lastly, try to leave the reader with something memorable to take away with them (a thought-provoking sentence or question about the poem).
Sample Introduction:
Ballad of Birmingham is the author of the poem that revolves around a little girl who would like to go downtown to take part in a freedom protest. Her mother, however, says that she cannot go because of the dangerous conditions outside. Her mother instead tells her to go to church despite the little girl’s constant explanations that she would not be alone. Defeated and in a show of respect for her mother, the little girl gets dressed and goes to church. Her mother is contented that she would be fine at the church. Sooner her mother hears of an explosion that sets her racing downtown in search of her daughter. Unfortunately, she finds her daughters dress and shoes in the piles and rubbles. She is left wondering where her daughter is. The author employs the use of imagery in most parts of the poem to trigger the emotions of the readers concerning the innocence of the little girl and the gravity of the explosion. The imagery serves to create a memory in the readers’ minds that are left forming the images after reading the whole poem.
Sample Body Paragraph
The first use of imagery occurs in the second stanza, second and third lines. The little girl’s mother describes the nature of the streets which are, in her opinion dangerous for a little girls life “…dogs are fierce and wild.” The little girl’s mother is worried that the girl could lose her life to the guns, or get arrested as a result of the march for freedom “…and clubs and hoses, guns and jails.” The imagery used in the third line depicts how the government through the police dealt with protesters. The line shows that the police would use clubs, hoses, and guns to thwart the protests. The police also could arrest the protesters and take them to jail. The readers thus form the image of how the police dealt with the protesters that eventually appeals to their emotions.
Sample Conclusion
Humor in most of the quotes is clearly utilized and thus enabling the reader to understand the verses easily. In the poem, there are verses that seem to be mysterious and thus the reader needs time to reflect on them. The poet provides a good mood which is a celebratory one in that the Example By nursingexpertshelp.com emotion of the entire poem is liveliness and love. “One Boy Told Me” is one of the many poems that Nye has contributed to literature. However, it is no different from the others where Nye attempts to create a meaningful life and grasps its meaning for the readers. This particular poem is one that the human lives are defined by metaphors.
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