1

Poetry Analysis Assignment

1. Choose two poems with similar themes (e.g. "My Papa's Waltz" and "Those Winter Sundays") from the list below. Alternatively, you may use one poem below and one from our textbook with similar themes. You may NOT use an outside poem or a poem from the textbook that already has been overly analyzed in the text.
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

"My Papa's Waltz" by Roethke "Those Winter Sundays" by Hayden "Facing It" by Komunyakaa "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Owen "Disabled" by Owen Charge of the Light Brigade by Tennyson The Beau Ideal by Pope Road Not Taken by Frost Old Man Winters Night by Frost Out Out by Frost "Mending Wall" by Frost "Woodchucks" by Kumin The Fish by Bishop Hurt Hawks by Jeffers "Digging" by Heaney "Mid-Term Break" by Heaney

2. Analysis. Analyze the two poems you have chosen through the mode of comparison and contrast. Read about analysis here and realize that analysis is very different from writing a summary or describing a plot. 3. Compare and contrast. Within the analysis, discuss how at least three poetic elements are similar or alike in each poem. You should give equal time to both poems, but please do not feel that you have to discuss both the similarities and differences of each element within both poems. For example, in one paragraph, you may discuss that one poem has stronger symbolism than the other and, therefore, makes the first poem more meaningful. Likewise, in another paragraph, you may discuss how two poems are virtually similar in their rhyme scheme and that in both rhyme schemes, for example, the reader finds a rhythm like a war drum, which mimics both poems war-like themes. 4. Persuasion. Your thesis and the paper itself should have an element of persuasion to it. Your claims do not have to be ardent, such as: 'Howl by Allen Ginsberg is the single greatest transformative literary work of the Beatnick generation."

2 Your thesis and paper, however, does need to have elements that can be critically explored, examined, and/or researched, and you can definitely say which element of the poem or poem as a whole is better, but remember you have to say why. That is the persuasive part. See Blake example in number 5 that is representative of a comparison/contrast mode with a persuasive element. 5. Transitions. Although you are comparing and contrasting, your thesis and your introduction should not directly address the actual mode of comparison and contrast. That is, you should not say something like this: This paper will compare and contrast William Blakes two poems, both entitled Chimney Sweeper. Instead, you should be more subtle and use transition words to set up your comparisons and contrasts. See here for a list of comparison/contrast transitions words. A good example of a thesis might be as follows: Although William Blake's two poems "Chimney Sweeper" share the same title and discuss the theme of child labor, the "Chimney Sweeper" poem appearing in Blake's Songs of Innocence adopts a more hopeful or cheerful tone, possesses a greater number of stanzas, and uses a deeper level of symbolism in presenting its theme than "Chimney Sweeper" found in Blake's Songs of Experience. 6. Audience. This paper should be written as if addressing educated individuals ages 16-60. You should assume the reader has read the poems, so you should only have to give a very brief synopsis, if any, in the introduction. Your diction should be sophisticated; however, that does not mean that you thesaurize several words, but it does mean that slang/biased language/informal language should be avoided. Read more about diction here. You should ONLY write in the third-person point of view. Your paper should not contain any pronouns, such as I, me, my, you, your, we, us, or our. If unsure of point of view and pronouns, see here. 7. Research and Citation. You are to have at least two sources (besides the textbook) cited in your paper, using MLA style. That includes in-text citations (AKA the stuff in parenthesis) and the Works Cited page (AKA the stuff that goes at the end of the paper on a separate sheet of paper). See MLA for more details. These sources need to come from SPC's Library Online databases only. Please use the research guide and look under the Literary-Related resources column. Suggestions would be to use Poetry for Students (search at left) to find one source and Literature Resource Center from Gale (LRC) to find another. While using these sources, don't forget to retrieve the MLA citation from the database, using the Citation Tools link. Note: Poetry for

3 Students is a collection of print resources digitized, and they are actually in LRC. This source was extracted on the list for your ease of use. To cite your textbook, the in-text should be the last name of the author of the poem followed by the page number. You can refer to specific lines in the poem by their line number within the actual sentence. For example: In Ah, Sunflower!, lines two and three address how the sunflower countest the steps of the sun / Seeking after that sweet golden clime (Blake 35). This trope of the flower looking for sun-drenched weather demonstrates a longing for youth and innocence. Note: the forward-slash mark demarcates a line break in a poem and is the proper way to replicate a poem when discussing in an essay. Also, remember, that a poems title appears in quotes (e.g., ____) The citation on the Works Cited page for the textbook is as follows: Last_Name_of_Poems_Author, First_Name_of_Author. "Name of Poem." Eds. Alison Booth and Kelly J. Mays. The Norton Introduction to Literature. New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 2010. Page_or_page_numbers _of_poem. Print. Dont forget: Works Cited pages are on separate sheet and all sources should be alphabetized by the first word of the citation, unless a, an, or the, in which case you use the letter of the next word. 8. Paraphrasing vs. Quoting. This paper is relatively short. Please keep quotes to a minimum of two lines, and please have no more than two quotes maximum. You only need to have two different in-text citations in the paper from sources besides your textbook. Paraphrase sources instead of quoting. You still have to give credit when paraphrasing or else that is considered plagiarism, but paraphrasing cuts down on extra wordage that adds little or no value to ones work. Remember, economical writing is a good goal. Find out more about paraphrasing and quoting here. 9. Formatting. According to MLA style, the top of your paper should look like the example below, and the entire paper should be double spaced.

10. Length. This paper should be no less than 500 words and no more than 700 words. Documentation (i.e., in-text citations and works cited page) should NOT be calculated as part of your word count. 11. Process. Writing is a process. When done with your rough draft, be sure to send it to Smarthinking for review. You will be asked to submit the mark-up file, as it is called by Smarthinking, in your ANGEL lesson. You will also be asked to provide specifics on how you can improve your paper based on Smarthinking and peer reviews. When submitting to Smarthinking, you may include this blurb as a description of this paper. This paper requires students to choose two poems with the same theme, and using their analytical skills, they are to address similarities and differences among at least three poetic elements within these poems. While still giving equal time to both poems, students should avoid making lists of similarities and differences, and instead, each paragraph should have a persuasive focus on a particular poetic element. To avoid unneeded complexity, students should focus on either the similarities or the differences of the poetic element in each paragraph, not both. Transition words, formal American-English grammar and spelling, and proper mechanics are expected. This paper requires two outside sources BESIDES their textbook and should be formatted and documented according to MLA standards. No more than two in-text citations from sources other than the textbook are needed. Quotes should not be more than two lines and should appear only twice if at all. Paraphrasing is preferred. 500-700 words, not counting MLA documentation.