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Assignment #2-Poetry Analysis 

Rough Draft Due:

 

Final Draft Due:

 

Description of Assignment:

A literary analysis essay pulls apart a piece of writing to examine its technique and understand its themes and ideas. For this assignment, you will choose one selection of two poems from the list on the next page and write an analytical essay, no less than 3 pages in length (with an additional works cited page that includes your two poems as primary sources and at least two secondary sources), that  analyzes, compares and contrasts how the poems use two or more of the poetic devices on the Poetic Devices Glossary (we will address this soon). It will be important to use appropriate terminology in your analysis.

 

Organization:

         The introduction should focus on the poetic devices you will be analyzing in the poems, not necessarily the poets or history of the poems, although a little background on the authors can be helpful in the introduction.  Your thesis should focus on the poetic devices you will analyze in the poems.

         The body should examine different ways the poetic devices show up in the poems; for instance, if you were focusing on theme, then you may look at the way the theme is expressed in symbols, imagery, structure, tone, etc. In addition, the body should help us see what is to be gained by comparing and contrasting the poems’ unique take on your chosen poetic devices. Spend less time on the historical context of the poem or the author. Avoid analyzing one poem separately from the other.  Organize the paper point-by-point (more on that in class).

         The conclusion should restate your thesis and examine any new understandings that arise from analyzing the poems. What should we take with us about the themes? What have you uncovered in these texts that is worth remembering? What do we gain by analyzing the same poetic devices in two different poems?

        

Requirements:

·         MLA formatted with in-text citations and a works cited page

·         3 pages (plus a works cited page), typed, double-spaced, 12pt font, Times

·         Two sources in addition to your two poems

 

This is the Approved Poetry List for your ENGL 1302 poetry analysis paper. Find one of the selections containing two poems to compare and contrast, either in theme, style, structure, use of imagery, symbols, metaphor, etc. 

 

Selection #1

LANGSTON HUGHES Harlem  

CLAUDE MCKAY If We Must Die  

 

Selection #2

ROBERT HERRICK To the Virgins, Make Much of Time  

JOHN KEATS Ode to Autumn   

 

Selection #3

ROBERT FROST Birches  

ROBERT FROST Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening  

 

Selection #4

T.S. ELIOT The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock  

ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON Ulysses  

 

Selection #5

E.E. CUMMINGS somewhere i have never traveled  

E.E. CUMMINGS silently if  

Selection #6

HELENE JOHNSON Sonnet to a Negro in Harlem  

CLAUDE MCKAY Harlem Shadows  

 

Selection #7

EMILY DICKINSON Because I Could Not Stop For Death  

PABLO NERUDA Nothing But Death

Selection #8

SHERMAN ALEXIE The Facebook Sonnet

RICHARD BRAUTIGAN All Watched over by Machines of Loving Grace

 

Selection #9

ALLEN GINSBERG A Supermarket in California  

WALT WHITMAN Had I the Choice  

 

Selection #10

ESTHER BELIN Night Travel  

LAURA DA’ Vantage