poetry essay

CRITERIA FOR GRADING  POETRY PAPERS

A. THESIS

1. You did not provide a thesis.

2. You assumed a thesis but did not state it. Or you stated a thesis, but the thesis was vague or too broad.

3. You provided an adequate thesis.

4. You provided an outstanding thesis that cogently sets up your analysis.

B. DEVELOPMENT

1. You had neither topic sentences nor logical development.

. a. You had topic sentences, but they were not logical.

. b. You had logical development, but you did not provide topic sentences.

· Weak topic sentences. Weak development.

. a. You had topic sentences, but they did not support your thesis.

. b. You had topic sentences, but they were too broad.

· You had both topic sentences and logical development. These provide a competent but uninspired framework for your description.

· You had excellent topic sentences and logical development.

C. DETAIL (EVIDENCE FROM PRIMARY SOURCES)

1.   Unsatisfactory use of primary sources.

. a. You provide no supporting details and quotations from the work you were analyzing.

. b. You provide details and quotations in an apparently random order.

·   Weak use of primary sources.

. a. You provide some details and quotations, but they are too general and vague.

. b. You provide some details and quotations, but too many do not belong where you place them.

· You provide generally provide details and quotations in the proper places and provide a general picture of what you are analyzing.

· Your use of details and quotations clearly, effectively, and aptly supports your argument.

D. WRITING THE ESSAY

1. Your essay lacks coherence and cohesion. Transitions are ineffective. The paragraphs read like a list, with no connection between the sentences.

2. The paragraphs have a general focus, but some sentences are unrelated. Coherence, cohesion, and transitions need work.

3. Paragraphs are generally well developed with fewer than three problems of focus, unity, or coherence. Transitions may be a bit forced.

4. Paragraphs are focused, unified, and coherent. Transitions are logical and effective.

E. GRAMMAR

1. You exceeded the maximum allowable number of serious grammatical mistakes (10).

2. You had 7-9 grammatical errors.

3. You had 4-6 errors.

4. You had 1-3 errors.

Poem 1: Dante inferno http://www2.latech.edu/~bmagee/211/tennyson/inferno.htm

Inferno

Dante (trans. H. F. Cary)

Canto xxvi. 90-149

[Virgil has taken Dante to a section of Hell where the damned are surrounded by flames.  He questions one of them, who turns out to be Ulysses.]

     When there the flame had come, where time and place  Seem'd fitting to my guide, he thus began:  "O ye, who dwell two spirits in one fire!  If living I of you did merit aught,  Whate'er the measure were of that desert,  When in the world my lofty strain I pour'd,  Move ye not on, till one of you unfold  In what clime death o'ertook him self-destroy'd."

     Of the old flame forthwith the greater horn  Began to roll, murmuring, as a fire                                100  That labours with the wind, then to and fro  Wagging the top, as a tongue uttering sounds,  Threw out its voice, and spake:  "When I escap'd  From Circe, who beyond a circling year  Had held me near Caieta, by her charms,  Ere thus Aeneas yet had nam'd the shore,  Nor fondness for my son, nor reverence  Of my old father, nor return of love,  That should have crown'd Penelope with joy,  Could overcome in me the zeal I had                                110  T' explore the world, and search the ways of life,  Man's evil and his virtue.  Forth I sail'd  Into the deep illimitable main,  With but one bark, and the small faithful band  That yet cleav'd to me.  As Iberia far,  Far as Morocco either shore I saw,  And the Sardinian and each isle beside  Which round that ocean bathes.  Tardy with age  Were I and my companions, when we came  To the strait pass, where Hercules ordain'd                        120  The bound'ries not to be o'erstepp'd by man.  The walls of Seville to my right I left,  On the' other hand already Ceuta past.  "O brothers!"  I began, "who to the west  Through perils without number now have reach'd,  To this the short remaining watch, that yet  Our senses have to wake, refuse not proof  Of the unpeopled world, following the track  Of Phoebus. Call to mind from whence we sprang:  Ye were not form'd to live the life of brutes                            130  But virtue to pursue and knowledge high.  With these few words I sharpen'd for the voyage  The mind of my associates, that I then  Could scarcely have withheld them.  To the dawn  Our poop we turn'd, and for the witless flight  Made our oars wings, still gaining on the left.  Each star of the' other pole night now beheld,  And ours so low, that from the ocean-floor  It rose not.  Five times re-illum'd, as oft  Vanish'd the light from underneath the moon                        140  Since the deep way we enter'd, when from far  Appear'd a mountain dim, loftiest methought  Of all I e'er beheld.  Joy seiz'd us straight,  But soon to mourning changed.  From the new land  A whirlwind sprung, and at her foremost side  Did strike the vessel.  Thrice it whirl'd her round  With all the waves, the fourth time lifted up  The poop, and sank the prow: so fate decreed:  And over us the booming billow clos'd."                                149