Analyzing
poetry
Purpose
This assignment should help you to examine critically a poem.
It
should facilitate you in learning to develop thesis driven writing. This
assignment should enable you
to focus on one subject while developing a lengthier topic.
It should also help you to develop your analytical skills in
prose form. Finally, this paper
should expand your understanding of literary theory and its application in
analyzing fiction.
Assignment
Analyze a poem that you have read from Literature.
Make sure that you use specific
textual evidence to support any claims that you make. You may wish to
utilize one of the methods from Appendix A in your analysis.
Ways to Proceed
Some synonyms for analyze include interpret, explore, consider, and
dissect.
Basically your assignment for this essay is to tear open a poem in order to explore it from the inside out.
In terms of formalism, it's time for you to do a "close reading" of
the poem. Does everything in the poem keep the same meaning
when you tear it apart, or do some things take on a different significance
beyond what they originally seemed to mean?
Your object in this essay is to dig into the poem, to go beyond
what it means on the surface, to make sense of seemingly
confusing and/or disparate elements in the text.
Once you’ve torn this poem apart, string it back
together in such a way that it makes sense to you.
This is where the method of literary analysis from Appendix A will be invaluable
to you. The critical method you choose will definitely influence how you
will analyze your poem, so make sure that your method makes sense for your
interpretation. Ultimately, your only caveat for this assignment is to make certain that
any claims that you make about the poem that you decide to
interpret are ultimately supported by the text you are analyzing.
Criteria
for Evaluation
Your paper should be typed, double-spaced, one-inch margins
(top, bottom, left, right), twelve point font (Courier New, Arial, Times New
Roman, Antique Olive, Bookman Old Style). Your
essay should be at least five (5) pages in length, including the Annotated Works Cited page.
For this assignment you may analyze a poem in the context of a critical method
from Appendix A. I expect proficient use of MLA formatting in this
essay. Further, I expect you to utilize an Annotated Works Cited page that lists the
poem that you used for this assignment, as well as any secondary sources on the
poem or the critical method that you utilized. I do not expect perfection
on this assignment (or indeed any other assignment that you turn in for
me). However, I DO expect that
“A” students will make a valiant effort at least TO STRIVE for
perfection. Your grade on this and future assignments depends as much on
your writing ability as it does on your effort. The better students in my
classes are, almost without exception, those students who seriously take to task
the prodigious effort of writing a quality essay. I am sure that those of
you who earnestly wish to succeed on this assignment (as well as future ones)
will do so. Good
luck on this assignment.
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