Poetry Analysis

Description

Essay Assignment 1

For your first paper, you will be writing about a poem and analyzing how the poem’s meaning is constructed through its structure, form and use of literary devices. You are not simply summarizing the poem, but rather constructing an argument about its meaning and how the work achieves its effects. You may write about any poem which we have read for class, except you may not write about “Song of Myself.”

Some questions to consider in analyzing your text:

– Who is speaking in the poem, and how would you describe the persona?

-What is the tone of the poem? How is it created?

-What images does the poem use? Is there a central controlling image?

-What is the theme of the poem, and how is that meaning communicated?

-How does the form influence the overall effect of the poem?

– How do the meter and rhyme scheme inform and structure the text?

– How do the syntax and diction work within the poem?

Your paper must:

• Be in MLA format

• Have a works cited page

• Be typed, double spaced, 12′ font

• Be 3-4 pages in length (not counting the works cited page)