Essay #1 Assignment: Choose one of the following options:
1-Imagine you are the poet who wrote some of the poems we have read. You have been asked to come to City Tech to read one of those poems. Write a well-developed essay of approximately 750-900 words in which you argue for the significance of your word choice, word order, images, or figures of speech in the expression of the message of your poem. Use 3-4 examples from the poem to prove your point. For your conclusion, consider who at City Tech would be the best audience for your poem?
OR
2-Imagine you are a City Tech poetry student in charge of bringing speakers to the college. You would like to expose others at the college to the poetry you have read for our class. Write a well-developed essay of approximately 750-900 words in which you compare two poets’ techniques (choose one: particular word choices, word order, images, or figures of speech) in conveying the messages of two poems we have read for class. Use 1-2 examples per poem. For your conclusion, which poet, based on the message conveyed and the technique you address in your essay, would be a better choice for a campus visit?
You must use poems assigned for this course through February 22, 2012. You must not use poems that we have focused on significantly in class. However, you may choose to write about a poem you have blogged about.
Outside research is not required. If you choose to use outside materials, you must add those sources to your MLA-formatted Works Cited list.
Homework: Add a comment on the Essay #1 Assignment page by Sunday night, February 26, that indicates 1-which assignment you have chosen; 2-which poem or poems you will use; and 3-which examples you plan to use to support your claim
Draft Due: February 29, 2012—please bring a paper copy to class
Final Version Due: March 7, 2012—please submit your essay and Works Cited list using OpenLab Files by the start of class
In-Class reading of poems selected: March 7, 2012
Learning goals this assignment supports:
- Read actively, carefully, critically, repeatedly, and thoroughly, looking at details and at the piece as a whole;
- Formulate questions as part of the reading process in anticipation of class or online discussions;
- Analyze poetry from a range of cultures, historical periods, and literary movements, with awareness to form, syntax, sound, and themes, as well as cultural, historical, and biographical contexts, and the literary canon;
- Discuss poetry through paraphrasing, interpreting, analyzing, and evaluating course material;
- Use clear, logical, and correct writing as a tool for analysis and a means of expressing understanding of course material;
- Demonstrate the ability to draw from multiple texts to synthesize an effective comparison;
- Present orally the information learned through the course, and recite the poems we read;
- Identify, analyze and evaluate arguments in their own and others’ work;
- Develop well-reasoned arguments;
- Use MLA formatting for documents;
- Submit materials electronically
Pingback: Getting started on Essay #1 through blogging | ENG 2003: Introduction to Poetry
Essay #1: Option 2
Battle piece by Jeannette Barnes and Cavalry Crossing a Ford by Walt Witman
i’ll be using images and figures of speech to support my claim.
Sounds good. Which images and figures of speech will you use? I wonder if you need to use both images and figures of speech–might you focus on one or the other?
I have chosen option #1, I will be writing about the poem “sex without love” word choice, word order and tone to support my essay.
Sounds good! Which words or lines will you focus on? Do you think you need to focus on word choice, word order, and tone, or could you focus on just one of those elements? If you focus on all three, how do they relate?
I have chosen Option 1 and the examples uses of figurative speech and tone
1. stanza 2 and 3
2. stanza 4 frist line and
3. stanza 8 last line.
this is what I’ll use to support my claim.
I love how specific you are in your choice of examples, apd123. Which poem, though, are you planning to work on?
Choosing option 2
focusing figures of speech
Marks by Linda Preston
Death’s theater by Jay Rogoff
Controlling Metaphor
Personification
and Tone
Sounds good! Which words or lines will you focus on specifically? Do you think you need to focus on controlling metaphor, personification, and tone, or could you focus on just one of those elements? If you focus on all three, how do they relate?
I think I might change MArks by Linda to The Joy Of cooking because the theme will collaborate more because they both are talking about death. I could try to focus on controlling methaphor and personification. I would focus on titles and and few lines from the peom and as well a brief analysis of the whole poem and how they both relate. Controlling methaphor and personification and possibly image relates because it will help demonstrate how the poet wants tobring the poem to life for the reader.
Choosing option 1
using Deaths theater by jay rogoff
metaphor
personification
tone
Good choice! Which words or lines will you focus on specifically? Do you think you need to focus on metaphor, personification, and tone, or could you focus on just one of those elements? If you focus on all three, how do they relate to each other and to your argument?
I chose option 2 and the poems I plan to use are the poems “The Hand That Signed The Paper” by Dylan Thomas and “Schizophrenia” by Jim Stevens. I would be comparing them on figures of speech. I have not selected and particular examples at this time.
Good choices, GSL. Which kinds of figures of speech might you consider for this essay?
Option 2
Marvin Bell’s “The Uniform” and Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Own
examples to support- Imanges /word choice, tone
If possible. I would like to change this and write an essay on how the author PAtricia Smith used certain images to depict WHat ITs like to Be a BLack GIrl in her poem. Option 1
Making that change is fine if it doesn’t leave you with too little time to write your draft. Which images from Smith’s poem do you have in mind?
ok great! images from lines 4, 6, 10 and 15 .
option 2
Death’s theater by Jay Rogoff
Controlling Metaphor
Sounds like a good choice, herambo8. Which lines or phrases specifically contribute to the poem’s use of controlling metaphor?
option 1
slowly
Describing images of personal experience
I like “Slowly” and am glad to see that someone will get to work on it. Which images in particular do you plan to look at, and how does the idea of personal experience fit into your essay? Is that what you think the poem’s message deals with?
Option# 2
“The author to her Book” by Anne Bradstreet
and Death’s Theater” by Jay Rogoff
I will compare the use of Controlling metaphor and personification used by the author in both poems.
I will differentiate how their controlling metaphors came across and how personification helped them achieve this.
This sounds like a good plan, rosasjsg. There are probably more examples than you’ll have space to write about–which will you focus on in your essay?
After LONG consideration, i have decided to go with Option# 2 and will be comparing two poems.
Thomas Hardy’s “Convergence of the Twain” and David Slavitt’s “Titanic”
i will be using Figures of speech, allusion, imagery and diction to support my choice for a campus visit.
I can see why you needed a long consideration–you want to do it all! For this essay, you might not have the space to discuss these four literary devices in two poems–as you choose your examples, you can figure out which of the four you can focus on, and how they work together (or not) to convey the poem’s message.
Option #1
Poem: Mirror by Sylvia Plath
Images
Personification
Metaphor
Option #2
“The Author to Her Book” Anne Bradstreet and “To A Wasp” Janice Townley Moore
Irony
Personification
Extended Metaphor
Hi professor i know i m late with this assignment i couldn’t make it this week. I already have written the draft for essay #1. I chose essay # 2, the poems Crocuses & Building with Its Face Blown Off. The examples I used in the both poems are basically all images such as “bodies of men, women, children herded into a forest clearing”, “before the shouted order, crack gunfire, final screams and prayers and moans” and Pale, bare, tender stems rising from the muddy winter faded grass. As for the Building with Its Face Blown Off the examples i used were “how the blue and white striped wallpaper of a second story bedroom is now exposed to the lightly falling snow”, “The bathroom looks almost embarrassed” and the idea of the people crossing the bridge “People crossing a bridge that still stands”.
My question is how should i send my 1st draft to you?
jjkidcudi1, it sounds like you’re writing about two poems we discussed extensively in class. The assignment clearly states that you cannot use poems we have discussed at length in class: “You must use poems assigned for this course through February 22, 2012. You must not use poems that we have focused on significantly in class. However, you may choose to write about a poem you have blogged about.” What other poems can you work on in your essay so that you show your ability to read, understand, interpret, analyze, and reflect on the poetry assigned, rather than writing about those poems we have already discussed?
Final drafts will be collected electronically–I will post instructions on the blog shortly.