WHAT AM I DOING?
You are writing a literary essay where you are expanding your close reading of poems and develop an analysis about the larger literary and cultural significance the poems have. To do this, youll need to look at the poems and write an analysis of the larger meaning of the poem as you see it, cite specific lines and describe in detail how they support your analysis.
To help you develop your analysis of how a poem fits within its cultural context (social, political, historical), you may need to use other sources, which I totally encourage and welcome. Sources may include: an academic or scholarly article, a news article, an interview with the author, or an expert familiar with the authors body of work.
Heres a link to Purdue Universitys Online Writing Lab aka OWL to help you think about the potential literary analysis essays for poetry: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/writing_about_poetry.html
WHAT ARE THE PROMPTS?
1. How does memory shape and inform a poems message and meaning? Think about how memory works as the poems Elegy, American Sun, Of Poetry & History and Gratitude? How valuable is memory in building a poem? Choose two poems to support your analysis.
2. Explore the historical context and import of Phillis Wheatleys poetry. Could Phillis Wheatley been speaking to two audiences?
3. Pick any two poems from this unit. In what ways do these poems transform of challenge the dominant narrative about the American experience?
