Complete a close reading on a selected poet we have learned about this semester. New England Poets or Irish Poet Yeats or Shakespearean Sonnets ,
Use the Harvard Writing Center Guide on Close Reading to keep track of your thoughts and notes as you read and analyze a specific poem.
The pre-writing process is part of this assignment. Previous Assignment as it will lead to your poetry analysis essay!!!
Paper Requirements:
MLA Essay Format – Introduction, thesis, main body paragraphs, conclusion.
Length 2-3 pages plus
Work cited in MLA style.
In text citation to reflect what is on the Work cited page…a quote and/ or paraphrasing.
See Links below and videos imbedded in links for citation help!
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/punctuation/quotation_marks/quotation_marks_with_fiction.html
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_sample_paper.html
As you delve further into understanding this poem analyze the following and use literary terms to exemplify one or more of the following:
1. Examine the language of the poem.Look up any words that seem important or unclear. How does the text make use of the particular connotations of its words? Are there patterns of word choice (diction), such as language associated with religion or with everyday speech? What images and image patterns are prominent? What are the associations of these images? Do the images take on larger significance as symbols? What other metaphoric language contributes to the poem’s meaning? Similes? Puns? Are there larger patterns of allegory or allusion?
2. How is the author using the form? How does the form suit the poet’s intent? What variations are there in meter and rhyme scheme? How do these variations affect the meaning? How does the poet use the break between octave and sestet or quatrains and couplets? What other sound effects do you notice (alliteration, assonance, etc.) and how do they fit the larger effects of the poem? How does the poem use line and stanza breaks? How does it use syntax to emphasize or enact its meaning?
3. Who is the speaker of the poem? How would you characterize the speaker? What is the tone of the poem? How does it change? Does it use irony? What techniques does poet use to get this tone across? What is the relationship between the speaker and the audience? How does this relate to the message of the poem?
4. What are the main ideas, themes, or concepts in the poem? Does it have a point you could summarize? Does it set up a contrast or debate? If so does it resolve the debate somehow? How does this relate to the sense of closure in the poem? How do the other elements of the poem support or enhance this theme?
5. What is the meter of the poem? Why might the poet have chosen this meter or what does it add to the poem? Choose a few instances in which the meter does something unexpected. How does the poet use rhythm to add meaning to the poem?
