Your essay should be a response to this prompt:
Choose one poem from (("We did not rear the father" by charles fort, "What work is" by Philip Levine, "Singapore" by Mart Oliver, "Blackberries" by Yusef Komunyakaa, "The Mill" by Edwin Arlington Robinson, "So Mexicans are taking jobs from Americans" by Jimmy Santiago Baca, "The Lady in the Pink Mustang" by Louise Erdrich, "The Secretary Chant" by Marge Piercy,"The Restaurant Business" by James Tate) and one or two poems from ("Forgiving my father" by Lucille Clifton, "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden, "My papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke, "My Father, in Heaven, Is Reading Out Loud" by Li-Young Lee, " Say You Love me" by Molly Peacock), and discuss how the idea of family is created in the poems that you have chosen.
In what ways is the poem's speaker creating an idea of family based on the work its members perform?
What are some similarities and differences among the speakers' visions of family?
Do you see any connections between the two poems you have chosen?
You have the option to add a third poem, which must come from (Forgiving my father" by Lucille Clifton, "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden, "My papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke, "My Father, in Heaven, Is Reading Out Loud" by Li-Young Lee, " Say You Love me" by Molly Peacock). You will not necessarily write a more successful essay by adding a third poem to it, however if you think a third poem could help to develop your idea about family in the poems, then you should add it.
Basic content and form requirements:
-Cear thesis statement and developed paragraphs that advance the thesis.
-Demonstration of analysis that is supported by evidence from the textbook and from at least one academic source outside of the textbook.
-Demonstration of close reading with attention to formal elements of poems, such as sound, word choice, symbolism, and more.
-Clear organization and sustained focus on the prompt and the poems (not the poets).