Assignment
Guidelines for Developing Your Paper Topic
Chapter 41 of the Kennedy and Gioia textbook (Chapter 43, pp. 1132-142 in the eText) provides some helpful pointers for reading poems, taking notes, brainstorming, developing a clearly-defined thesis statement, preparing an outline, writing a cogent literary analysis of a poem, and citing your sources. This chapter specifically addresses Robert Frostâ€TMs “Design,†which is studied in this course, so be sure to read it before doing any further work for this assignment. Also, take notice of the example of a poetry thesis and outline on pp. 1344-1345 (pp. 1135-1136 in the eText).
Choose 1 of the poems from the list below to address in your essay:
• The Lamb or The Tiger or The Chimney Sweeper by William Blake;
• Gods Grandeur or Pied Beauty or Spring by Gerard Manley Hopkins;
• Ode on a Grecian Urn or Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats;
• Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley;
• My Last Duchess by Robert Browning (watch the video lecture on Robert Browningâ€TMs “My Last Duchess†for more ideas to help you write your essay on this poem);
• Sailing to Byzantium†by William Butler Yeats;
• The Road Not Taken or Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost;
• It Sifts from Leaden Sieves or Theres No Frigate Like A Book by Emily Dickinson (Read Gilbert and Gubars The Freedom of Emily Dickinson for more ideas to help you write your essay on Dickinsons poetry);
• Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson; and
• That Time of Year (Sonnet 73) by William Shakespeare (watch the video lecture on William Shakespeares Sonnet 73 for more ideas to help you write your essay on this poem).
Consider the following questions for the poem that you have chosen:
• What is or are the theme(s) of the poem?
• Is there a literal setting or situation in the poem? What lines from the poem tell the reader this information? What details does the author include?
• Is the setting symbolic?
• How would you describe the mood of the poem? What elements contribute to this mood?
• Is the title significant to the poems content or meaning? How?
• What major literary devices and figures of speech does the poet use to communicate the theme(s)?
• How are rhyme and other metrical devices used in the poem? Do they support the poems overall meaning? Why or why not?
• Is the identity of the poems narrator clear? How would you describe this person? What information, if any, does the author provide about him or her?
• Does the narrator seem to have a certain opinion of or attitude about the pos subject matter? How can you tell?
NOTE: These questions are a means of getting your thoughts in order when you are collecting information for your essay. You do not need to include the answers to all of these questions in your essay; only include those answers that directly support your thesis statement.