Poetry Explication and Analysis Essay Assignment | Homework Help Websites
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Topic: Poetry Explication and Analysis Essay
- Format: You are required to use MLA style for all writing assignments. These assignments include the Summary Writing Assignment, the Focused Annotated Bibliography and the Final Researched Essay.
Your instructor may also require MLA style for other essay assignments, including the midterm and final exams, and for discussion posts. Therefore, it is important that you understand how to use MLA style correctly. Please refer to the Purdue Online Writing Lab for MLA formatting and style guide - Length Requirement: 750-1000 words
- All sources must be cited
Your Process:
Choose one of the poems included in the list of “Poetry Selections” in the “Unit 3 Readings and Resources” section of the Advance Organizer.
You will closely read your chosen poem, considering its logic, organization, patterns of figurative language, and other literary elements. Read and reread the poem; by paying attention to the varied features of a poem, you will build an interpretation of the poem’s meaning.
Instructions:
Your essay is not a traditional 5 paragraph essay, but rather will be divided into two parts. These parts do not have to be of equal length.
Part 1: Scansion and Analysis
In the first part, which should be labeled with the heading “Part I: Scansion and Analysis,” you should make a brief, relevant introduction and then begin discussing the structural elements of the poem—its meter, its rhyme scheme, the punctuation, capitalization, and whatever else adds to the structural aspect of the poem.
In this section, you might consider what is significant among the following:
Stanzas (how many, what shapes, appearances, what breaks, rhyme scheme, are they all the same?)
Lines (lengths, line breaks, enjambment or end-stopped?)
Syntax/Diction (Is the poem grammatical? Does it follow English conventions? Why?)
Meter/Rhyme (free verse or metrical? How many feet? Is it consistent?)
Punctuation (anything unusual? Is it excessive, conventional, or omitted?)
Organization (how does the poem progress in time and space? What does it look like on the page?)
Form/Mode (is it a special type of poem: ode, dramatic, narrative, sonnet, elegy, or a mixture?)
