English Poetry Essay

You will write  a Thesis and Outline on one of the poems which ever you choose from the attached list. Then you will write 750-word (about 3–4-pages) essay that analyzes 1 poem from the Poetry Unit below.

ENGL 102

Poetry Essay Instructions

In Module/Week 5, you will write a 750-word (about 3–4-pages) essay that analyzes 1 poem from the Poetry Unit. Before you begin writing the essay, carefully read the guidelines for developing your paper topic that are given below. Review the Poetry Essay Grading Rubric to see how your submission will be graded. Gather all of your information, plan the direction of your essay, and organize your ideas by developing a 1-page thesis statement and outline for your essay as you did for your Fiction Essay. Format the thesis statement and the outline in a single Word document using current MLA, APA, or Turabian style (whichever corresponds to your degree program).

The Poetry Essay is due Module/Week 5 and must include a title page (see the General Writing Requirements), a thesis/outline page, and the essay itself followed by a Works Cited/References page of any primary or secondary texts you cite in the essay.

Guidelines for Developing Your Paper Topic

Chapter 40 in your textbook 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 Frost’s “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. 1,385–1,386.

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.

· “Batter my heart, three-personed God,” or “Death Be Not Proud” by John Donne (watch the video lecture on

John Donne’s “Batter my heart”

for more ideas to help you write your essay on this poem).

· “Journey of the Magi” by T. S. Eliot.

· “God’s 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 Browning’s “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 “There’s No Frigate Like A Book” by Emily Dickinson (Read

Gilbert and Gubar’s “The Freedom of Emily Dickinson”

for more ideas to help you write your essay on Dickinson’s poetry).

· “Ulysses” by Alfred Lord Tennyson

· “That Time of Year” (Sonnet 73) by William Shakespeare (watch the video lecture on

William Shakespeare’s “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 themes 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 poem’s 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 poem’s overall meaning? Why or why not?

· Is the identity of the poem’s 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 poem’s 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.

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ENGL102

General Writing resources and Requirements

NOTE: Use this as reference for each writing assignment! Your grade may be adversely affected if you do not follow all of these requirements. Email or call your instructor if you have questions.

The required literary essays for this course demand careful planning, drafting, revising/editing, and correct documentation. The following resources and requirements provide instruction on writing, research, and avoiding plagiarism. Carefully review them before writing your literary essays.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism encompasses more than the use of printed sources without giving proper credit. It means handing in writing in the name of one person that another person has composed, revised, edited, or proofread without the instructor’s approval. Accordingly, the following guidelines are set down, and you must study and understand them from the outset. The instructor will assume, since this issue is clearly discussed, that you will be responsible for understanding and applying it.

1. Any fact that is not common knowledge, any idea, phrase, or paraphrase that is taken from a printed source, from a lecture, sermon, or radio broadcast must be documented.

2. Any work submitted in English 102 will be understood to be the work of the student submitting it and his work alone. Taking credit for someone else’s proofreading ability, suggestions, ideas, or words is plagiarism. An exception to this definition is group work assigned and directed by the instructor. Unless the instructor assigns such work, students should do their own writing, revising, and proofreading.

3. If a student has availed himself of the services of a tutor, officially designated by the university or unofficially, it will be understood that the tutor will confine his services to helping a student develop and express his or her own thoughts, making suggestions to help the student fulfill the assignment guidelines, and supplementing the work that the instructor does with the student in conferences and class. A tutor in his proper role never does work for a student nor supplies specific words, phrases, or ideas. The student bears responsibility for his own work. He must not submit a tutor’s work as his own, and he must not blame his errors on the tutor.

4. If the student submits a paper typed by someone other than himself, it will be understood that the typist has not changed anything from the student’s script or rough draft. The student may not blame the typist for errors not corrected on the draft given to the instructor.

5. “Self plagiarism” is when a student submits written work from another course or another context as if it is original work for a current writing assignment. This is not acceptable.

Liberty Online Writing Center

The Liberty Online Writing Center also provides additional writing help, including Online Tutoring Service that is offered FREE to students! Bottom of For Yo Likewise, your instructor is an important resource. Contact him or her if you need help or do not understand something.

General Requirements for all Literary Essays

(Check the boxes to make sure every requirement is met)

· Cover Page (see sample format below; be sure to fill the cover page with all the necessary information)

· Thesis statement and outline page. This is required for each literary essay/assignment. (Thesis statement must be a cogent, one or two sentences stating the main idea of essay).

· Proper essay title, headings, page numbering, and essay format. (If you completed ENGL 101 with Liberty University, this information will be in the Prentice Hall Reference Guide. Otherwise, acquire a good Handbook that details proper format for essays. You also will find sample literary essays in your textbook, Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Compact Interactive Edition)

· Each essay is double-spaced, with ragged right edge (justify off) with a 1-inch margin on all 4 sides including the bottom margin.

· Essays are written in standard essay format that includes an introduction, body, and conclusion. The introduction includes the thesis statement, and the conclusion does not introduce brand new material or information.

· The title of the work being discussed and the author’s full name appear in the introduction. After that the author’s last name (only) is used.

· Each paragraph is properly developed with textual evidence, details, analysis, etc.

· Present tense is used, as required for writing about literature.

· Titles of short stories and poems are placed in quotation marks; titles of books and plays are italicized, as required by MLA format (APA or CM/Turabian is acceptable).

· Each essay uses third person as required in formal essays and avoids the use of first person (such as “in this paper I will discuss…).

· Each essay is formal and avoids the following:

a. Slang (e.g. kids, okay, guys, etc.),

b. Second person (e.g. you),

c. Contractions (e.g. can’t, wouldn’t), and

d. Glaring errors (e.g. sentence fragments, comma errors, subject/verb agreement, pronoun antecedent agreement, etc.).

· Proper MLA documentation format is used (APA or CM/Turabian is acceptable).

· Essay uses only academic sources. Cliff Notes, Masterplots, Wikipedia, 123HelpMe and other non-scholarly online material, etc., are not acceptable sources.

· Quotes, summaries, and paraphrases are all documented; otherwise, it will be regarded as plagiarism and thus a failing grade.

· Essay is not a string or pastiche of quotes.

· Works Cited page includes all sources cited in the paper.

· Retain a copy of each essay for your own records.

Use the following template as a cover page for each written essay:

Title of Assignment

COURSE # and TITLE_________________________________________

(e.g. ENGL 102: Literature and Composition)

SEMESTER OF ENROLLMENT_______________________

(e.g. Fall D 2009)

NAME_________________________________________ID #____________

WRITING STYLE USED_____________________________________________________

(e.g. MLA)

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