Poetry Project

Select an English language poet from the list (or check with me about a poet not on the list). Choose six major poems of the poet (or five if one of the poems is especially long—several pages), reproducing the entire text of the poems. For each of the poems, you will:

1. Explicate thoroughly, paying attention to both denotation and connotation.

2. Identify the meter and rhyme scheme, if applicable. Are meanings and senses of the poem end-stopped or enjambed?

3. How does the poet make use of sounds? Notice repetition, alliteration, assonance, consonance, and onomatopoeia.

4. What are the key symbols and images in the poem? Has the poet made use of simile, metaphor, personification, allusion, synecdoche, and metonymy? Make sure any of these devices are detailed and explained fully.

5. Does the poet write in a recognizable form? Does she/he write sonnets, ballads, or odes? Are the poems epic (heroic stories of a people) or narrative in form?

6. What is the relationship of the content of 2-5 to the meaning, theme, and tone of the poem?

7. Do the poems resemble one another in form and/or theme? Speculate on the principal ideas and approach of the poet based on your study of the poems.

The paper should be thoughtful and based totally on your individual reading. Do not consult critics or study guides. The papers should be technically perfect and proofread; use The No-No List as a guide. All papers must be typed in standard format.

For Tuesday

Read the following two poems and write a response for each in which you focus primarily on the poems' language. The idea here is to simply note what seem to you are likely important, striking, unexpected, or surprising language elements from specific diction to devices to syntactical choices. Venture your view of the meaning of these specific elements, but leave aside developing a 'grand theory' about the poems' overall meanings. One poem is called "Daddy," by Sylvia Plath, and the other is "In the Waiting Room," by Elizabeth Bishop. Click on the poem title for the link. Your response should be at least one page per poem.

Diving into the Wreck

Please read this poem by Adrienne Rich for Tuesday and write an outline of the comments you'd want to make about it in a written response.

Poem for Monday

Please print out this poem by e e Cummings and come to class ready to discuss it on Monday.

Test on Tuesday

You'll have an in-class essay test on Crime and Punishment on Tuesday. The test will cover the novel to page 472. You'll be given two topics and will be asked to choose one and construct a well-reasoned response that shows your serious engagement with the novel.

Dostoevsky rubric:

Standard: The response:	Exceeds standard; 5, well qualified; (94-100/A)	Meets standard in all elements and is skillfully executed; 4, well qualified; (85-93/A-,B+)	Addresses some elements of standard, but not always skillfully or adequately; 3, qualified; (75-84/B,C)	Addresses standard but often only minimally, and sometimes seriously mistakes points; 2, possibly qualified; (70-76/C-, D)	Does not address standard, fails to develop ideas to any degree or misapprehends important elements; 1 unqualified;   (below 70/D, F)
Establishes a strong central idea or ideas, addressing the topic directly and powerfully
Is well organized with a structure that is both logical and comprehensible
Develops striking, original, and powerful connections among elements of the text
Develops significant arguments and trains of logic that establish and prove the essay’s contentions;
Draws examples from the text that powerfully support the essay’s major arguments;
Uses language that is crisp, straightforward, striking, original, and clear;
Adheres to the norms of grammar and stylistic conventions regarding awareness of audience.