POETRY ESSAY INSTRUCTIONS
You must complete the required textbook readings in preparation for the Poetry Essay. This will equip you to objectively respond to the readings by compiling information from a variety of sources in order to compose a persuasive analysis of a literary work. You will also learn to follow standard usage in English grammar and sentence structure; identify the theme and structure of each literary selection and the significant characteristics or elements of each genre studied; and evaluate the literary merit of a work (Syllabus MLOs: A, B, C, D, F, G and Module/Week 5 LOs: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7).
In Module/Week 5, you will write a 750-word (approximately 3 pages) essay that analyzes 1 poem from the Poetry Unit. Before you begin writing the essay, carefully read the below guidelines for developing your paper topic and 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 Microsoft Word document using current MLA, APA, or Turabian style, whichever corresponds to your degree program; check your Perrine’s Literature textbook, the Harbrace Essentials Handbook, and/or the link contained in the Assignment Instructions Folder, to ensure the correct citation format is used.
The final essay must include, a title page (see the General Writing Requirements), a thesis/outline page, and the essay itself followed by a works cited/references/bibliography page of any primary and/or secondary texts cited in the essay.
You must submit the thesis and outline by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Monday of Module/Week 4 for instructor feedback.
You must submit the Poetry Essay by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Monday of Module/Week 5.
Guidelines for Developing Your Paper Topic
The “Writing about Literature” section of your Perrine’s Literature textbook (pp. 1–54) and the “Writing” section of Harbrace Essentials (pp. 1–12, 18–21, 22–28) provide pointers which will be helpful for academic writing in general, and more specifically for your literary essay. Be sure that you read this section before doing any further work for this assignment. Take particular notice of the examples of poetry essays on pp. 43–48 of Perrine’s Literature.
Choose 1 (ONE) 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
• “Journey of the Magi” by T. S. Eliot
• “God’s Grandeur” or “Spring” by Gerard Manley Hopkins
• “Ode to a Nightingale” by John Keats
• “Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley
