Poem Analysis Essay Assignment

For this assignment, you will use the same poem that you used for the Recitation Project. Write an essay explaining the following two things:

1) what the poem means (on the surface but also think deeply about this idea)

2) how the form of the poem helps to create that meaning beyond just the content (here you can talk about structure, rhyme, repetition, sound, emotion, pacing, figurative language, etc. -- anything that helps you talk about the meaning being enhanced by the form)

Your essay should have an introduction with a thesis, one or more body paragraphs about meaning, one or more body paragraphs about form, and a conclusion.

Include at least three direct quotes from the poem.

The first draft is due on your blogs by midnight Friday, May 20 (600 words minimum), and the revised draft will be due the following week.

Prose vs. Poetry

Poetry and Prose:

Poetry noun

1. the art of rhythmical composition, written or spoken, for exciting pleasure by beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts.
2. literary work in metrical form; verse.

Prose

noun

1. the ordinary form of spoken or written language, without metrical structure, as distinguished from poetry or verse.
2. matter-of-fact, commonplace, or dull expression, quality, discourse, etc.

What’s the Difference? Nearly all writing shares the goal of communicating a message to an audience, but how that message is communicated can differ greatly. The divisions between poetry and prose aren’t clear-cut, but here are some generally accepted differences.

Prose

 Most everyday writing is in prose form.

The language of prose is typically straightforward without much decoration. Ideas are contained in sentences that are arranged into paragraphs.

There are no line breaks. Sentences run to the right margin.

The first word of each sentence is capitalized.

Prose looks like large blocks of words.

Poetry

Poetry is typically reserved for expressing something special in an artistic way.

The language of poetry tends to be more expressive or decorated, with comparisons, rhyme, and rhythm contributing to a different sound and feel. Ideas are contained in lines that may or may not be sentences.

Lines are arranged in stanzas.

Poetry uses line breaks for various reasons—to follow a formatted rhythm or to emphasize an idea.

Lines can run extremely long or be as short as one word or letter.

Traditionally, the first letter of every line is capitalized, but many modern poets choose not to follow this rule strictly.

The shape of poetry can vary depending on line length and the intent of the poem.

Found poems

Here is the definition of Found Poetry from poets.org:

Found poems take existing texts and refashion them, reorder them, and present them as poems. The literary equivalent of a collage, found poetry is often made from newspaper articles, street signs, graffiti, speeches, letters, or even other poems.

A pure found poem consists exclusively of outside texts: the words of the poem remain as they were found, with few additions or omissions. Decisions of form, such as where to break a line, are left to the poet.

Here is an example:

Sample Found Poem 

Prose Selections from Chang-rae Lee’s “Coming Home, Again” 

From that day, my mother prepared a certain meal to welcome me home. It was always the same. Even as I rode the school’s shuttle bus from Exeter to Logan airport, I could already see the exact arrangement of my mother’s table. I knew that we would eat in the kitchen, the table brimming with plates. There was the kalbi, of course, broiled or grilled depending on the season. Leaf lettuce, to wrap the meat with. Bowls of garlicky clam broth with miso and tofu and fresh spinach. Shavings of cod dusted in flour and then dipped in egg wash and fried. Glass noodles with onions and shiitake. Scallion-and-hot-pepper pancakes. Chilled steamed shrimp. Seasoned salads of bean sprouts, spinach, and white radish. Crispy squares of seaweed. Steamed rice with barley and red beans. Homemade kimchi. It was all there—the old flavors I knew, the beautiful salt, the sweet, the excellent taste. (p. 5) ...................

 I wish I had paid more attention. After her death, when my father and I were the only ones left in the house, drifting through the rooms like ghosts, I sometimes tried to make that meal for him. Though it was too much for two, I made each dish anyway, taking as much care as I could. But nothing turned out quite right—not the color, not the smell. At the table, neither of us said much of anything. And we had to eat the food for days. (p. 6) 

 Found Poem Based on the Prose Selection 

My mother prepared
A certain meal
To welcome me home.
We would eat in the kitchen
Table brimming
Kalbi, leaf lettuce to wrap the meat
Garlicky clam broth with miso and tofu and fresh spinach
Shavings of cod
Scallion and pepper pancakes
Chilled steamed shrimp
Steamed rice. The old flavors I knew
Beautiful, salt, sweet, excellent.
I wish I had paid more attention.

Shape poems can be simple and follow a different form

Poem Set 2

Swan and Shadow by John Hollander

Poetry

by Nikki Giovanni

poetry is motion graceful
as a fawn
gentle as a teardrop
strong like the eye
finding peace in a crowded room

we poets tend to think
our words are golden
though emotion speaks too
loudly to be defined
by silence

sometimes after midnight or just before
the dawn
we sit typewriter in hand
pulling loneliness around us
forgetting our lovers or children
who are sleeping
ignoring the weary wariness
of our own logic
to compose a poem
no one understands it
it never says "love me" for poets are
beyond love
it never says "accept me" for poems seek not
acceptance but controversy
it only says "i am" and therefore
i concede that you are too

a poem is pure energy
horizontally contained
between the mind
of the poet and the ear of the reader
if it does not sing discard the ear
for poetry is song
if it does not delight discard
the heart for poetry is joy
if it does not inform then close
off the brain for it is dead
if it cannot heed the insistent message
that life is precious

which is all we poets
wrapped in our loneliness
are trying to say

This Is Just To Say

William Carlos Williams, 1883 - 1963

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

The Red Wheelbarrow

Related Poem Content Details

BY WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS

so much depends 

upon 

a red wheel 

barrow 

glazed with rain 

water 

beside the white 

chickens

“Hope” is the thing with feathers - (314)

Related Poem Content Details

BY EMILY DICKINSON

“Hope” is the thing with feathers - 

That perches in the soul - 

And sings the tune without the words - 

And never stops - at all - 

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard - 

And sore must be the storm - 

That could abash the little Bird 

That kept so many warm - 

I’ve heard it in the chillest land - 

And on the strangest Sea - 

Yet - never - in Extremity, 

It asked a crumb - of me.

Source: The Poems of Emily Dickinson Edited by R. W. Franklin (Harvard University Press, 1999)

Blood

Related Poem Content Details

BY NAOMI SHIHAB NYE

“A true Arab knows how to catch a fly in his hands,” 

my father would say. And he’d prove it, 

cupping the buzzer instantly 

while the host with the swatter stared. 

In the spring our palms peeled like snakes. 

True Arabs believed watermelon could heal fifty ways. 

I changed these to fit the occasion. 

Years before, a girl knocked, 

wanted to see the Arab. 

I said we didn’t have one. 

After that, my father told me who he was, 

“Shihab”—“shooting star”— 

a good name, borrowed from the sky. 

Once I said, “When we die, we give it back?” 

He said that’s what a true Arab would say. 

Today the headlines clot in my blood. 

A little Palestinian dangles a truck on the front page. 

Homeless fig, this tragedy with a terrible root 

is too big for us. What flag can we wave? 

I wave the flag of stone and seed, 

table mat stitched in blue. 

I call my father, we talk around the news. 

It is too much for him, 

neither of his two languages can reach it. 

I drive into the country to find sheep, cows, 

to plead with the air: 

Who calls anyone civilized? 

Where can the crying heart graze? 

What does a true Arab do now? 

Alliteration, Assonance, Consonance

Check out this link explaining three important poetic terms:

http://www.writingrhymeandmeter.com/rhyme/208-consonance-assonance-alliteration/

Ms. Guarino's Haikus

Spring Colors

Bright, purple tulips
Cardinals at my birdfeeder
Warm, shining sunlight



spring at school

students all outside
embrace the warm air of spring
can't think about school



Jolly Ranchers

Eunice comes to eat.
She likes the purple candy.
It is delicious.

Haiku

Poem Set #1

My Father and the Fig Tree
by Naomi Shihab Nye

 For other fruits, my father was indifferent.
He'd point at the cherry trees and say,
 "See those? I wish they were figs."
In the evening he sat by my bed
weaving folktales like vivid little scarves.
They always involved a figtree.
 Even when it didn't fit, he'd stick it in.
Once Joha was walking down the road
and he saw a fig tree.
 Or, he tied his camel to a fig tree and went to sleep.
Or, later when they caught and arrested him,
his pockets were full of figs.

At age six I ate a dried fig and shrugged.
"That's not what I'm talking about! he said,
"I'm talking about a fig straight from the earth –
gift of Allah! -- on a branch so heavy
it touches the ground.
I'm talking about picking the largest, fattest,
sweetest fig
in the world and putting it in my mouth."
(Here he'd stop and close his eyes.)

Years passed, we lived in many houses,
none had figtrees.
 We had lima beans, zucchini, parsley, beets.
"Plant one!" my mother said.
 But my father never did.
 He tended garden half-heartedly, forgot to water,
let the okra get too big.
"What a dreamer he is. Look how many things
he starts and doesn't finish."

The last time he moved, I got a phone call,
My father, in Arabic, chanting a song
I'd never heard. "What's that?"
He took me out back to the new yard.
There, in the middle of Dallas, Texas,
a tree with the largest, fattest,
sweetest fig in the world.
"It's a figtree song!" he said,
 plucking his fruits like ripe tokens,
 emblems, assurance
of a world that was always his own.

 from 19 VARIETIES OF GAZELLE

* Joha - A trickster figure in Palestinian folktales

Arabic Coffee
by Naomi Shihab Nye

It was never too strong for us:
make it blacker, Papa,
thick in the bottom,
tell again how the years will gather
in small white cups,
how luck lives in a spot of grounds.

Leaning over the stove, he let it
boil to the top, and down again.
Two times. No sugar in his pot.
And the place where men and women
break off from one another
was not present in that room.
The hundred disappointments,
fire swallowing olive-wood beads
at the warehouse, and the dreams
tucked like pocket handkerchiefs
into each day, took their places
on the table, near the half-empty
dish of corn. And none was
more important than the others,
and all were guests. When
he carried the tray into the room,
high and balanced in his hands,
it was an offering to all of them,
stay, be seated, follow the talk
wherever it goes. The coffee was
the center of the flower.
Like clothes on a line saying
you will live long enough to wear me,
a motion of faith. There is this,
and there is more.

The Words Under the Words
by Naomi Shihab Nye

for Sitti Khadra, north of Jerusalem

My grandmother’s hands recognize grapes,   

the damp shine of a goat’s new skin.   

When I was sick they followed me,

I woke from the long fever to find them   

covering my head like cool prayers.

My grandmother’s days are made of bread,   

a round pat-pat and the slow baking.

She waits by the oven watching a strange car   

circle the streets. Maybe it holds her son,   

lost to America. More often, tourists,   

who kneel and weep at mysterious shrines.   

She knows how often mail arrives,

how rarely there is a letter.

When one comes, she announces it, a miracle,   

listening to it read again and again

in the dim evening light.

My grandmother’s voice says nothing can surprise her.

Take her the shotgun wound and the crippled baby.   

She knows the spaces we travel through,   

the messages we cannot send—our voices are short   

and would get lost on the journey.

Farewell to the husband’s coat,

the ones she has loved and nourished,

who fly from her like seeds into a deep sky.   

They will plant themselves. We will all die.

My grandmother’s eyes say Allah is everywhere, even in death.   

When she talks of the orchard and the new olive press,   

when she tells the stories of Joha and his foolish wisdoms,   

He is her first thought, what she really thinks of is His name.

“Answer, if you hear the words under the words—

otherwise it is just a world with a lot of rough edges,   

difficult to get through, and our pockets full of stones.”

Naomi Shihab Nye, “The Words Under the Words” from Words Under the Words: Selected Poems (Portland, Oregon: Far Corner Books, 1995).

Figurative Language Used in Poetry

Poets use figurative language to make their writing show the reader things in a different or interesting way. It heightens the senses and helps to get the poets thoughts across.

Here are seven types of figurative language used in poetry. 

• Simile: In a simile, the words “as” or “like” are used to compare two things.  
• Metaphor: Upon first hearing a metaphor, it sounds false or ridiculous. When you think about it, it makes sense because the two things being compared have a trait or two in common. It is used to make a point or give an opinion.
• Alliteration: This is a technique that repeats the first sound in several words. The words may be separated by a word or several words.  Tongue twisters use this technique.
• Personification: With personification, you give human characteristics to animals, ideas, or objects. This can add pleasure to the reading of a poem and make the reader take a different perspective on things. This literary device is used a lot in poetry.
• Onomatopoeia: This consists of using words that mimic sounds. The words can also sound like their meaning. This can add a fun element to poetry and can really help the reader experience what the poet experienced.
• Hyperbole: This is basically an extreme exaggeration. It makes a point and can sometimes be very funny.
• Imagery: This device appeals to the reader’s senses. It can describe objects, desires, or thoughts.  

Here are examples of the seven literary terms above.  

• Simile: As blind as a bat, as nutty as a fruitcake, as dry as a bone, they fought like cats and dogs, as easy as shooting fish in a barrel 
• Metaphor: You are my sunshine, she has a heart of stone, he kicked the bucket, time is money, life is a roller coaster
• Alliteration: “That's what made these three free fleas sneeze” (Dr. Seuss), Show Shawn Sharon's shabby shoes, Boil the butter and bring it by the bank, Kim comes to cut colorful kites
• Personification: The flowers begged for water, the sun played hide and seek with the clouds, lightning danced across the sky, the rain kissed my cheeks as it fell   
• Onomatopoeia: Bong, crunch, gobble, hum, meow, oink, ping, quack, smash, slurp, tick, tock, whoosh, zap
• Hyperbole: He is older than the hills, my backpack weighs a ton, it is raining cats and dogs, I have a million things to do today, her smile was a mile wide
• Imagery: The eerie silence was shattered by her scream, the word spread like leaves in a storm, the ants began their daily marching drill

Beginning the Poetry Unit

Introduction to Poetry

Related Poem Content Details

BY BILLY COLLINS

I ask them to take a poem 

and hold it up to the light 

like a color slide 

or press an ear against its hive. 

I say drop a mouse into a poem 

and watch him probe his way out, 

or walk inside the poem’s room 

and feel the walls for a light switch. 

I want them to waterski 

across the surface of a poem 

waving at the author’s name on the shore. 

But all they want to do 

is tie the poem to a chair with rope 

and torture a confession out of it. 

They begin beating it with a hose 

to find out what it really means. 

Billy Collins, “Introduction to Poetry” from The Apple that Astonished Paris. Copyright � 1988, 1996 by Billy Collins. Reprinted with the permission of the University of Arkansas Press.

Source: The Apple that Astonished Paris (1996)

Feedback for First Drafts of Creative Projects

Email the presenters and cc Ms. Guarino with the following information:

1. What did you like best about the project so far?

2. Note anything that was confusing to you or needed to be explained more clearly.

3. How do you think the project can be improved? Be specific.

4. Rank the work on a scale of 0-5, 5 being the highest.

5. Explain the reasons behind your ranking in #4.

Creative Project for Pobby and Dingan

To conclude our reading of Pobby and Dingan, I would like you to complete a creative project instead of a formal essay. I am going to give you a lot of freedom in what kind of project you choose. Choose to do something that will be interesting to you, that will capitalize on your strengths, and that will allow you to learn something. The amount of work you put into the project should be the equivalent of the amount of work you would do to complete a 5-page literary analysis essay. You can work alone or with a group, but if you work in a group, your project should reflect the amount of time all of you put into it together.

Here is a website that gives lots of examples of creative projects. Use this list to devise one of your own that either is the same/similar to one here or combines more than one idea:

https://www.csustan.edu/sites/default/files/TeacherEd/FacultyStaff/betts/Handouts/PDFs/101CreatLitProj.pdf

You will need to submit a proposal (one per each person in the group) that says exactly what you plan to do, how you will do it, why, and what you hope to learn from it. Also discuss the estimated amount of time you think it will take and how you will break down the time into a project noting the days and times you will complete each part of the project. If you are working in a group, please specify exactly who will do what and when.

The proposal is a formal writing assignment, so make sure it is clear, detailed, and grammatically correct. Get started on the proposal soon -- don't wait until the last minute!

Quiz Prep for Chapters 8-12

Use these questions to prepare for the quiz. Be specific and always think about what quotes you can use to back up your ideas.

1. Why do you think that Ashmol decides to search for Pobby and Dingan for real instead of just pretending?

2. What connection does Asmol make between the land covered with seawater and Pobby and Dingan? Why is that important to the story?

 3. What does Ashmol find inside their abandoned mine? Why does he believe that Pobby and Dingan are really there?

4. Why do you think Ashmol promises not to use the opal to get money? Do you agree with this decision?

5. In the very end of the novel, Ashmol talks about what it’s like to “believe in something which is hard to see. Or to keep looking for something that’s totally hard to find.” Discuss the importance of imagination and dreams in this novel. Why are they so important even if they cannot be seen. Consider what dreams Rex, the father, and Annie, the mother, have in the story. Consider, also, the dream that Ashmol has. How do those "unseen" dreams connect to Kellyanne's belief in Pobby and Dingan?

Please bring in to the quiz one index card with notes and quotes on it. It will be handed in as part of the quiz.

Vocabulary for Pobby and Dingan

claim
wobbling
startled
figment
rummaged
ute
crackpot
Mello Yello
mates
opal
fairdinkum
imaginary
grub
fossilized
mammoth


For each word, write the sentence that it comes from, the part of speech, and the meaning as it is used in the sentence.

Essay Rubric

Essay Rubric


1. Original, Creative Title (5 points)

2. Introduction with Hook and Thesis (10 points)

3. Strong, Analytical Thesis (10 points)

4. Organized Body Paragraphs (10 points)

5. Strong Topic and Ending Sentences (10 points)

6. Analysis (10 points)

7. Interesting Ideas

8. Conclusion that Recaps and Leaves Something to Think About (10 points)

9. Clarity of Ideas (10 points)

10. Grammar and Sentence Correctness (10 points)

11. Correct Citations and MLA format (5 points)


Points will also be deducted for lateness and not meeting the word count.

Peer Feedback for First Drafts

Each student needs to GIVE and GET feedback to/from TWO other students on the first drafts of this essay. Please email the feedback directly to the students and copy me on the email, so I can give you a grade on it. You will be graded on how helpful your feedback is, so don't just say "It looks good, no need to change anything."


1. Title: Does the essay have an interesting title?

2. Thesis: Is it strong and analytical? How can it be improved? Does it accurately reflect the argument being made in the body paragraphs?

3. Body paragraphs: Do an after-the-fact outline of the paper which identifies the purpose and main point of each paragraph. Are the body paragraphs organized and does the organization make sense?

4. Topic and Ending Sentences: Identify any paragraphs that do not have these or have then that need to be stronger or more analytical. Give suggestions where needed.

5. Quotations: Check that all quotations are connected to sentences, introduced, commented on, and cited correctly. Let the writer know if any of them are lacking any of these elements.

6. Summary vs. Analysis: Identify at least one place where the writer can do more analysis.

7. Details: Identify at least one place where you'd like the writer to expand the ideas, say more, or add details.

8. Clarity: Identify three sentences or parts of sentences that are confusing and explain what you think is confusing.

9. Grammar: Identify three grammar errors and tell the writer how to fix them.

10 Overall: Say one thing you like about the essay and the biggest thing that needs to be improved (in your opinion).

One last approach to writing a thesis

THE AMAZING THESIS WORKSHEET

A thesis is the main argument of your essay, the idea you wish to defend.

There are many ways to write a good thesis sentence, but, in general, a thesis contains three elements: a qualification, a general reason why your thesis is valid, and the exact position you are presenting.

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Step One:  The Topic

The “topic” of your essay is the general category your essay is about.

How do you decide on a topic? Well…

What do you have an opinion about?  What are some things that interest you?

Topics are just general categories-- fad diets, zombies, space exploration, animal rights, etc...

Example of a Topic: School.  

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Step Two: The position

What is one thing about your topic that you believe to be true, and that you wish to argue?

You may already have a “position” in mind, or you may just have a general topic you know you wish to work with. 

If you do not yet have a position, making a cluster or a map with your topic in the center is a good way to help yourself find a position. Another good way is to begin a free write, “I’m supposed to write an essay about____________. . .”  and see where it takes you.

However you get there, write a short statement describing your position in the space below.

Example of a Position: Schools have too many people in them!  

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Step Three: The Qualification

Is what you say always true always? 

Are there exceptions? 

Are there good reasons why your position may have a downside?

How can you make your position have a reality check?

What general reasons why your position may have problems can you admit up front?

To make absolute statements usually causes your essay’s thesis to seem foolishly simplistic. Get real!

Here’s a trick: begin your qualification with a word like “although” or “It is true that. . .” Don’t worry if it’s not a complete sentence.

Example Qualification: Although schools of over a thousand students have flourished in America. . .

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Step Four: The Reason

In general why do you believe your position to be correct in spite of your qualification?

What is the overall good to be gained by agreeing with your position?

This is a general statement; your specific reasons will follow in the body of your essay.

Example of a reason: Small school populations lend themselves to building a good community of learners.

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Step Five: Put them all together.

In one or two sentences, present your thesis, including a qualification, a reason, and a position.

The classic, traditional way of combining is to first present your qualification. This immediately demonstrates your interest in accuracy. Then present your general reason which demonstrates your thinking process, and finally the punch line-- your position.

Notice how in the example the qualification comes first, then the reason, and finally the position which has become a specific recommendation.

Example Thesis: Although schools of over a thousand students have flourished in America, small school populations lend themselves to building a good community of learners, and therefore we should consider limiting school populations to a hundred.

And… you’ve got yourself a thesis!

What is a good thesis?

Writing a Strong Thesis Statement

Every thesis statement is an argument to be proved and supported by the body of the essay. Remember, if your essay doesn’t support your thesis statement, you have two choices: change your essay or change your thesis statement.

Weak THESIS:        I learned that if I procrastinate, my essays will not come out as good.

Strong THESIS:

Say why:

For many student writers, procrastination is based on fear; this fear keeps students from improving their writing because they do not take the time to fully develop their ideas.

Say why we should care:

Students should understand that worrying about grammar and spelling too early in the writing process will actually lead to a less analytical essay.

Say how:

English teachers often overwhelm students by giving them too many things to think about when writing essays: thesis statements, grammar, spelling, organization, audience, etc.

Make specific comparisons:

The key difference between writing in high school and writing in college is that your ideas become more important than your form. Therefore, college freshman have to learn a new way to write.

Make an evaluation:

My high school teacher’s insistence on teaching me the 5-paragraph essay has actually hurt my writing skills.

Consider the consequences:

If students do not take time to write many drafts and revise thoroughly, they will never learn to fully develop their ideas.

Apply previous/other knowledge:

Knowing your audience is important; nevertheless, after realizing how much easier it is to write informally, I am convinced that students should just get their ideas out when writing a first draft without worrying about grammar.

Questions to Ask Yourself:

·         Have I said something specific and meaningful? Have I used specific names, examples, dates, facts, etc., and said something about them?

·         Have I said something arguable? What’s the point if everyone will agree with you or if everyone already knows this?

·         Can I support my thesis? Can I think of specific examples and evidence? Does every point I bring up support my thesis or do I need to revise my thesis statement?

·         Is it specific enough to write about in the required number of pages? Or would someone have to write a book (or a set of encyclopedias) to fully support my thesis?

·         Is my thesis relevant to the assignment? Does it do what my teacher asks (i.e. argue, summarize, compare/contrast)?

·         Does it show my ability to think critically about the subject? Does it answer one or more of the 5 Ws?

·         Can I combine any of the above strategies to make my thesis even stronger and still answer “yes” to the above questions?