Poetry Essay
Write a coherent essay of approximately 750-850 words in which you discuss how the author of one of the poems we’ve read this semester conveys one or more of the poem’s themes through the use of one or more of the literary elements we have discussed. Form and documentation must follow the MLA Style Sheet. Primary source in-text citations are required. Make certain that the essay is written in consistent third person.
*You may also choose any poem from the textbook, any of the poems found in the blackboard poetry folder, or any poem from the Favorite Poem project Video)
For more guidance, please see “Poetry Explication Outline and Tips” in the Poetry folder.
Feel free to use the following thesis statement (only if you want to):
In [author’s name]’s poem, [“poem title”] [he/she] conveys the theme[s] of […] through the use of [list one, two, or three elements that help to convey that/those theme(s)].
* * *
Example: In Yusef Komunyakaa’s poem, “Facing It,” he conveys the theme of survivor’s guilt through the use of imagery, figurative language, and the archetypes of
darkness and light.
Use the poem, “the planned child” by Sharon olds
Incorporate thoughts from my discussion:
The theme of “The Planned Child” is about a mothers love for her child. The child struggles with feeling like he was conceived with an instruction manual when he wanted it to be natural and from the heat of the moment. All though, in reality the mother probably tried to have a baby that way with no luck, but wanted a child so badly that she would do anything to have one. Sure, the child was planned, but even more so, the child was wanted. Imagery was used at the scene when the child was drinking wine with a friend. The friend was the one who first brought it to the child’s attention that he was wanted more than anything. The speaker was referring to the child when it said, “I took the wine against my lips as if my mouth was moving along that valve wall in my mother’s body.” You can almost see the child’s eyes widen as his perspective completely changes and realizes that his mother’s world wasn’t good enough without him in it. Earlier in the poem the child describes the fact that he was planned is just like taking the cardboard out of a shirt and using it as his backbone. The cardboard is symbolic of him feeling very plain and lifeless when he wanted his soul to come from something of passion and love and the heat of the moment. He feels almost as if he is some puppet that was designed with no love or heart, but despite how he came into this world, it doesn’t change the heart of a mother and her love for her child.
English 1020
Poetry Essay
Write
a coherent essay of approximately 750
-
850 words in which you d
iscuss ho
w the
author of one of the poem
s we’ve read this semester
conveys one or more of the poem’s
themes through the use of one or more of the literary elements we have discussed.
Form
and documentation must follow the
MLA Style Sheet
. Primary source in
-
text citations
are required. Make certain that the essay is writt
en in consistent third person.
*You may also choose
any poem from the textbook, any of the poems found in the
blackboard poetry folder, or any poem from the Favorite Poem project Video)
For more guidance, please see “Poetry Explication Outline and Tips”
in the Poetry
folder.
Feel free to use
the following thesis statement (only if you want to):
In
[
author’s name]’s
poem,
[“poem title”
] [
he/she]
conveys the theme[s] of
[…]
through the use of
[list one, two, or three elements that help to convey that/tho
se
theme(s)].
*
*
*
Example
:
In Yusef Komunyakaa’s poem, “Facing It,” he conveys the theme of
survivor’s guilt
through the use of imagery, figurative language, and the archetypes of
darkness and light.
Use the poem,
“
the planned child
”
by
Sharon
olds
I
ncorpo
rate
thoughts from my discussion:
The theme of “The Planned Child” is about a mothers love for her child. The c
hild struggles with
feeling like he was conceived with an instruction manual when he wanted it to be natural and
from the heat of the moment.
All though, in reality the mother probably tried to have a baby
that way with no luck, but wanted a child so badly
that she would do anything to have one. Sure,
the child was planned, but even more so, the child was wanted. Imagery was used at the scene
when the child was drinking wine with a friend. The friend was the one who first brought it to
the child’s attention
that he was wanted more than anything. The speaker was referring to the
child when it said, “I took the wine against my lips as if my mouth was moving along that valve
wall in my mother’s body.” You can almost see the child’s eyes widen as his perspective
completely changes and realizes that his mother’s world wasn’t good enough without him in it.
Earlier in the poem the child describes
the fact that he was planned is just like taking the
cardboard out of a shirt and using it as his backbone. The cardboard
is symbolic of him feeling
very plain and lifeless when he wanted his soul to come from something of passion and love and
the heat of the moment. He feels almost as if he is some puppet that was designed with no love
or heart, but despite how he came into
this world, it doesn’t change the heart of a mother and
her love for her child.
English 1020
Poetry Essay
Write a coherent essay of approximately 750-850 words in which you discuss how the
author of one of the poems we’ve read this semester conveys one or more of the poem’s
themes through the use of one or more of the literary elements we have discussed. Form
and documentation must follow the MLA Style Sheet. Primary source in-text citations
are required. Make certain that the essay is written in consistent third person.
*You may also choose any poem from the textbook, any of the poems found in the
blackboard poetry folder, or any poem from the Favorite Poem project Video)
For more guidance, please see “Poetry Explication Outline and Tips” in the Poetry
folder.
Feel free to use the following thesis statement (only if you want to):
In [author’s name]’s poem, [“poem title”] [he/she] conveys the theme[s] of […]
through the use of [list one, two, or three elements that help to convey that/those
theme(s)].
* * *
Example: In Yusef Komunyakaa’s poem, “Facing It,” he conveys the theme of
survivor’s guilt through the use of imagery, figurative language, and the archetypes of
darkness and light.
Use the poem, “the planned child” by Sharon olds
Incorporate thoughts from my discussion:
The theme of “The Planned Child” is about a mothers love for her child. The child struggles with
feeling like he was conceived with an instruction manual when he wanted it to be natural and
from the heat of the moment. All though, in reality the mother probably tried to have a baby
that way with no luck, but wanted a child so badly that she would do anything to have one. Sure,
the child was planned, but even more so, the child was wanted. Imagery was used at the scene
when the child was drinking wine with a friend. The friend was the one who first brought it to
the child’s attention that he was wanted more than anything. The speaker was referring to the
child when it said, “I took the wine against my lips as if my mouth was moving along that valve
wall in my mother’s body.” You can almost see the child’s eyes widen as his perspective
completely changes and realizes that his mother’s world wasn’t good enough without him in it.
Earlier in the poem the child describes the fact that he was planned is just like taking the
cardboard out of a shirt and using it as his backbone. The cardboard is symbolic of him feeling
very plain and lifeless when he wanted his soul to come from something of passion and love and
the heat of the moment. He feels almost as if he is some puppet that was designed with no love
or heart, but despite how he came into this world, it doesn’t change the heart of a mother and
her love for her child.