Dear Mouseketeers,
At the bottom of this post are the thematic pairings from which you can choose for a comparative essay of three or more (full) pages.
To keep everyone equal, requirements are: Times New Roman 12 point double-spaced, with one inch margins all around.
Leaf through the chapter entitled "Writing About Poetry" and scan the sample essays to give yourself a sense of good critical writing.
("Guide to Feet Complete with Helpful Reminder" courtesy of T.R. Hot-sun, Esq., DNA, OBE, Etc.)
And now…the Pairs!—
- Barbie Doll (Marge Piercy) + Siren Song (Margaret Atwood)
- Dover Beach (Matthew Arnold) + Church Going (Philip Larkin)
- Ulysses (Tennyson) + Curiosity (Alastair Reid)
- To His Coy Mistress (Marvell) + The Flea (Donne)
- The World is too much with us (Wordsworth) + God’s Grandeur (Hopkins)
- A Valediction Forbidding Mourning + The Sun Rising (both John
Donne) - The Broken Heart (Donne) + Farewell to Love (Michael Drayton)
- To Autumn (Keats) + After Apple Picking (Frost)
And don't forget those feet!!
18 comments:
Pardon the nit-picking, but when is the deadline for this essay?
He said rough due by thursday. But if our class does it's usual amount of lobbying I'd say probably have it ready to go by next monday:)
I concur with T-Revor's assessment of our classes lobbying ability. We could all grow up to be great forces for evil.
P.S. I thought there would be a new blog, but all I see are two old ones. Am I missing something?
Arg, I hope we can get it for Monday. My weekend's been packed with things happening and stuff to do. :/
Ay, ay for Monday!
If anyone wants a glossary for poetry terms I found this:
http://www.poetsgraves.co.uk/glossary_poetic_terms_i.htm
and the lobbying begins. hahaha
If Mr. Duncan is still on, what kind of an analysis do you want?
=/ Is it a context/message analysis. Literary terms analysis? Etc? Something more profound... or already mundane (e.g. Dover Beach and Church Going are about the loss of faith... is that good enough, provided that we write about the context of the poems?).
When I think of a poetry analysis, I imagine hundreds of pages of connections written down on paper that have no true meaning to them. What I mean is, I think of it as an purging of connections of things we notice between the two poems but nothing that sticks them together... if that makes any sense. So what kind of analysis do you want?
I was stumbling around the internet the other day and came upon this poem by Billy Collins. It made me laugh really hard because of our current topic in class. I would like to share it with you and I hope you enjoy it. :)
-Alexis
Introduction To Poetry
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.
Lol Alexis that's awesome! :D
I already know that poem. And personally I never use a hose. So shaddup!
Oh, JD, it's us who use the hose, not you!
Katie is right. And judging from our task today it is no ordinary garden hose (think bigger, more water pressure). My vote for Monday also, for no other reason that is what my fellow classmates seem to desire.
Pretty sure JD brought that poem into class. But yeah, chances that I could get an essay ready by tomorrow are about the same as Obama's health care bill being a lasting success.
I hope your feeling better, Mr. Duncan!
I'm having trouble starting my analysis. What do you specifically want us to focus on? Compare and Contrast the two poems in terms of context? Or is it more like the analysis on the timed write: how diction, imagery, and syntax convey the poems' meaning? Mr. Hardin's class had to write a 3-page analysis on musical devices in a certain poem. Do you want us to analysis the poems for literary devices such as alliteration, metaphors, similes, etc. and how the author uses them to convey a certain message? I really don't like this openness, especially if I don't know what to expect from you =/ It makes me nervous.
And lol :) Great poem, Alexis!
I am sorry you are feeling ill! I also am a little nervous like Chris. I am glad we have free choice on what pairs to write on but I don't know in what way we are suppose to analyze them.
Monnnndddaaayy?!?
Let's discuss the essays tomorrow in class. They're certainly not due yet. Chris, I think I can help you and the rest of the class get a good sense of how to go about a comparative essay.
Yay! Thanks JD! I didn't think writing a poetry essay cold would do much good, especially when you were gone last class!
Thank you so much! <3
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