Analysis of Poetry: Compare-Contrast
Assignment:
Using only the poems included in Chapters 19 and 20 of Literature and its Writers (pages 1030-1090), perform the following:
1) After reviewing the material, select ONE THEME or CATEGORY.
2) Select two or three poems from these chapters that address the one theme or category that you select. Poems must be by DIFFERENT authors.
3) Write an essay in which you compare and contrast how each author’s poem addresses the one theme you have chosen.
This writing assignment will require you to examine the poetry you choose, understanding the literary devices and techniques each author uses. Compare-contrast looks at similarities and differences. How do the pieces resemble each other? In what ways do they contrast? How does each author accomplish his/her goal? In what ways are styles different or similar? Your essay will explain all of this.
Guidelines and Structure:
Rough draft and final drafts must be FIVE PAGES, minimum. plus a works cited page.
Literature and Its Writers will be the only source for this essay.
One reference to the poetry and/or authors you are using,along with an in-text citation, must appear in EACH body paragraph (not the introduction or conclusion).
Block quotations are allowed, but no more than ONE BLOCK QUOTATION per author/poem is permitted in your (entire) essay. So, if you compare-contrast three authors and three poems, your essay would have no more than three block quotations.
Essays are to be written using MLA guidelines—if you had issues with this on the first essay, review MLA!
Standard paragraphs are required; this includes an introductory paragraph that presents a thesis and the points to be discussed. After this, you will develop body paragraphs, and end with a concluding paragraph.
Resources:
Your textbook provides examples of literary essays (explication, analysis, and compare-contrast) in Chapter 28 (Basic Types of Literary Papers). Review these carefully to formulate ideas of how to complete this assignment. The list of topics on page 1090 might also be helpful in generating ideas for your comparison-contrast essay.
You should also review MLA procedure as points will be deducted for essays that do not meet this criteria.
Also remember that the Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) and Pass the Torch are there to help with writing.
Getting Started:
As soon as possible, you need to begin browsing the poetry in the two chapters that you can choose from, deciding on theme/category, and which authors you will use. Use the guidelines and questions on 686-687 to explicate the pieces. Some additional things you can look at are:
1) What literary devices does each author use to present his/her piece?
2) What elements are present in each piece? Their importance?
3) How do the various elements help to deliver the message of each poem?
4) What attitude or tone is evident in each piece? Are these similar or different when you look at each piece?
5) Does audience differ from piece to piece, or appear to be the same?
PLACE THIS ORDER OR A SIMILAR ORDER WITH US TODAY AND GET AN AMAZING DISCOUNT 🙂