Assignment Instructions
This essay should be a 750-1000 word essay focusing on the poetry we have read during Weeks three and four. It is due at the end of Week five. Do not use the poems you used in your initial posts during weeks three and four. I will be checking.
This essay will be the first in which you will use some sources. While it should primarily use passages from the poem to discuss as evidence, it should also reference 1-2 scholarly sources from outside of your textbook.
The essay should be in MLA essay format (see the sample essay for an example of an MLA formatted essay).
The essay must have an MLA format works cited list that cites all sources used.
The essay grading rubric can be found here.
Assignment: Analyze one poem from the assigned readings using one of the following critical approaches (NOT reader response or biographical criticism) we discussed in the Week four forum, using one to two secondary sources to help support your argument. This source must be peer-reviewed and scholarly. Please read lesson four for an explanation about scholarly sources. Make sure that the essay has a strong thesis related to the approach–do not argue that “this poem is best analyzed with this approach.” Again the allowed critical approach choices are:
feminist criticism
historical criticism
Marxist and social criticism
New Historicism
psychological criticism
structuralism
If you need more information on the different types of criticism, consult the webpages on criticism linked in the “additional readings” area of the Week 4 lesson.
Your required secondary, scholarly source(s) should come from outside of the assigned textbook readings; the Online Library is a good first stop. If you have trouble finding information on your poem, its author, or its context, or have any other questions, please contact me (earlier is better; questions sent on Saturday evening may not be answered until Monday).
