The Power of Words

Purpose: to write in-depth about one word or a phrase and how it develops a theme in one or two of the poems listed below. Your mini-essay will go into depth by using at least two detailed examples that illustrate how the word/phrase uses different levels of language – concrete and abstract – to convey a particular meaning.

Poems:

1- “Love in Place”

2- ”Review of the Sex Situation”

3- “Design”

4- “A Noiseless Patient Spider”

5- “We Real Cool”

6- “I’m Nobody! Who Are You?”

Examples:

How do the different definitions of “design” influence your understanding of Robert Frost’s “Design”?

How does the use of allusion with amphoras, vases, and pitchers, help develop the theme in “To Be of Use?”

What does “America” mean in any of the first five poems in the list above?

How does the repetition of “filament” help convey the central idea in “A Noiseless, Patient Spider”?

How do the uses of “Nobody” help develop a theme in “I’m Nobody”?

What contrasts develop the tone of “General Review of the Sex Situation?”

How does alliteration develop a tone or theme in “We Real Cool”?