Consider the various groups of poems that we have studied the past two sessions: poems about the natural world, poems about cities and civilization, poems and sex and love, or poems about poetry. You probably feel that you have a lot more to say about one of these topics and one of these groups of poems.
Select one of the four discussion paragraphs that you have posted in this unit on poetry; it should be one you can critically expand upon at a greater length and depth.
Write about three or four poems in that selected group; if your essay deals with a set of related poems, it will have more consistency and coherence. If you want to write about another poem or poems than the ones we have discussed in class, please inform your instructor.
Note. Since the experience of reading poetry is largely subjective, the same poem is going to make different impressions on different readers. You are only responsible for your own reading experience. Nevertheless, it is possible to be objective about the linguistic qualities of a poem that affect the way you respond to it and the way you understand it.
Look closely at such matters as diction (word choice), repetition, figures of speech (metaphor, simile, and so on), imagery, voice, persona, turns of phrase, allusion—the linguistic bag of tricks that skillful poets have at their disposal.
Sample Solution
