- 10 Mar, 2021
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Essay: Analyze a Poem
Analyze ONE poem in a clear essay, proving a single thesis
There’s a printable version in modules week 2 if you’d like.
How to do this: first annotate the poem, looking for metaphors, symbols, tone, and all the other devices we’ve been learning. My recommended thesis is “The author uses devices like ______, ______, and _____ to enhance a theme/message of ____________. (this may be a five paragraph essay but doesn’t have to be)
Another possible thesis is something like “the author uses imagery and symbolism of youth versus those of aging to show readers that life is short.”
Your essay should be more than a page, with short quotes from the poem to support your explanations.
Do not use “I” or “I think,” do not tell me whether you liked the poem, and do not use words like maybe/I guess/kind of. Keep your analysis in present tense.
Faithful
Dara Wier, 2008, USA
You come as close as the skin on my face,
As if you were a sure enough wind for me to walk into.
In woodgrain on a doorframe of a door I walk out of
You wander and I wander with you.
With luciferin, luciferase* and oxygen you light the way.
A mid-summer’s late evening scatters you so
That by midnight all of the stars that surround us
By morning by cresting by curving by blazing,
You are light that has passed through my eyes.
I see you in profile as if sharpened and stenciled
Examining creases in the palm of my hand.
Exchanging places in ground fog with black flares.
What is this translucence you’ve dropped between us,
When will a sure enough wind arrive to blow this curtain aside?
*Compounds that glow naturally, found in fireflies