poem from list

Step #1: Select Your Poem

Here is a list of the poems that you will be allowed to pick from:

a. “The Bean Eaters” – Gwendolyn Brooks
b. “The Triple Fool” – John Donne
c. “Those Winter Sundays” – Robert Hayden
d. “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” – Robert Frost
e. “Spring in the Classroom” – Mary Oliver
f. “Spring” – Gerard Manley Hopkins
g. “Theme for English B” – Langston Hughes
h. “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” – Emily Dickinson
i. “Desert Places”–Robert Frost
j. “Introduction to Poetry” – Billy Collins

Step #2: Prompts (pick one from this list and match it up to your poem)

PROMPT: Evaluate, explain, and analyze how your poem teaches about any of the following themes that apply to your poem:

1. poverty and / simplicity.

2. sacrifice and / or regret.

3. the value of time.

4. remembering and valuing the past.

5. the importance of identity.

6. contemplation and thinking.

7. the value of place.

8. the complicated world of love.

9. isolation and/or responsibility

10. human world versus the natural world

11. exploration

12. the interpretation of mortal experience

13. resurrection and renewal

================================================================================

Step #3: Annotate / explicate, paraphrase, and summarize. This process is basically:

Annotating / explicating – Taking notes, finding important lines, writing about it, locating techniques that you deem important, generally “marking up the poem” to get familiar with the it
Paraphrase – Putting the complicated poet’s language into your own words
Summary – Create a shorter version of the poem that is objective and easier to understand
================================================================

Step #4: Drafting the essay

a. Paragraph one: Exciting hook; mention the poem & poet by name; include two or three sentences of biography; briefly summarize your poem; insert the thesis at the bottom of the paragraph.

b. Paragraph two: Analyze and evaluate a technique that is crucial to the poem.

c. Paragraph three: Analyze and evaluate a another technique that is crucial to the poem.

d. Paragraph four: Analyze and evaluate a final technique that is crucial to the poem.

e. Conclusion: Step away from the poem and make for your reader a “present-day application.” How does this poem still matter today? Remind your reader of the main idea but do not repeat. Do not repeat yourself in this paragraph.

===================================================================================

HOW MUCH TO WRITE: Each paragraph should be between eight to twelve (8 – 12) sentences. In all, your essay will be between 40 – 60 sentences.

PERCENTAGE: Your final typed draft should have a similarity of approximately twenty percent (20%). If it is higher, you should revise.