Write a 750-850 word essay evaluating a theme in one of the poems from our reading, examining at least three specific literary elements in the poem, and ensuring you include quotes from the poem to support and illustrate the theme.
As with any essay assignment, you should consider your purpose and audience.
Your audience is your classmates and instructor. Assume that your audience has already read the poem.
Your purpose is to bring a better understanding of the poem to your readers. Your analysis will provide insights into the poem’s theme, and how the poem reveals the theme.
As we discussed in Module One, the theme is the overall meaning found in a work of literature. It’s possible for a poem to have more than one theme.
Pick one of the poems from our reading assignments to analyze. You can pick any poem we read from weeks 1 and 2. You might want to jump ahead and read some of the poems covered in week two to see if they interest you.
NOTE: Please do not write about "Head, Heart" by Lydia David from our reading this week. Though there is nothing wrong with the piece, literary essays tend to focus on the obvious. You can pick any other poem from our reading assignments.
Determine a specific theme revealed in the poem.
Next, consider the ways the theme is revealed. What literary elements are used? For example, you might want to consider figurative language, the speaker’s tone, the rhyme scheme, metaphors and similes, allegory . . .
Craft a thesis statement that states the poem’s theme and the three literary elements.
Craft an essay with at least five paragraphs (an introduction, three supporting paragraphs, and a conclusion). It can be longer.
Sample Solution