Short Essay Assignment
Write an essay based on the instructions below. The essay should be about three full pages in length. Essays that are shorter than two full pages or longer than five pages might be returned unread or with a failing grade. The page count does not include the Works Cited page. The essay is due on January 31st. See the course outline for lateness penalties.
All essays must be submitted to Turnitin.com and also submitted (in hard copy) to the instructor. No essay will be graded until it has been submitted to the web site and the instructor. The course code and password for Turnitin.com have been distributed: please contact the instructor if you need them.
All essays must also be accompanied by the Essay Submission Checklist. Please attach the checklist sheet as the final page of your essay (after the Works Cited page).
It is strongly recommended that you stay away from the Internet and other sources of information about the poems to write this essay. It is your own analysis that is important: I do not want to grade someone else’s ideas other than your own. You are free to use good reference sources, especially the Oxford English Dictionary, the Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms, and the Bible. As always, plagiarism will not be tolerated. Document all sources (of ideas and of quotations), including all web sources (whether an author is identifiable or not).
Essays should conform to MLA guidelines in both appearance and citation style. Essays should have double-spaced lineation. Printed essays should use a 12-point, serif font and should not have a justified right margin. Please use one-inch margins on all sides. Please do not submit the essay in a binder or folder. I am not fond of title pages. Please include URLs, as appropriate, in your list of Works Cited (because I do no like the MLA’s new recommendation about not needing to include the URLs).
Choose one of the following poems and write an argumentative essay about it that reflects a well-considered, profound analysis of the poem. Your essay should focus on the use of the poetic voice (the “I” of the poem / the eye of the poem / the narrator / the describer) to convey the content of the poem. Your thesis should be based on your assessment of the attitude of the poetic voice towards its subject. Your essay should include an analysis of some of the interesting language, metaphors, similes, and imagery, especially as they contribute to the attitude of the poetic voice. While an analysis of some of the more formal features of the poem is not necessary, it might help you produce a more sophisticated analysis.
- William Wordsworth, “Nutting” (212)
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Frost at Midnight” (296)
- Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Lift not the painted veil” (476)
- Felicia Hemans, “The Homes of England” (523)
- John Keats, “On Seeing the Elgin Marbles” (536)
- John Keats, “To Autumn” (559)