Assignment
Go to the Poetry Foundation website: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/Links to an external site. https://www.poetryfoundation.org
Use the search tool to find a poem that connects up with something that interests you. You can choose anything you like: colors, animals, sports, cultural ideas or ethical values – use your imagination. Your term is likely to bring up a number of hits. This might take some time and exploration, but by plugging in keywords that are meaningful to you, you’re bound to be led somewhere interesting, even if unexpected. Once you find a poem that suits you, read it. If there are any words you don’t know, be sure to look them up. After you’re sure you know all of the words, think about what you think the poem means. Next, read it again, and consider again what you think the poem is saying. Every poem is meant to be read multiple times, and usually this is the only way to truly understand any poem.
Post the poem, or a link to the poem, in your written assignment and along with this, write a short commentary on the poem. This commentary should include a short synopsis where you “translate” the poem into everyday speech, explaining what it’s about. Along the way, give some sense of what makes it aesthetic, and as you do, explain the poem by using at least three appropriate terms from the “Terms to Remember” list from the module’s lecture presentation. Be attentive and describe the poem accurately. Does your poem have a central image? Does it use metaphors, or symbols? If so, be sure and list these as you discuss. Does your poem involve consonance? Does it have a narrator? Be sure and cite specific elements of the poem in your response.
This assignment should be 250 words minimum, and will be assessed on its formal clarity, the quality of the writing and editing, its degree of engagement with its topic, its creativity/inventiveness/originality of ideas, and the sophistication of thought it expresses.
