Essay #2 – Literary Analysis
In the past two weeks, we have been looking at symbolism in poetry.
While we have had films and an activity where we created our own
symbolism, it is time to take a look at symbolism in poetry per se.
Because of this, our second essay is gonna be about looking for
symbolism in an author's poetry. Mind you, this essay will be a literary
analysis.
So, what is a literary analysis?
It is a type of essay where you will look at a certain aspect, and argue
about it while offering specific passages from the text and its relevance.
Sounds familiar, right? Since 3103, you have been using sources to
give strength to your arguments. However, in a literary analysis, you
must target a work of literature in a certain area. For this one, we will be
focusing on symbolism.
I am going to provide you four writers. You will choose ONE and ONLY
ONE and look how does that writer uses symbolism in his poetry (I will
provide a list of poems for that writer as well). In essence, you'll be
doing an examination of the writer while using the literary works as
evidence. Of course, you shouldn't compare two poems, or its
symbolisms; that would be a compare and contrast essay. What we are
looking for, is an explanation of how the author uses symbolism in his
works. Each writer has a writing style as well as preferred methods.
That is what you should be looking for. Do not only focus in raw
symbolism, but rather how does he achieves it as well. Does he uses
metaphors? Similes? Alliteration? Etc, Etc, etc??
Your literary analysis should include the following:
1.Offer a thesis or topic sentence indicating a basic observation or
assertion about the text or passage. (DUH!)
2.Offer a context for the passage without offering too much summary.
3.Cite the passage (using correct format).
4.Then follow the passage with some combination of the following
elements:
•
Discuss what happens in the passage and why it is significant
to the work as a whole.
•
Consider what is said, particularly subtleties of the imagery and
the ideas expressed.
•
Assess how it is said, considering how the word choice, the
ordering of ideas, sentence structure, etc., contribute to the
meaning of the passage.
•
Explain what it means, tying your analysis of the passage back
to the significance of the text as a whole.
5.Repeat the process of context, quotation and analysis with additional
support for your thesis or topic sentence.
For this one, the required bibliography will be assigned texts, Yeat's
essay on Symbolism and perhaps the biography of the author. Nothing
more. You can choose as many texts for your analysis as you want.
This week's post is simple: just post you thesis statement and outline.
This is due on April 14th, 2012 @ 11:59 PM.
Assume the same guidelines for submitting this essay: MLA Format, 2
pages minimum (3 maximum), and rubric attached to the back. you are
also required to visit the writing center.
The authors you can use for this essay are:
1) William Blake - "The Tyger," "The Lamb," "The Garden of Love," "The
Little Black Boy" -- or "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell" (This one is
long enough for an essay).
2) Christina Rosseti - "The Goblin Market"
3) Edgar Allan Poe - "The Raven" "The Bells" "Annabelle Lee" "A
Dream Within a Dream."
4) William B. yeats - "No Second Troy" "The Second Coming"
Hints: look for figures in the poem that contain outer and inner meaning.
These four poets were symbolists.
Essay is due on April 24th, 2012.