AMERICAN LITERATURE & COMPOSITION
MS. HANNAS
POETRY—PRESENTATIONS
For this assignment, pick one of the poets from the list in the American Literature
text book and do the following:
1. Get background information on the poet and the time period in which he/she
wrote. This information is in the text book—use the biography and the
historical time period background at the beginning of each major unit. Write
at least 3 paragraphs with information you think is important about your poet.
2. Copy the poem, title, and author’s name. You will need this for your poetry
notebook later in the unit.
3. Do the TP-FASTT analysis of the poem your poet wrote.
4. Write a two paragraph personal response to the poem. Use these questions to
guide your response.
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Did you understand it? Why?
What did you like or dislike about the poet and the poem? Why?
How does this poem relate to the theme of the American Dream,
Individualism, Tolerance, and/or Cultural Diversity? Use specifics
to explain this.
Would you recommend the poem to someone else? Why?
How well does the poem represent its literary time period?
POINTS: 50
DUE DATE: ______________________________________
Anne Bradstreet
page 69
“Burning of Our House…”
Henry W. Longfellow page 177
“The Ropewalk”
Oliver W. Holmes
page 190
“Old Ironsides”
Edgar Allan Poe
page 282
“The Raven”
Emily Dickinson
page 374
“Heart! We Will …”
Emily Dickinson
page 378
“The Soul Selects…”
Emily Dickinson
page 381
“Some Keep the Sabath…”
Emily Dickinson
page 382
“I Taste a Liquor…”
Emily Dickinson
page 386
“Tell the Truth, but…”
Emily Dickson
page 388
“Success is Counted…”
Emily Dickson
page 391
“Because I could not…”
John C. Ransom
page 577
“Bells for John…”
E. A. Robinson
page 645
“Richard Cory”
E.L. Masters
page 693
“Richard Bone”
James W. Johnson
page 737
“Go Down, Death”
page 744
“America”
Countee Cullen
page 747
“Tableau”
Countee Cullen
page 748
“Incident”
Claude McKay
Langston Hughes page 761
“The Weary Blues”
Langston Hughes page 764
“Harlem”
Ezra Pound
“River Merchant’s…”
page 773
William C. Williams page 778 “The Red Wheelbarrow”
Marianne Moore page 788
“Poetry”
Carl Sandburg
page 793
“Chicago”
E E Cummings
page 797
“what if a much of a …”
Richard Wilbur
page 1006
“The Beautiful Changes”
Allen Ginsburg
page 1008
“Homework”
Elizabeth Bishop page 1034
“The Fish”
Joy Harjo
page 1039
“Remember”
Anne Sexton
page 1089
“The Bells”
Sylvia Plath
page 1148
“Mirror”