ENGLISH 12: POETRY/SONG PROJECT
Purpose: To compare (rhetorically and subjectively) an essay and a song SHARING
THE SAME THEME. Ultimately, your presentation should be aimed at comprehensively
addressing the following question: which piece (poem vs. song) most persuasively
addresses the given theme?
Choice of Authors: Please choose at least one author from the LIST BELOW.
SUGGESTED LIST OF POETS: (authors will be designated on a first-come, first-serve
basis) Collins, Jarrell, Dickinson, Frost, MacNiece, Housman, Northrup, Wright, Arnold, Hugo, Lweis, Merrill,
Piercy, Rossetti, Shore, Stanton, Wright, Graves, Burns, Carroll, Eberhart, Gray, Kumin, Reed, Robinson, Roethke,
Stevens, Strand, Masefield, Owen, Bishop, Herbert, Crashaw, Doolittle, Eliot, Pound, Wojahn, Gay, Hughes, King,
Minty, Nash, Plath, Rukeyser, Wakoski, Wyatt, Whur, Pope, Bradstreet, Clifton, Cummings, Finch, Kennedy,
O’Shaughnessy, Brooks, Emanuel, Gardner, Herrick, Howes, Poe, Robinson, Swift, Thompson, Wagoner, Bentley,
Hecht, Whitman, Dryden, Ginsberg, Giovanni, Heyen, Hollander, McKay, Milton, Morgan, Randall, Solt,
Swenson,Williams, Toomer,Scott, Jacobsen, Kennedy, Jeffers, Muske, Atwood, Broumas, Merwin, Parker, Spender,
Field, Sexton, Auden, Hall, Justice, Larkin, Moore, Olds, Pastan, Viorst, Adame, Ammons, Angelou, Baraka, Birney,
Bogan, Bontemps, Bridges, Brodsky, Campion, Dickey, Crane, Cullen, Drayton, Dove, Eberhardt, Engels, Evans,
Forche, Georgakas, Biovanni, Hacker, Haines, Hall, Halpern, Hamod, Harper, Hayden, Heaney, Heyen, Knight,
Kumin, Kyger, Layton, Lightman, Lorde, Lowell, MacDonald, McHugh, McKay, Millay, Miller, Nemerov, Northrup,
Sasoon, Sandburg, Sanchez, Salinas, Serotte, Shapiro, Silkin, Smith, Snodgrass, Silko, Stern, Twichell, Ban Duyn,
Villaneuva, Wagner, Wakowski, Waller, Warren,Tate, Weigl, Wheatley, Wilbur, Zimmer
Topic Example: Virginia Woolf’s Shakespeare’s Sister and Gray’s Elegy both discuss
untapped potential; as Woolf puts it a bit wryly “genius is not born in labouring,
uneducated, servile people.”
Written handout (bring copies for everyone in the class) should include:
1) rhetorical/ literary devices in poem with examples 2) effect on reader of both song and
poem, and 3) a clear “thesis” statement defining the common theme of the works,
delineating the different methods of portraying it, and confirming which work most
persuasively expresses this theme
WARNING: The most difficult part of this assignment will probably be your selection of
topic. Themes are not derived at first glance.
Your presentation should run no longer than 6 minutes and include the following:
1) A handout (see above) and brief discussion of your theme and why you chose it
20 pts.
2) An introduction to your poet and lyricist—Who are they? When/where/why did
they write these lyrics? 10 pts.
3) A playing of your song (or an excerpt of the song if it is very long and repetitive)
4) A reading—dramatically with conviction please—of your poem 10 pts.
5) A comparison of the methods used by the authors and persuasive reasoning for
which you believe portrays the theme more effectively to you. 10 pts