Briefly research and explain the concept of poetic diction in an essay that goes on to examine the poetic diction of Walt Whitman in relation to other New Jersey poets of the 19th century. For the other poets, you should confine yourself to examples from our mini-anthology; but if you find it helpful to look at some of Whitman’s poetry other than what I’ve shown you, you’re encouraged to do that. But be sure to cite whatever outside sources you put to use. Your essay should use your comparisons in support of an argument about Whitman’s poetry.

1. Using the stanzas of Hopkinson’s “The Battle of the Kegs” as your model, write a ballad based on a
Jersey incident that you draw from one of the essays of Marc Mappen. For example, you might write
about the murder of Hannah Caldwell (upon whose death we all dwell) or the hanging of Caption
Huddy (whose death was more sandy than muddy), or the Martian attack (that almost reached
Hackensack).
Ballads are not necessarily comic, but as the phrases above suggest, it’s easier to write about even the
serious topics comically, mostly because the rhymes that you will need to come up with are likely to be
playfully witty and also a bit forced.
Try for at least three stanzas, and try to imitate the brevity of Hopkinson’s lines, his rhyme scheme, and
his rhythm.

2. A stylistic imitation is a kind of exercise in which a writer attempts the imitate the structure and tone of

the original while inventing new content. Some of the words will be the same, but most will be
different.
I am asking you to imitate two poems by William Carlos Williams: “This Is Just to Say” and “The Red
Wheelbarrow.” Make sure that you are looking closely at these poems as you write your imitations.
With the first one, you should keep the title as the first line and go from there. Here’s an example:
This is Just to Say
I have taken
the thesaurus
that was on
your shelf
and which
you were probably
going to use
to write your paper
You didn’t need it
Too many words
So long
and so old
See what I mean? With this poem, you should also try to imitate its central idea, which the teacher
from whom I’ve borrowed this assignment (Maya Morgan) calls “Sorry, but not sorry.”
With “The Red Wheelbarrow,” change the title, keep the opening and change the rest:
So much depends
upon
What? Almost anything will work, won’t it, so long as you keep it brief? Williams’ recurring theme
was “No ideas but in things.” So all you need are a few things while preserving the basic structure of
the poem.
You too can write a minimalist poem, or in this case two. Have fun doing it!

3. Briefly research and explain the concept of poetic diction in an essay that goes on to
examine the poetic diction of Walt Whitman in relation to other New Jersey poets of the 19th century.
For the other poets, you should confine yourself to examples from our mini-anthology; but if you find it
helpful to look at some of Whitman’s poetry other than what I’ve shown you, you’re encouraged to do
that. But be sure to cite whatever outside sources you put to use. Your essay should use your
comparisons in support of an argument about Whitman’s poetry.

4. handle anaphora. Write a paragraph that employs it. It should be a fairly long paragraph, but you needn’t go on like Yunior does for two pages. I suspect that you’ll find it easier to write prose, but if you prefer to write a free-verse poem (unrhymed and irregular in line length), you can do that.Keep in mind that at its best anaphora accumulates in power as its clauses move along, and the sequence comes to some emotionally stronger sort of climax at the end. There’s also a comical version of anaphora that ends unexpectedly by petering out in sudden deflation at the end. But I think that kind s harder to pull off.You are free to write about anything that involves New Jersey.

Last Completed Projects