• Use literary terms from the fiction and poetry lectures. This is your opportunity to demonstrate what you have learned up until this point!
• Use any terminology that makes sense for the poem you have chosen, and you move through it top to bottom.
• Your particular focus on the poem will only require certain ones.
Word Choice, Word Order, & Tone (at least 5 annotations)
o diction (poetic, formal, middle, informal, colloquial, jargon)
o word choice (denotations, connotations, ambiguity)
o word order
o tone
o allusion.
• Figurative & Symbolic Language (at least 5 annotations)
o simile
o metaphor
o pun
o synecdoche
o personification
o hyperbole
o paradox
o conventional symbol
o literary/contextual symbol
o allegory
o situational irony
o verbal irony
o satire
o dramatic irony
• Sounds of Poetry (at least 5 annotations)
o onomatopoeia
o alliteration
o assonance
o eye rhyme
o internal rhyme
o exact rhyme
o near rhyme
o masculine rhyme
o feminine rhyme
o While this is your own personal response, focus on the poem itself – and your paper’s thesis – as much as possible!
• You can use both first and third person in this paper.
• You can bring in your own responses and experience.
• HOWEVER be careful not to accidentally write a whole paragraph (or paper) about yourself; the focus still must be the poem, and every sentence that you write must somehow connect to working through the poem from top to bottom.
Paper must include:
• Introduction Paragraph with a thesis statement that names the poem and poet.
• 2 – 5 Body Paragraphs – each with a clear topic sentence as the first sentence. ALL other sentences in a body paragraph must relate to its topic sentence.If you use a story outside of your textbook, add the reference/works cited information at the bottom of your paper. If the story is online, include a link.
• Conclusion paragraph is optional. You should give a sense of having arrived at the end of the poem. You may also opt to write a short conclusion paragraph that givesan overall reflection of the poem one might have after experiencing it.
• 1. Thesis: Excellent thesis: explains the poem in sophisticated terms, demonstrating an excellent understanding of the poem, and advancing original thought about the poem and its meaning.
• 2. Development and Thematic Discussion Excellent demonstrates a thorough understanding of the poem’s themes. Integrates themes into the thesis and line-by-line explication, demonstrating an excellent level of mastery over the poem’s form, content, and meaning.
• 3. Line-by-line Explication: Excellent This explication demonstrates a good understanding of the language of poetry. The paper has an excellent explication of the poem, explaining the meaning of the poem in sophisticated and interesting terms. This explication is sophisticated and deep.
• 4. Use of quotations: This paper makes excellent use of quotations as textual evidence. The critical analysis is seamlessly integrated in support of the paper’s thesis.
• 5. MLA or APA Style and Mechanics Excellent: 1 or 2 minor errors that do not interfere with the flow or coherence of the paper
• 6. Length: 800+ words = no points deducted for length.
Maya Angelou, “Still I Rise” from And Still I Rise: A Book of Poems. Copyright © 1978 by Maya Angelou. Used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Source: The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou (1994)
Maya Angelou, “Still I Rise” from And Still I Rise: A Book of Poems. Copyright © 1978 by Maya Angelou. Used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Source: The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou (1994)
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