analyzing poems

Explanation:
The goals of the journal assignments are twofold: 1) to give you guided practice in working towards the two student learning outcomes for this course (listed below) and 2) to allow you to build a repository of possible essay ideas for the two essays you will write this semester.
The student learning outcomes for this course (also listed in the syllabus) are as follows:
Analyze literary texts using the methods valued by literary critics and scholars.
Compose well-structured, grammatically correct essays which assert the reader’s analytical interpretation of a literary work and support that interpretation with convincing textual evidence.
This assignment will ask you to deal with both of these outcomes, first by making observations about the readings using “methods valued by literary critics and scholars” (Outcome 1), and second, by asking you to begin to make analytical claims about how these literary texts work and what they mean (Outcome 2).
Directions:
To complete this assignment, you must use the assigned sample poems for this week. Once you have finished the required readings, complete the following two steps using two poems which you did not discuss at length in your discussion post:
For each of the two poems, type up 3 detailed (6+ substantive sentences written in standard College-level English) observations about the text. This means you will write 6 short paragraphs total to complete this step.
These observations should focus on “threads”–patterns or tensions or questions that seem important to your selection–but could also focus on notable anomalies or absences if you believe them to be of great importance (see the “What We Talk About When We Talk About Literature” overview for additional information).
You should choose very specific observations. This is not an exercise in summary. Don’t waste a paragraph summarizing the reading (we’ve all read it)–just dive right in to a discussion of what you noticed.
Some examples of useful threads: a metaphor or image or expression that recurs; something that is unexpected within the context of the text; an unconventional or notable approach to an element of the genre (white space in the poetic line, no punctuation, etc); apparent conflict or contradiction in the terms the text is setting up (a story seems sympathetic to its villain, for example). In other words, a thread should notice something about the text, not just summarize or restate a fact. Explain why it struck you as interesting, odd, worthy of notice.
Sample Observation: “I noticed that the story makes many references to masks and masking, as well as other methods of disguise. For example, on page 1 Susan states that, “….” and on page 6 the narrator describes the moon as “….”.These references tend to occur when characters are experiencing moments of great emotion. This connection makes me ask questions about the way the characters view their own emotions. For example, why can emotions never be expressed openly, but must always be masked?
Once you have completed your 6 short observation paragraphs (3 for each author), choose one or two of these observations and make a hypothetical claim about what it reveals about your text (in other words, why is it significant?). Write this claim out as a concise, clear, one or two sentence thesis statement. Keep in mind that this is a claim based on analysis, so it should address questions of how and why. You can make a claim about either one of the authors, or you can make a claim that compares the two. It’s up to you.
Your thesis might take one of the following forms:
“Pattern x reveals y about z.”
“Although it seems that x, in fact y, which reveals z about the text.”
Ask yourself: Why? So what? Why does one of my threads operate in the way that it does, and what might this reveal?
Sample Thesis: “Throughout the novel, Lucy struggles to find a balance between spectatorship and action, cultural mores and individual desires. This struggle manifests itself most frequently in the choice between performing active or passive roles. Contrary to the general assumption that action garners greater results, I argue that it is most often Lucy’s chosen inaction, her surveilling “passivity,” that allows her to both adopt and subvert traditional binaries, enabling Lucy to become a successful artist, both on the stage and on the written page.”
Links:

https://poets.org/text/how-read-poem-0

https://www.nypl.org/blog/2018/10/03/inside-poetry-series-anatomy-poem

https://www.nypl.org/blog/2018/05/01/inside-poetry-series-what-is-poetry

POEM LINKS:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44087/wild-nights-wild-nights-269

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49729/sonnet-you-jerk-you-didnt-call-me-up

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56824/tell-all-the-truth-but-tell-it-slant-1263

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