ESSAY PROMPT:
Choose one poem by a poet on our class’s “Approved List.” What did the poem awake in you? What do you and the poem have to say to each other about a common subject? THE POEM I CHOSE WAS “MIGHTY PAWNS” BY MAJOR PAWNS.
HOW TO DO IT:
A response piece should demonstrate an understanding of a poem’s overall meaning, major subjects, and theme, but this essay’s central claim should focus on how the poem creates a specific response in you as a reader. What, in other words, is the poem saying to you, personally, and what do you have to say back to it? In this essay, using the first person (“I”), you will enter into a meaningful conversation with the poem. For this essay, you may use the excerpts from Zapruder’s book (provided on Canvas) as a model. Note how he discusses how particular poems affect him as particular moments of his life.
Your piece should not assume your reader knows who you are. Make sure to introduce the most relevant characteristics of yourself either in the intro or as you go.
Paragraphs should analyze and make close observations about specific lines, images, or aspects of the poem, AND establish how these how these elements affect you as a reader in a personal way.
Your response piece may discuss multiple elements of poetry that are present in the poem, but they may focus, as Zapruder does, on a PARTICULAR way your chosen poem communicates.
Use MLA style for your Works Cited page and in-text parenthetical citations.
Response pieces should focus primarily on the poem as opposed to the author of the poem. However, you are welcome to do relevant research as long as you use credible sources and cite your sources. Avoid looking for “answers” to poems on low-quality internet sources (blogs, sparknotes, etc.); if you do use such sources, you must cite them correctly—and note that you still will likely lose marks for using low-quality sources instead of library resources. Consult with me if you want help figuring out what counts as a higher-quality source.
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