Great+Poetry+Essay

Your paper describing great poetry will be at least 6 paragraphs long (it can be longer) and will break down in the following manner.


 * If you need help, refer to our materials about the structure of an essay.
 * If you can't get started, don't forget where to begin.

Introduction

 * Grab the reader’s attention and focus on the subject.
 * Please attempt some sort of thesis – a one sentence statement that explains what your answer will be to the question, “What is great poetry?”

2 paragraphs

 * Describe what you think great poetry is. Go into detail and feel free to use examples to explain what you mean.
 * Also give serious consideration to explaining what bad or average poetry is, to make your point about great poetry more clear.
 * You might want to use your original reflections to give you ideas. If you’re looking for other ideas, one might be to discuss what it is like as a writer to attempt to create great poetry.

2 paragraphs

 * Discuss your five greatest poems specifically, pointing out what parts of them are great. Group them logically - don’t leave the reader feeling like you’re jumping randomly through a batch of poems.
 * Also, if necessary, use more than two paragraphs.

Conclusion

 * Wrap up your discussion about great poetry and the five great poems and leave us with a thought to ponder.

Requirements

 * Your essay needs to be in MLA format.
 * Use the style of good essay writing – topic sentences at the beginning of your supporting paragraphs, clincher sentences at the end.
 * Through the length of this essay, you will need to use six of the poetic terms we discussed during this unit. Use them intelligently – don’t just list half of them in a throw-away sentence about what tools a poet uses to make a poem great.

Revising Properly

 * When you revise, you'll need to refer to page 280 in the [|Writers Inc.] handbooks (the black books in our classroom), which explains how to punctuate poetry when you quote it in an essay.
 * For this essay, consider the following three things as you revise:
 * 1) Quotes - did you punctuate and format correctly when you quoted poetry?
 * 2) Topics: Circle and label every topic or idea you mention in the two paragraphs where you define great poetry.
 * 3) Six poetic terms: Did you use the required terms and use them well?