Lesson 7

This week I’ve provided links to a few poems. I’d also recommend that you continue to explore poets and poems in the Poetry Foundation website. However, since the primary focus of this course is to teach you how to write about literature, it will be worth your time to read a few good essays about poetry to understand what you’re aiming for. Also, sometimes it helps to see what bad writing looks like as well. You’ll see what I mean when you get to the Informal Writing Assignment this week.

Hopefully you will realize that although it may seem tempting to plagiarize a paper, you’re actually quite capable of coming up with a good paper (and revising it) on your own.

Also, remember that poetry can be powerful. Especially poetry out loud, which can express anger, grief, or humor in a way that poetry on the page can’t.

What to Read:

  1. Sylvia Plath’s “Mirror“
  2. Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for death“
  3. Robert Frost’s “Out, Out-“

Informal Writing Assignment: Revising Others’ Work  

This week, I’d like you to choose from one of the following papers and edit the papers for an A+. You aren’t trying to write your own paper here, simply using your understanding of what makes a good academic essay about poetry. You are welcome to change anything at all in the paper, but it must be edited well, including correctly formatting the paper according to MLA.

Choose one of the papers linked below and revise it. For guidelines, see below.

Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for death”

Robert Frost’s “Out, Out-“

Sylvia Plath’s “Mirror”

Expectations:

  1. The paper has been properly formatted according to MLA for the document design, in-text citations, and the Works Cited page (which you must include)
  2. The paper has been revised for clarity and precision regarding grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
  3. You have removed sentences and passages that are unnecessary summary and replaced them with interpretive passages.

Lesson 7 Submission Checklist:

  •  Informal Writing Assignment #5.
  • Discussion Question #6 (remember to also paste your discussion post into Word and submit to the assignments tab in Canvas).