​Essay 2: Poetry

I’m trying to learn for my English class and I’m stuck. Can you help?

Essay 2: Poetry

TASK:

Choose one of the following topics:

1. Explain how Cisneros uses creative language (poetic devices) to encourage readers to question their view of the model woman, to convey her Mexican-American identity, and/or to express the joys of love. Your interpretation will address some of these questions: How do Cisneros’ poems promote (Mexican-American) women’s experiences? What techniques does she use to describe patriarchal ideology and backlash? How do her poems revel in androgyny and what is the effect? Find ~4 poems in the Loose Woman where the writer uses poetic devices for effect. Use one poem per body paragraph, analyzing these passages closely to explain its significance and how the writer uses poetic techniques to convey meaning and feeling.
2. What argument does Yamanaka make about the body and the development of female consciousness/personhood? How does the author use poetic elements such as point of view, narration, figurative language, symbolism, and working-class Hawaiian dialect to express anxieties over the conditions of exploitation that lead to women’s lack of agency? Your interpretation will address some of these questions: How does Yamanaka’s poetic novella represent female experiences? How does the author illustrate patriarchal ideology? Why does the female body make the narrators vulnerable? What processes disempower girls? How do we know some of the girls lose their sense of self? What circumstances allow Lucy (the last narrator in Part 4) to avoid the fate of the girls from Parts 1&2? Choose 3-4 poems from the novellas that will help you develop your interpretation (thesis). Focus on one poem per body paragraph, analyzing the stanzas closely to explain its deeper meaning and how it helps you “prove” your thesis.

DUE DATES:
Outline and working thesis: October 22 Rough draft for peer review: October 26 Final essay draft: Monday, November 2

REQUIREMENTS:

• ● Your essay should be 5 pages and use MLA formatting and citation style (in-text citations within the body of your essay). Include a works cited page as the last page.
• ● Your essay should have a strong, clear thesis that offers your unique interpretation of your chosen poems in direct answer to ONE of the above topics (and its questions, which are in bold). Your thesis must guide your entire essay; in other words, all your paragraphs directly relate to (support) that thesis.
• ● Your introduction paragraph should orient readers to the poetic novella/poetry and your thesis by providing relevant background information.
• ● Explain/support/develop your thesis with well-chosen textual evidence and provide plenty of in-depth analysis using feminist concepts/perspective to frame your illustrations and interpretations. When you paraphrase literal meaning, you should always follow up with interpretive analysis. The 3-4 poems you choose should come from various sections of the book.
• ● Use coherent (PIE) body paragraphs, with strong topic/point sentences, effective quote integration, and clear focus on one main idea per paragraph that supports your thesis.
• ● Your conclusion should wrap up your essay by tying the key points of your argument together and perhaps do a “reverse hook.”

In unit 1, we practiced reading and writing prose using the formalist approach. For the second unit,

we will continue practicing this approach, applying it to poetry. The goal of Essay 2 is to express your

understanding of the formal elements of poetry and interpret the meaning of select poems using the feminist

critical perspective.

Write

a 5 page essay in which you interpret 3 or 4 poems from either Saturday Night at

the Pahala Theatre or Loose Woman to respond to one of the following prompts: (choose one only)

• ● Allow time to revise, edit, and proofread for clarity and typos. Make sure your essay is in MLA format.
• ● Save your essay as a Word or PDF file and upload to Canvas. If you have any trouble at all uploading, then email me your essay as soon as you finish so that I can see that it is completed.