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In this essay, you will do a close reading of a poem of your choice from the textbook: you can
choose any poem from the textbook that you have not already been assigned to read. You
can find lots of choices in the poetry chapters, in “The Sonnet: An Album”, and in “Reading
More Poetry”. A close reading is a “deep analysis of how a literary text works” (The Writing
Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison). To complete your close reading, you will need to
carefully examine your poem, annotating (taking notes) and paying close attention to the poet’s
word choices, type of meter, use of symbols, and many other characteristics. To help guide you,
there are two links in this week’s module to webpages that walk you through the close reading
process, one from the Purdue Online Writing Lab and one from the Writing Center at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison.
*The thesis of your close reading essay should express your opinion about what the poem’s
main point or argument is.* Then, you should support that thesis by giving evidence like word
choices in the poem, symbols used, and variations in the meter. A thesis statement for a poetry
close reading might look something like this: In his poem “I celebrate myself, and sing myself,”
Walt Whitman uses repetition and frenetic pacing to show how he is connected to both the
smallest and largest realities of life.
Sources
Because it is so important to focus on the primary text in a close reading, the only secondary
source you may use for this paper is the dictionary. The Oxford English Dictionary is the best
choice for a poetry paper, but other dictionaries will also be accepted. To learn more about how
to use the OED, check out this week’s presentation. You should not include any other secondary
(critical, historical, etc.) sources. You should still include a Works Cited Page, however, to cite
your chosen poem and the dictionary you use.
Requirements
The paper should be at least 1,000 words long and formatted according to MLA style rules. Use
Times New Roman font, 12-point size. Margins should be one-inch. All papers must be doublespaced
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