Instruction
Beard (ENG)
Choose one Poem by Natasha Trethewey
Elegy for the Native Guard
Pilgrimage
Miscegenation
Flounder
Theories of Time and Space
The Kitchen Maid with Supper at Emmaus, or The Mulata
This essay should be a 500-750 word essay focusing on the poetry we have read during Weeks 3 and 4. It is due at the end of Week 4.
This essay will be the first in which you will use some sources. While it should primarily passages from the poem discuss as evidence, it should also reference 1-2 informational or critical sources from outside of your textbook.
The essay should be in MLA essay format and should have the student/teacher cover letter as the first page (see this document for the cover letter questions and final draft checklist, and the sample essay for an example of an MLA formatted essay).
The essay must have an MLA format works cited list that cites all sources used.
The essay grading rubric can be found here.
Assignment: Analyze 1 poem from the assigned readings using 1 of the following critical approaches (NOT reader response) we discussed in the Week 4 forum, using 1-2 secondary sources to help support your argument. Make sure that the essay has a strong thesis related to the approach--do not argue that `this poem is best analyzed with this approach.` Again the allowed critical approach choices are:
biographical criticism
feminist criticism
historical criticism
Marxist and social criticism
New Historicism
psychological criticism
structuralism
If you need more information on the different types of criticism, consult the webpages on criticism linked in the `additional readings` area of the Week 4 lesson.
Your required secondary source(s) should come from outside of the assigned textbook readings; the Online Library is a good first stop, as are the links to further reading on poetry in the Week 4 lesson. If you have trouble finding information on your poem, its author, or its context, or have any other questions, please contact me (earlier is better; questions sent on Saturday evening may not be answered until Monday).