Assignment One

Poetry Analysis

Objective

To analyze a poem by Robert Frost and to make a persuasive case for your interpretation of its meaning and significance.

Overview

The poems of Robert Frost that we are currently studying can be difficult to understand at first, but they definitely reward close consideration. Choose a poem and read through it several times. Look up any words that (a) you do not know and/or (b) that might have complex alternative meanings that will expand interpretive possibilities.

Though you may have numerous ideas in your notes about the meaning of the poem, narrow them down to a few that are particularly interesting and persuasive. Ground your conclusions about the poem's meaning in specific details from the poem. Use quotations or even individual words from the poem to support your claims. Discuss the poem's structure as well as its content.

Procedure

1. Identify the important ideas, structural qualities, images, etc. that make this poem what it is. Brainstorm possible meanings and details.

2. After deciding which details from the passage are the most distinctive and interesting to you, formulate a thesis statement about what the passage means. This thesis may change as you write your paper, and that is fine.

3. Write a draft of your argument about the passage. Refer directly to specific words and phrases in the chosen poem in supporting your argument.

4. Bring a word-processed, properly formatted draft to class on February 3 for peer editing.

5. Revise your draft after that class. Consider the feedback you have received from your classmate as well as your ideas as you rework your argument.

6. Having completed your revisions, proofread your paper. Watch out for typos, incorrect punctuation and other problems. Do not hesitate to consult a style manual if you have questions (Keys for Writers is one style manual that is easy to find on the UMD campus, but there are numerous others that will work just as well.)

7. Turn in the completed final draft and peer-edited working draft on February 10 in class.

Possible Thesis Statements

One of the greatest challenges for Assignment One is coming with a good thesis statement. Below are some samples that students are welcome to adapt to their own papers. Students are also welcome to come up with their own thesis statements.

In the poem "Mowing," the act of mowing has symbolic power, but Robert Frost claims that the most important meaning of the act is non-symbolic.

Frost's claims that symbolism is less important than reality in his poem "Mowing" lose their force when he uses symbolic language to make his case.

In "The Tuft of Flowers," nature's importance derives exclusively from its ability to communicate the presence of other human beings.

"Mending Wall" demonstrates Robert Frost's skepticism about language's ability to provide meaning.

In the poem "Mending Wall," Robert Frost argues that tradition prevents us from thinking clearly about our actions.

The tedium of back-breaking work allows the poet to understand the perils of striving to reach an ideal in Robert Frost's "After Apple-Picking."

In "The Code," Robert Frost argues against intellectual snobbery by dramatizing the perilous intricacies of the way laborers talk about work.

In "Home Burial," Frost identifies a clash over how to grieve properly as a fundamental breakdown in the marriage between a man and his wife.

Writing Tips

I have based the following writing tips on common difficulties that students encounter when writing papers for this class.

1. Develop an arguable and interesting thesis statement that applies directly to the poem (i. e., that you could not write about any other poem).

   Example:

   ARGUABLE THESIS (for a different assignment): Gjertrud Schnackenberg's poem "Signs" juxtaposes modern with ancient superstitions in order to demonstrate the persistence of mysticism into the present day.

   NOT AN ARGUABLE THESIS: Gjertrud Schnackenberg's poem "Signs" explains how omens work.

2. Organize your argument around this thesis statement. Think of between two and four sub-points and structure your argument around them.

   Sample Outline (for the above thesis):

   1. The poem compares different kind of signs, some of which are mystical and others of which are more directly causes of calamity.
   2. The image of the plane is the clear as an example of an omen.
   3. As a modern piece of technology, the plane proves that omens are as possible now as in the past.

3. Some grammatical tips:

   1. Avoid using the passive voice whenever it is possible to do so. When writing in the passive voice, you remove the subject from the sentence or at least de-emphasize it. This makes writing less engaging to most readers.

      Example:

      ACTIVE VOICE: Isabella eats rice pilaf. (Note structure: subject/verb/object)

      PASSIVE VOICE: Rice pilaf is eaten. (Structure: object/"to be" verb/past participle)

      ACTIVE VOICE: Isabella ate rice pilaf.
                   } Passive voice can exist in any verb tense.
      PASSIVE VOICE: Rice pilaf was eaten.
      

   2. AVOID CONTRACTIONS when writing college papers. Replace they're with they are and replace don't with do not (these are just two examples of numerous possible contractions).

   3. Italicization is the best way to signal that you are referring to a word itself and not to the thing that the word represents. You should also italicize titles of books (even in parenthetical references and lists of works cited) and foreign-language words like je ne sais quoi or status quo.

   4. The word it's (with an apostrophe) is a contraction of it is. The word its (without an apostrophe) is the possessive of it. Its and whose both deviate from the standard form of a possessive, which is an apostrophe-s.

   5. Commas. These are tricky little bits of punctuation, and your best bet is to look them up in a style manual. All the same, there are two things I can mention here.

      First, a comma is a very fragile, spindly, little thing, and it is not strong enough to string two grammatically complete sentences together all by itself. When you use a comma for this purpose, it is called a comma splice.

      Example:

      WRONG: I'm never going back to Vegas, I lose too much money there.

      See that poor little comma? It is just dying under the strain.

      CORRECT: I'm never going back to Vegas because I lose too much money there.
      ALSO CORRECT: I'm never going back to Vegas. I lose too much money there.

      Second, if the first word of your sentence is not the subject of the sentence, then it is a good idea to use a comma to separate the subject from whatever precedes it. If it only one word precedes the subject, then this rule is optional, but a whole phrase really does need a comma after it before you get on with the rest of the sentence.

      Example:

      WRONG: At the turn of the century American was fast becoming a global power.
      CORRECT: At the turn of the century, American was fast becoming a global power.
      OPTIONAL: Yesterday, we ate strawberries.
      OR: Yesterday we ate strawberries.