In the final essay of this course, I like you to demonstrate how comprehensively you’ve read and understood the material in this course. Write a six-page (minimum) essay in which you discuss one of the following:

1. Choose a poem from either volume and explicate using a close reading of text. Below are a few suggestions about how to approach the poem to begin explication:

• Read through the assigned reading more than once before beginning the writing process. 
• On the first reading, just get a general idea/feeling of the poem.  Don’t try to “figure it out.”
• Then, read the poem again:
• How do you respond to the work?
• How does the text shape your response?
• How might other readers respond?
• What complexities (or tensions, ironies, paradoxes, oppositions, ambiguities) can you find in the work?
• What idea unifies the work, resolving these ambiguities? (IMPORTANT)
• What detail(s) or images support this resolution (that is, what connects the parts to the whole)?
• Underline words or phrases you think might be important or unclear.
• Write notes in the margins; begin a conversation with the text.
• Look up words you don’t understand.

Once you develop some connections and ideas about what you’d like to say about the essay, begin a rough draft of your essay. Be sure to include any references to the poetic movements that may have helped to shape or influence the development of the work.

OR

2. Compare and contrast two significant poetic movements (early modern, modern, vorticism, imagism, objectivists, Black Mountain, Beats, Black Aesthetic, etc.), particularly focusing in the shape and influence of these movements on the poets and poems produced from them.

OR

3. Compare and contrast the differences and similarities between two poets we covered in the course. I am particularly interested in your analysis of how one poet may have shaped and influenced the other. Cover the oeuvre each writer thoroughly.

*In addition, I will look for quotes and direct references from the texts and any scholarly sources, and appropriate citation and works-cited page. Remember, writing an argumentative essay is an intellectual process where you take a stand, or position on a subject, then back that position up with evidence—and in literature, the evidence is in the text. Requirements:

1. Six-page essay (no outside sources required, but you may use them to support your argument. Must include proper citation in your analysis, in-text citations and works-cited page).
2. This is a formal essay—so follow MLA format. Turning in paper not properly formatted will count heavily against you.
   
3. I will expect a clear, well-defined thesis outlined in the the essay. Do not begin the essay with the thesis—first, introduce the subject, and give the reader any background information they may need to better understand your argument. Then give us the thesis and the proofs to back up your claim.
4. A thesis statement contains a single idea, clearly focused and specifically stated that grows out of your exploration of a subject. A thesis statement can be thought of as a central idea phrased in the form of an assertion. It is a claim—that is, it indicates what you claim to be true, interesting, or valuable about your subject—followed by further claims which support that view.
   
   How to organize the classic rhetorical argument

• Introduction: Introduce your issue and capture the attention of your audience.  Try using a short narrative or a strong example.
• Background information: Provide your audience with a history of the situation—state how things currently stand.  Define any key terms.  Even if you think the facts speak for themselves, draw the attention of your audience to those points that are especially important and explain why they are meaningful.
• Proposition: Introduce the position you are taking.  Frame it as a thesis statement or claim.
• Proof: Discuss the reasons why you have taken your position.  Provide facts, expert testimony, and any other evidence that supports your claim.
• Refutation: Show why you are not persuaded by the arguments of people who hold a different position.  Concede any point that has merit but show why this concession does not damage your own case.
• Conclusion: Summarize your most important points and appeal to your audience’s feelings.
  
  Finally, follow all of grammar, punctuation, and stylistic rules. The essay must be free of run-on sentences and sentence splices.  Use active voice.