Assignment- Choose one of the essays prompts below and writes a 3-7pg analytical/interpretive essay.
Please use MLA format and include AT LEAST ONE OUTSIDE SOURCE

Essay Prompts:

• One idea behind the violence in the poem is that St. John feels that the soul cannot be united in love with God until it finds itself to be contemptible. In your opinion, what do you think St. John means by this. Is the soul really supposed to hate itself? Or just the evil things it does? Explain your answer.

• Analyze one or more of the metaphors that run through "The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock."

• T.S. Eliot believed that readers should interpret a poem without attempting to link it to the life of the author or to cultural or social conditions at the time the author wrote the poem. In other words, a poem should stand on its own. Write an essay that defends or opposes Eliot's position.

• Why does John Ashbery use Parmigianino's painting as the foundation of his poem?

• Who is "You" in Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise"?

• Compare the structure (rhyme, meter, rhythm, etc) in two of the poems ("Dark Night of the Soul", "Still I Rise", "Self-Portrait...", "Love Song...").

• Compare figurative language (metaphor, simile, personification, etc) in two of the poems.

• Compare the use/presence of emotion in two or more of the poems.

If you have your heart set on a different essay topic, feel free to discuss it with me and we'll decide if it's appropriate. Similarly, if you have any questions or problems (getting started, MLA format, finding resources) please get in touch. I also encourage you all to use the Writing Center.