In this essay, you are offering an opinion (an argument) about a literary work of poetry from our syllabus that you are backing up with evidence (facts from the poem).

The finished product will be approximately 1,000 words in length, typed with standard font size and margins, double spaced.

The essay will be evaluated on your use of a good thesis sentence, the support of the thesis through textual evidence, and your ability to offer thoughtful analysis rather than plot summary.

As always, your paper should be written in standard academic English, be formal in tone, and be substantially free of grammatical and mechanical errors.

If you are using sources, you must properly document the sources both within the paper as parenthetical citations as well as provide the necessary information about the sources on an accurately formatted works cited page. Use MLA format.

Avoid using "I, me, my, mine" or "we, our, us, let's," as these are meant to be formal, academic essays. Instead, use "one, they, them, the critic, the reader," and so on.