Poetry essay
Following the steps of the writing process, compose a six-paragraph essay of analysis that offers a comparison/contrast of two poems by different poets that focus on either a similar subject or theme. What similarities exist? What differences? Which one do you consider the more effective? Why?
Mary Oliver
Oxygen 2005
Everything needs it: bone, muscles, and even,
while it calls the earth its home, the soul.
So the merciful, noisy the machine
stands in our house working away in it's
lung-like voice. I hear it as I kneel
before the fire, starting with a
Stick of Iron, letting the logs
lie more loosely. You, in the upstairs room,
are in your usual position, leaning on your
Right shoulder which aches
all day. You are breathing
patiently; it is a
beautiful sound. It is
your life, which is so close
to my own that I would not know
where to drop the knife of
separation. And what does this have to do
with love, except
everything? Now the fire rises
and offers a dozen, singing, deep red
roses of flame. Then it settles
to quietude, or maybe gratitude, as it feeds
as we all do, as we must, upon the invisible gift:
our purest, sweet necessity: the air.
Cathy Song
The Youngest Daughter 1983
The sky has been dark
for many years.
My skin is become as damp
and pale as rice paper
and feels the way
mothers used to before the drying sun
parched it out there in the fields.
Lately, when I touch myself,
my hands react as if
I had just touched something
hot enough to burn.
My skin, aspirin-colored,
tingles with migraine. Mother
has been massaging the left side of my face
especially in the evenings
when it flares up.
This morning
her breathing was graveled,
her voice gruff with affection
when I took her into the bath.
She was in good humor,
making jokes about her great breasts,
blowing and the milky water
like two walruses,
flaccid and whiskered around the nipples.
I scrubbed him with a sour taste
in my mouth, thinking:
six children and an old man
have sucked from these brown nipples.
I was almost tender
when I came to the blue bruises
that freckle her body,
places where she has been injecting insulin
for thirty years, ever since
I can remember. I soaped her slowly,
she sighed deeply, her eyes closed.
In the afternoons
when she has rested,
she prepares of ritual of tea and rice,
garnished with a shred of gingered fish,
a slice of pickled turnip
a token for my white body.
We eat in the familiar silence.
She knows I am not to be trusted,
even now planning my escape.
As I toast to her health
with the tea she has poured,
a thousand cranes curtain the window,
fly up in a sudden breeze.
Initial each item below as completed.
The last sentence of introduction is a precise, clear thesis statement.
Body paragraph are focused, organized, and begin with topic sentences, employing transition as needed.
All quotations are trimmed down to only the relevant, necessary words and meet the formatting requirements for all quotations.
You clearly, logically explain how the chosen detail support your assertion in the thesis, while offering sufficient evidence from the poem to do so.
Your essay is between 600 and 900 words and satisfies minimum sentence requirements. (The Works cited page is not part of the word count.) Write the word count:
Your essay includes a works cited page with the entry formatted as instructed.
Your essay meets the format requirements of all essays in this class, including, but not limited to, products, margins, spacing, title, and heading.
Your essay demonstrates the careful thought and attention you've given the assignment and is the result of following the steps of the writing process: pre-writing, drafting, revising, and editing/proofreading.
You've carefully reviewed previous graded work to address any areas that needed attention.
Your essay is an entirely original composition, based on your own thoughts, ideas, and analysis.