Portfolio: Poetry

Overview

For this portfolio assignment you will write about the following three poems:

Mary Oliver, "Wild Geese" (996-997)

William Blake, "The Tyger" (796)

Wilfred Owen, "Anthem for Doomed Youth" (754)

This portfolio assignment will consist of three separate assignments, the instructions for which are found on the following pages. You will assemble these three assignments into a portfolio and upload the single resulting file to the Poetry Portfolio Dropbox. Ensure that it's easy for your reader to distinguish one assignment from another. I recommend beginning each new assignment on a new page.

You will assemble all three parts into one document, and save it with the following name:

Unit3Portfolio_Lastname

as a .rtf or .doc document and submit it to the Unit 3 Portfolio: Poetry Dropbox by the due date listed in the course Schedule.

All three parts together should equal a miminum of ten (10) pages total in length (double-spaced). It's okay to write up to 15 pages. You should use this opportunity to personally engage with poetry and poems.

Discussions

The discussions are designed to help you complete the assignments in this portfolio. Be sure to visit the discussion forums and read the instructions before beginning work on your portfolio assignments.

Portfolio Assignments

Assignment 1

Read each poem silently to yourself four times. Breathe deeply, and take your time. Sink into the poem and really try to understand its soul.

Next, summarize each poem in one or two sentences. What happens in the poem? Who is speaking? What is the poem's message?

Then read each poem out loud four times, using four different voices. This is really fun. See if you can make a small child laugh. Read it with different emotions, like anger or grief. Or pretend you're a favorite cartoon character. As you do this, get used to the rhythms of each poem and the play of words. Understand the persona. Listen to yourself speaking the poem out loud. Who are you? And who are you talking to?

For each poem, write one or two paragraphs commenting on the experience of reading aloud.

This assignment should be two to three pages total. It's okay to write more.

Assignment 2

Research each of these poems, including the lives of the poets. Please write an essay in which you discuss each poem's social and historical context. Cite at least three sources per poem. Don't forget to use MLA style in your citations (and don't forget to use MLA formatting for all of your portfolio assignments!). This assignment should be a minimum of three pages. It's okay to write more.

Assignment 3

Using all that you have learned and discovered, write a carefully-composed and serious essay in which you analyze each poem. What do these poems mean, and how do they create that meaning? Show how each poem uses imagery, metaphor, metonymy, meter, rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, assonance, tone, and persona to create meaning. Compare your poems to each other. How does each poem do this differently from the other two? Be specific, and give examples. This assignment should be five to six pages total, and not less than five pages (e.g. not 4.5 pages).