4-5 pages

Your task in this assignment is to construct an argument about the body in any one of the free-verse poems on the syllabus that we have read so far, (one that we have not discussed).

How you address the topic of the body is up to you, and you should think carefully about this as you devise your own essay question. You must address the poem through a primary lens of either A) imagery or B) voice, though you will talk about all of the relevant formal and thematic elements that emerge in your reading (likely including an overlap of imagery and voice/tone).

A) IMAGERY. You may want to discuss how the idea of the body is explored or represented by the imagery in a poem and how it is significant for the poem as a whole; or you may want to use a passage from the poem to examine the ways in which imagery and body are linked; or you may want to consider how the poem embodies, as a bodily form itself, ideas of the body central to the poem’s meaning. There are many possibilities. Find the one that is doable, and that promises to be of interest and challenge. Your argument about the body should derive from careful consideration of one (or several) imagesin the poem. Imagery, as this assignment refers to it, includes “all the objects and qualities of sense perception referred to in a poem or other work of literature, whether by literal description, by allusion, or in the vehicles (the secondary references) of its similes and metaphors” (Abrams and Harpham). As you will infer, in order to accomplish this task, you will need to come up with a question about the poem you select; it is my policy not to provide you with such a question. I would suggest that you search out a problem or mystery pertaining to images in the poem as they relate to the body, and then articulate the puzzlement or curiosity that arises from this problem or mystery as a clear question. You may not solve the problem or mystery, but you may be able to enlighten your readers as to its significance. Your argument should have a prominent thesis, and should imply a compelling agenda—a reason for your reader to read your essay. Perhaps an image in your poem suggests an overall interpretation, or a way in which the poem might affect us, that we might not have comprehended, or might not have been able to articulate before reading your essay; perhaps the image conflicts with another image in the poem, or something the poems says, and your argument, with regard to the body, either resolves the contradiction in such a way as to help us make sense of the poem, or explains the significance of the contradiction in terms of the poems as a whole; perhaps you are saying something generally about how the poet uses imagery with regard to the body—what kind of metaphor or effect she uses it to achieve.  Your argument, your thesis, and your agenda are to be determined by you. Use this opportunity, as well, to review and practice the other elements of the scholarly essay.

B) VOICE. You may want to discuss how the idea of the body is explored or represented through a primary consideration of the voice or voices established by the poem. What is the tone of the poem? What attitude might you infer from this tone, and what does it tell you about how the poem is representing or articulating the body? Or how, in the poem, does the construction of voice rely on the body? Obviously, you do not have to answer all or any of these questions. You must come up with your own over-arching question, but use any or all of the question posited here onlyif they help you–only if they make sense in the context of what is at stake in your project. As you think about this assignment, remember that voice is a set of instructions implicit in the poem as to how to hear the poem. In order to perceive those instructions, we must consider poetic elements we have discussed so far (ie. diction, syntax, imagery, rhythm, form), as well as any context we may be able to document. So you will need to read with everything you have so far learned in mind. I would suggest that you search out a problem or mystery pertaining to any or all of the various poetic elements we have discussed so far, and then articulate the puzzlement or curiosity that arises from this problem or mystery as a clear question articulating exactly what the problem or mystery is and demonstrating its importance. You may not solve the problem or mystery, but you may be able to enlighten your readers as to its significance. Your argument should have a prominent thesis, and should imply a compelling motive—a reason for your reader to read your essay. Perhaps your study of voice suggests an overall interpretation, or a way in which the poem might affect us, that we might not have comprehended, or might not have been able to articulate before reading your essay; perhaps one voice conflicts with another, or with something the poems says, and your argument either resolves the contradiction in such a way as to help us make sense of the poem, or explains the significance of the contradiction in terms of the poem as a whole. Your argument, your thesis, and your motive are to be determined by you. Use this opportunity, as well, to review and practice the other elements of the scholarly essay.

TWO COPIES — due Friday, 3/15 by 2pm in box outside my office door