Guidelines For Writing Essay On Poetry

Guidelines for Writing Essay on Poetries

If you are given the assignment of writing an essay about poetry, here is a guide you can use so you will not feel too intimidated by this often difficult task.

Take notes in class!- If you"ve been given the assignment of writing an essay about a work of poetry, your professor or teacher probably did at least one lecture on the topic. So take notes! Make sure you pay attention and write down important aspects and key words. This will be very helpful when you later begin your paper

First read, then analyze by stanza- You shouldn"t expect to understand a poem in the first read-through. You may capture some things based on your own experiences, but poetry is mostly a figurative art, and chances are the poet had a completely different experience in mind. Instead of reading the poem once and then hopping to, analyze it stanza by stanza the second time around, and take notes on what you think each separate item is about. Do not expect to be right about your notes, but these will help you look at the poem in the bigger picture.

Get background information- A great way to get a better understanding of a poem, poet, or type of poetry is to read about them. If your textbook or notes does not include background information, just go online or to your local library. It is not necessary to spend a lot of time doing this. Just an hour or two will give you an advantage over your peers. Also, you can choose to use this information as a spine for your introduction, which will give you an edge on your thesis or main topic.

Read between the lines- Any essay that goes beyond the book-report format (meaning not just explaining what it is about) requires some sort of analysis. Analyze the poem for symbols, representations, metaphors, and anything else that is unique about the poem or provides insight into the poet"s intention for this piece of poetry.

Quotation, quotation, quotation! When writing about a poem, quote at least a few...