ENG: Poetry Analysis Website

The assignment:

Poetry, more than any other genre, tends to intimidate students. The language can be difficult, the structure can be hard to understand, and quite frankly, many students just don’t understand why anyone would choose to write intentionally in such a confusing way.

Because of the general difficulty with poetry, the unit will be approached differently than other units this term. Often the best way to understand a difficult subject is to participate in teaching it. So, each student will be required to research and analyze an assigned poet, and then present the analysis to the class in the form of website the student will design. You may use any of the following to create your website, all of which are free:

After you create an account with one of these services, find the tutorial section and review supplemental material. All of the sites are relatively easy to use and have ample support material forums on their websites, Google, and YouTube.

Step-by-Step

It might help to begin with the end in mind. Here is an example of a student website. Your end product will look something : https://dwharrity.wixsite.com/mysite

1. Read the poetry selections for the week and claim a poet on the forum :

SELECTED: Emily Dickinson “Because I Could Not Stop For Death”

2. Go to the : https://www.poetryfoundation.org/  to read more about your poets life and work. Read five other poems by the SAME poet. Choose a favorite from your readings and link to that poem later on your website (you will use a link to avoid copyright violationsdo not post the poem).

3. Fill out the Poetry Analysis Sheet (this will be submitted later to Turnitin along with a link to your website)

4. Use the Poetry Analysis Sheet to build your website. Each website must contain the following pages:

                – Biography

                – Literary Merit

                – Poetic Devices

                – My Favorite Poem (with discussion questions & link to the poem)