Goal: Write a research paper in which you show how the life of an author has an influence over the meaning of his/her work. Use the materials made available to you and or conduct research to find revelant support to your claims. Be sure to cite all quotations according to MLA format.
Your Task: Choose one of the poets we studied during this unit or a poet you have a genuine interest in and research his/her life and other written works. Write a research essay to show how the author's life experiences and other works have an influence over the meaning of the poem.
Before you start:
Read about the lives of a few poets and decide which one interests you the most
Read a few poems by that poet and underline the poetic techniques(imagery, metaphors, similes, etc) and try to find a pattern of similarities among the poems
Read the poems a few more times and try to understand the meaning(s)
Make implicit (implied) and explicit (very clear) connections between the poems and the poet's life
Questions to consider as you write:
Can you explain the poet's life to someone else? (if you don't have a good understanding, go back and read some more)
What is unique and the life of the poet?
What is unique about the poems?
How is the life of the poet reflected in the poetry? Why do you think this happened?
Details: This research essay should be 2-4 pages in length - typed in 12 point font and double-spaced. Please cite all of your in-text quotes (yes, you need them to support your ideas) and include an MLA Works Cited Page. We will be working in the library as well as with the school computers during class time, but I would also like you to work on this at home too.
The following resource can be used to find information regarding your poet, his/her works, as well as techniques and related topics:
Gale Literature Resources in Context
