Principles of Literary Study
Emily Bartels

Paper Topic II

Assigned Poem: Shakespeare, Sonnet 73 OR Frost, "Design"
Parameters: 5-7 pages, typed/double-spaced, carefully PROOFREAD
Due Date: 21 November

Choose one of the two sonnets listed above and write a paper that makes an argument about the poem's argument. In effect, your purpose is to tell me what the poem is about: what does it put at stake? And what does it have to say about what it puts at stake?

Once you have figured out what you think the poem argues, you will develop your argument by telling me how the poem develops its. Because your poem is a sonnet, you might move quatrain by quatrain, block by block, looking especially for important turns in the argument, places where the poem disturbs the expectations it has already set up. Remember that poems operate around tensions that serve to jar you into new ways of seeing. Where in your poem are these tensions set up? (How) are they resolved? (And remember the woman hanging from the thirteenth floor window, who is still hanging there, evidencing ambiguity and lack of closure.)

In supporting your argument, you should make reference to as many of the features we've discussed as are relevant. That is, consider who's speaking and who's listening, under what circumstances (if you know); how imagery contributes to the poem's point and pointedness; how the poem's structure works with or against content to emphasize certain ideas; what ideas the ordering of words or information brings out; how sound contributes to sense.

Remember that your analysis is NOT to be a dissection of poetic parts. Papers organized as a list of ingredients ("There is a lot of imagery in this sonnet"; "The meter is X"; etc.) will have a hard time getting anything more than a C-. Organize around a progressing set of IDEAS, that ultimately lead to your governing thesis. References to poetic parts should always center on their EFFECTS-what they contribute to the poem's meaning(s).

Remember too that the stakes are higher this time. Proofreading errors will continue to come under heavy fire and so will grammar problems (especially the comma splice that many of you are guilty of). This round you should be working particularly hard at creating a coherent progression of ideas. Think about how you order your information, how it gets me from point A to point X, and how and whether all the points in between go together. Good luck and enjoy!