Use phrasing, tone, imagery, structure (stanzas, rhyme scheme), how the poems compare and contrast with one another, etc. — and what you think they mean and/or how they function in context. It can be useful to identify themes — history, hope, melancholy, violence, innocence, nature — and ask yourself what the poem seems to be saying about those themes. Organize your response into sentences and paragraphs (not notes), but there’s no need for it to be an “essay” proper, with a coherent argument — just a set of reflections. Feel free to include short quotations from the poems (no need for a Works Cited page or documentation beyond “” marks around the quoted passages.

USE:
Frank O ’Hara: Autobiographia Literaria/A Step Away from Them

Amiri Baraka: In memory of Radio/ For Hettie/For Hettie In her Fifth Month/Look for you yesterday here you come today/To a publisher

Category: Essays