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Essay Instructions: Literary Essay Paper
Text book used is the Bedford Handbook 8th edition, follow the essay on page 611.
The Professor is very detailed. She is huge on plagiarism.
Double spaced, typed, 12 point font. Choose one poem from class and analyze/discuss how the poem works: the structure/form, the sound devices used, diction, images, tone, etc??
Discuss how these techniques help create the overall effect of the peom.
Do not use any outside resources (research), only cite the poem from the text book/handouts, by line numbers.
Short works use ? ? to recognize material quoted, Use the line numbers ? ? (lines)
Use for line breaks /???Quote exactly

My Father's Love Letters
By Yusef Komunyakaa
Listen
On Fridays he'd open a can of Jax
After coming home from the mill,
& ask me to write a letter to my mother
Who sent postcards of desert flowers
Taller than men. He would beg,
Promising to never beat her
Again. Somehow I was happy
She had gone, & sometimes wanted
To slip in a reminder, how Mary Lou
Williams' "Polka Dots & Moonbeams"
Never made the swelling go down.
His carpenter's apron always bulged
With old nails, a claw hammer
Looped at his side & extension cords
Coiled around his feet.
Words rolled from under the pressure
Of my ballpoint: Love,
Baby, Honey, Please.
We sat in the quiet brutality
Of voltage meters & pipe threaders,
Lost between sentences . . .
The gleam of a five-pound wedge
On the concrete floor
Pulled a sunset
Through the doorway of his toolshed.
I wondered if she laughed
& held them over a gas burner.
My father could only sign
His name, but he'd look at blueprints
& say how many bricks
Formed each wall. This man,
Who stole roses & hyacinth
For his yard, would stand there
With eyes closed & fists balled,
Laboring over a simple word, almost
Redeemed by what he tried to say.

Essay Instructions: Using the information below, a poem has to be written. This poem is based on my father, and is based upon a three-part exercise. The first part required offering a description of an object or scene (I chose object, more specifically a candle). The second part required taking that same object or scene and making comparisons to one of your parents (I chose my father). And finally, the third part requires turning part B. into a poem, which is where I need assistance. The poem has to be at least 10 lines.

A. The object that I have in mind burns brightly when you light it, emits a warm glow, can be colorful, is traditionally designed as slim, can possibly give off a pleasant scent when lit (aromatherapy), multi-faceted (has different layers), has a flame.
B. I wanted to compare a candle with my father, because I cannot think of any other person who resembles a candle (figuratively speaking, of course). Like a candle, every time my father enters a room, he lights it up by being an incredibly kind, decent, and social person who is not afraid to talk to anyone, not even total strangers. His warm-hearted personality he inherited from his mother, my paternal grandmother. Candles are traditionally slim, and my father happens to be a naturally slim person (it runs on his side of the family). My father has many layers like a candle, but can also be rather predictable day-to-day. Most candles have a nice smell, and my father wears nice cologne/after-shave which is a comforting, familiar smell. Candles have flames, and when ever my father gets angry, watch out; his temper can almost bypass that of a burning flame.

Essay Instructions: Comparison of Ortiz's 'My Father's Song' and Hayden's 'Those Winter Sundays"

1. Compare the titles. How do the titles point to the topics and possible themes, and are these similar or difference?
2. What is the situation and setting in each poem? Make a list of the words in each poem that name objects or state physical actions. Which things or scenes are most significant, and how would you visualize or imagine them?
3. Who are the speakers? It there an “I” present in the action of either poem, or are the speakers external and unidentified? Are there other people in the poems? Is anyone identified as a listener or auditor? Are any things or beings personified or given human traits?
4. What happens in each poem? Look closely at each stanza. Could the stanzas or lines be rearranged without making a difference? Does one poem tell of a single event or short passage of time, whereas another described repeated actions or longer periods? Is one poem more eventful than the other?
5. Write down four or five words that describe the tone of first one poem and then the other. Do these words also describe the language or style of each poem? Can you use all or some of the same words for both poems? What is different about the two styles and forms, including length? Notice the rhythms and sounds, any regular or irregular patterns of meter or rhyme, and the shape of the stanzas.
6. Try to express the poems themes in sentences or phrases. Then try to combine the two themes in a statement that notes similarities and differences between them. Does your statement comparing the themes resemble your comparison of the tone and style of the two poems? Do the themes relate to similar or different historical, political, and social issues or contexts featured in the poems? Do the poems develop their themes with comparable allusions to myth, religion, literature, art, or other familiar or traditional ideas or associations?


ASSIGNMENT: Combining your notes and responses to the questions above, outline and write an essay comparing the two poems you have chosen. Your argument on how and why the two poems are different or similar may be chosen from responses to the questions above, and you will be able to cite some of the evidence that you noted in your answers.

Your essay should be approximately two pages in length and be at least 5 full paragraphs

Essay Instructions: Assignment:

You will write a synthesis paper on these two essays "What Broke my Fathers Heart" by Katy Butler and "Patient" by Rachel Reiderer. The paper will be 1700 (5 Pages double-spaced). Here are some guidelines and suggestions:

TOPIC:
Compare and contrast the voice/tone/atmosphere of both patients in these two stories.

- The topic has to be analyzed and synthesized through both texts. Consider the similarities and differences carefully.
- Create a clear, persuasive, and compelling thesis statement and place it in the first paragraph of your essay. ( introductory paragraph) Thesis should be specific.

- In the body of your paper, develop the main points of your thesis statement.

- Use evidence/ direct quotes and then analysis to support your thesis. Assume the audience has read the essay.
- Check your writing to make sure it is clear , concise, and precise.
- The essay should be organized.

- Each paragraph should have a topic sentence.
- After each quote used to support,there should be a short analysis
- you should start your essay with a HOOK : a question, an interesting quote ect.
- In the conclusion, you should restate your thesis.
- Grammar is extremely important.

The essays are short; you can find them in Google in PDF files. Let me know if your need me to send them to you.