What does this epigraph have to do with the poem’s themes and ideas and with the attitude and voice of the narrator, J. Alfred Prufrock
ENG 30: Introduction to Literature
Fall 2019
Prof. Sheri Weinstein
Kingsborough Community College, CUNY
Poetry Unit Assignment
This assignment has two main parts. It is a long assignment. Why? Because I want you to do well, and I do not see you in person. Therefore, I try to “spell” instructions, hints and suggestions out clearly, even to repeat them at times. Do yourself a favor and print this assignment out as well as the recommendations from “Course Content.”
Reminder: Do the work as a MS Word document and upload it to turnitin.com. Instructions are under “Course Information.”
Other requirements:
Your name, my name and the course should be at the top of the first page.
The title of the assignment should appear at the top of the first page.
You must label and number each of the 3 parts of the assignment.
Double-space your work. Write in a clear 12-or 14 point font. Eye strain makes me a little cranky these days. J
Work that is not carefully proofread and edited will lose many points.
KEEP ALL OF THE FOLLOWING IN MIND:
You have choices of which poems to write about; pick those that you like.
Read the poem aloud many times. Your ear will notice things your eyes miss.
Notice the way the poem looks on the page. The form of the poem may reveal something about the way it works.
Be careful to make a clear distinction between the poet and the speaker. Even in poems that are written in the first person, you should be careful not to assume anything about the speaker that the poem itself does not suggest.
Let your interpretation follow the poem faithfully—avoid making unsupported assertions.
Be selective with your evidence. Limit the length of your quotations to a workable size. Passages longer than a few lines will be impossible to explain in a single paragraph.
PART I
Follow the instructions below. You are not writing a traditional essay. Rather, for each poem you choose, you are performing the actions of A-D below.
Choose two poems to discuss. One must be from the selection of Naomi Shihab Nye’s poems. One must be from the selection of Margaret Atwood’s poems.
Follow steps A-D two times for the two different poems. Label each section clearly. For example:
Part I.
Poem 1. “Variations on the Word Sleep,” by Margaret Atwood.
_______
________
________
________
Each “analysis” of a poem, A-D, is worth 40 points. Part I of the entire poetry assignment, then, is worth 80 points. You will be assessed on effort, clarity, editing, following instructions, the quality of your insights and your ability to apply the elements of poetry and terms for writing about poetry to the paragraphs (see “Course Content.”)
You have choices of which poems to write about; pick those that you like. Notice the way the poem looks on the page. The form of the poem may reveal something about the way it works.
Be careful to make a clear distinction between the poet and the speaker. Even in poems that are written in the first person, you should be careful not to assume anything about the speaker that the poem itself does not suggest.
You must offer quotations from the poem as evidence for your interpretation. How many quotes do you need? You need as many as you think your reader will want in order to understand and believe what you are saying.
Let your interpretation follow the poem faithfully—avoid making unsupported assertions. HOWEVER, be selective with your evidence. Limit the length of your quotations to a workable size. Passages longer than a few lines will be impossible to explain in a single paragraph.
(some of this has been adapted from Hamilton.edu)
CHEAT SHEET:
Before you begin, read the poem aloud severaltimes, noting its structure, recurring images or themes, rhyme scheme-anything and everything which creates an effect.
Reread the sections in “Course Content” entitled “Elements of Poetry” and “Terms for Understanding and Writing About Poetry.” PRINT THESE OUT. You need not use all of the terms and concepts, but you do need to apply as many as you can or as many as are relevant, and to do so correctly, showing that you are aware of what they mean.
GET TO KNOW THE POEM. Read it silently at least twice. Read it aloud at least once.
THE STEPS (6-7 paragraphs in total for each poem)
STEP A. Describe the poem in a paragraph. What is it about? (Remember, a poem can be about many things at once.) Give your reader the “set up.” Don’t forget author and title.
STEP B. Paraphrase the poem in no more than 1-2 paragraphs. Poetry often contains confusing syntax (word order, sentence structure, etc.) or vocabulary. Put into your own words most of the lines or phrases. Resist the temptation to brush over the lines or phrases which seem unintelligible; these can be the most crucial parts of the poem. Use an online dictionary to think about the different forms and meanings a word can take, even if you think that you know its basic definition.
STEP C. Analyze the poem in 2 paragraphs.
Knowing that you will not be able to address every aspect of the poem, select the elements which work together to create special effects. Look beyond the surface meaning of the words and start to think about how the techniques used in the poem add depth to its meaning.
Suggestions:
Look for and discuss metaphors, symbols and/or images. Discuss tone and mood
Look at diction—the poet’s choice of words. What sounds do they make (is there alliteration?). Do some words have double (or multiple) meanings?
How do the lines work together? Do they complement each other, do they create tension, or both?
. In poetry, form and content are inseparable, so you must not overlook the relationship between what the speaker says and howhe or she says it.
STEP D. Interpret the poem in 1-2 paragraphs.
Using your analysis of how the poem works as your evidence, interpret the poem–answer the question, “So how do I convince my reader to believe what I think this poem is all about/what it is doing?”
You have great freedom in interpreting a poem, provided that your assertions are solidly linked to your evidence. Interpretation that does not align with your analysis will be invalid. In the words of M. H. Abrams, editor of the Norton Anthology of Poetry, “There is no one, right interpretation of a poem—but there is one which is more right than any of the others.”
The multi-faceted nature of poetry demands that you know where you are going before you begin to write, which is why the description and paraphrase stages above are so important.
Poetry Assignment Part II
This is worth 20 points of your assignment grade.
If you do not do this part, you will receive an F on the entire assignment.
Instructions:
Reread the poem with your class notes alongside it.
In the Inferno, Dante, as the narrator, recounts his journey through Hell, looking back on it after some years. The poem is a narrative poem as is “Prufrock,” and is an epic story of an adventure and journey; a look back at one’s own life and self and, in general, at humanity; a reckoning with the idea of justice (which Dante believes in—Eliot, writing as a modernist after the disasters of WWI, is more skeptical). It is no coincidence, then, that this epigraph “sets up” Prufrock in interesting ways.
The epigraph appears at the beginning of TS Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” It comes from the Inferno of Dante’s Divine Comedy (XXVII, 61-66). The Inferno is the first of the three-part Divine Comedy, written in the early 14th
In this epigraph to “Prufrock,” Dante’s former teacher, Count Guido da Montefeltro, embodied in a flame, replies to Dante’s question as to why he has been condemned to eternal damnation for lying, or giving “false counsel.”
The epigraph:
S’io credesse che mia risposta fosse
A persona che mai tornasse al mondo,
Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
Ma percioche giammai di questo fondo
Non torno vivo alcun, s’i’odo il vero,
Senza tema d’infamia ti rispondo
The translation (do not use a different translation):
“If I believed that my answer would be to someone who would ever return to earth, this flame would move no more, but because no one has ever returned alive from this gulf, if what I hear is true, I can reply with no fear of infamy.”
These words are spoken by Guido to Dante while he is in the 8th circle of Hell. Dante, again, is asking why he has been consigned to eternal damnation. Prufrock, although not speaking about God or sin directly, seems to think himself damned to repeat a situation or be stuck in a social life of conflict that he too, cannot escape. He, too, is undergoing an existential crisis, perhaps even a spiritual one, about who he is and who he wants to be.
Assignment:
Apply the epigraph to your understanding of the poem. See what you can come up with as an answer to the question, “What does this epigraph have to do with the poem’s themes and ideas and with the attitude and voice of the narrator, J. Alfred Prufrock?”
Mandatory: You must use (short) quotations from the poem to illustrate your ideas. You should use class discussions on Blackboard and the handout you filled out while reading “The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock” for ideas and guidance.
Length: 3 paragraphs. Do not use any research. Use what I have said and trust what you have to say!
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