Interpretive Essay: Poetry, writing homework help

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Jraqluna

Writing

Description

Please write a 2-3 page interpretive essay based on one of the following topics. Papers should be typed and double-spaced with 1 inch margins and size 12 font. Always support your answers with specific evidence from the poems. Use direct quotes where you feel they will support your argument.

For this essay, I have assigned topics according to subject. Using at least two poems, discuss what they have to say about one of the following subjects (race relations, parents and children, OR women’s relationships/women’s work). Use evidence from the poems including direct quotes, and compare and contrast the ways in which the poets express themselves on the issue. Be sure to include your interpretation of what each poem means (1-2 paragraphs for each) after an introduction that introduces the poems you have chosen and shows how they are connected (1 paragraph). Don’t forget to wrap up these connections you are making in a separate conclusion (1 paragraph). If you find other poems from our anthology that address these subjects, you are welcome to use them as well.

Subject #1: Race Relations

Langston Hughes, “Harlem” and “I, Too,” p. 689; Countee Cullen, “Yet Do I Marvel,” p. 670; Dudley Randall, “Ballad of Birmingham,” p. 640; Claude McKay, “The Harlem Dancer” and “The White House,” p. 698.

Subject #2: Parents and Children

Robert Hayden, “Those Winter Sundays,” p. 540; Seamus Heaney, “Digging,” p. 686; Theodore Roethke, “My Papa’s Waltz,” 552; Sylvia Plath, “Daddy,” 705; Linda Pastan, “To a Daughter Leaving Home” (503).

Subject #3: Women’s Relationships/Women’s Work

Sylvia Plath, “Daddy,” p. 705-707; Marge Piercy, “Barbie Doll,” 533; Dorothy Parker, “A Certain Lady,” p. 492; Rita Dove, “Daystar,” p. 502; Linda Pastan, “Marks,” p. 565.

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Explanation & Answer

Attached.

Subject #1: Race Relations :Langston Hughes, “Harlem” and “I, Too,” p. 689; Countee
Cullen, “Yet Do I Marvel,” p. 670;
In Langston Hughes’ “Harlem” and “I, Too, “the speaker begins by proclaiming to the world that
he too has a right to feel patriotic towards America. He goes on refer to himself as “the darker
brother” and explains that he not allowed to be seen as an equal among men in his country. This
refers to the frequent practice of racial discrimination during the early 20th century, when
African Americans faced discrimination in almost all part of their lives as they were unwillingly
made to live, work, eat and travel separately from their white equivalents, had few legal rights,
were often victims of racial brutality, and faced economic alienation in the North and the South.
The segregation, however, does not preclude the poet from seeing himself as an important and
essential constituent of America.
Despite the fact that the poem deals with a painful subject –racism- the poet has hope that
someday the day African Americans will be seen as an equal and those who oppressed them for
centuries will finally be embarrassed for what they did.
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Anonymous
Very useful material for studying!

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