Long Essay (40%)

Due: 22 October

Length: 1600-2000 words

Referencing Instructions:

Include a bibliography with your essay which adheres to an appropriate referencing style. For more information on how to reference books, journal articles, and websites, see this link.

You are expected to provide a bibliographic reference for any poems that you discuss. Attach a copy of these poems to your essay.

Because this is a research essay, you will need to consult several (approximately three to four) critical sources to enhance your argument. Such sources might include books, journal articles, or published material on websites. Even if you do not quote from these sources directly, include them in your bibliography.

You may not use stanza 7 (p14) in Lisa Jacobson's The Sunlit Zone.

Write on one of the following topics:

1. Compare 4 or more of the concrete poems handed out in class (or from other sources) with two other poems that are listed in the weekly readings for this subject AND one stanza from Lisa Jacobson's The Sunlit Zone. Do the poems/stanzas display any obvious connections with the concrete poems? If not you might like to comment on the possibility that despite the obvious differences, there may also be some interesting similarities.
   
   You need to show an understanding of the aspects of poetry introduced in the early part of the unit as well as an understanding of the more contextual issues developed in the later part of the unit.

2. Choose three or four poems from Seven Centuries of poetry in English written before World War II. Compare them with three or four of the stanzas in Lisa Jacobson's The Sunlit Zone How important is it to be aware of historical context when reading a poem? What other contexts can be taken into account?
   
   You need to choose at least one poem from the Romantic period. You also need to show an understanding of the aspects of poetry introduced in the early part of the unit as well as a reasonable understanding of the historical and political nature of the comparison.

3. Choose four 'political' poems from your reader (or elsewhere) and compare them with two other poems that are listed in the weekly readings for this subject AND one stanza from Lisa Jacobson's The Sunlit Zone. Is it difficult to make a distinction between political and non-political poems? Why? Is it possible to determine which kind is more effective? Can political poems be beautiful; can beautiful poems be political?

   You need to show an understanding of the aspects of poetry introduced in the early part of the unit as well as an understanding of the more contextual issues developed in the later part of the unit.
   
   
4. Choose a song (including hip-hop and spoken word) from a commercial recording that has been released in 2012. Copy out the lyrics from the song. You should include a copy of the lyrics with your answer, although they will not count towards your word limit.
   (NB. If the recording comes with a lyrics sheet, make sure the lyrics you copy out are an accurate reflection of the words actually sung in that recording.)
       Treating the song's lyrics as a poem in their own right, compare that poem to two other poems that are listed in the weekly readings for this subject AND one stanza from Lisa Jacobson's The Sunlit Zone.  At least one of your comparison poems has to be written before 1900. You are expected to show an understanding of both the form and the meaning of each of the texts at which you look.
   
   
5. Discuss Lisa Jacobson's use of the verse novel form in The Sunlit Zone. What is gained from using this form? What might be lost?