How Poetry Works

In thispaper, you will propose your own theory of what a poem is and what itdoes. Use a two-pronged approachto this task:

1) Useexamples and evidence from poems we have studied in class to make an argumentabout the main ways in which poems achieve their poetic effects. This means that you will have to definewhat “poetic effects” are (what poems accomplish or attempt to accomplish) aswell as the strategies, techniques, and mechanisms poets employ to create thoseeffects.

2) Asthe centerpiece of your paper, choose a poem we have NOT studied in class toshow how your theory is valid. Browse through the Norton Anthology, the Modern American Poets site, orthe Academy of American Poets site (links on the course website) to find a poemthat you like and that will suit your theory.

Thereasoning behind this two-pronged approach: in asking you to discuss poems wehave studied in class, I’m asking you to think synthetically about the workwe’ve done together. What hasemerged for you as the most important questions to pose about poems, and whathas seemed most compelling in our conversations about the answers to thosequestions? In asking you to make apoem we have not yet studied the focus of your argument, I’m interested in howyou can extend what you’ve learned in class to new objects of inquiry.

You shoulduse “How Poetry Works” as the title of your essay, and you should append asubtitle that encapsulates your thesis in your own words.

Somepotential questions you may want to consider (note that it would be impractical to try to treat all of thesein a single paper):

How do poems’ formal properties—meter, rhythm, rhyme scheme, voice, line breaks, formal category (elegy, pastoral, sonnet, etc.)—communicate arguments?
Why is figurative language (tropes such as metaphor and metonymy) such a crucial component of poetry?
What is the relationship between poetry and history? How do poets engage events that happened during or before their lifetimes?
What role does emotion play in constructing a relationship between the poem and its readers?
How does poetic voice function?
What features does poetry share with the visual or musical arts? How is it distinct from them?
How does poetry deal with time (past, present, and future) and space (here, there, elsewhere)?
What does poetry have to tell us about relationships with others, either those with whom we are intimate or those who are strangers?
How does poetry use sensory information (sight, sound, touch, etc.) to convey meaning?
How do poets respond to their poetic precursors and ancestors?
Of course, there are many other questions you may think about, too.

It mayhelp you to return to the definitions of poetry we studied at the beginning ofthe quarter (see Wordsworth, Frost, MacLeish, Moore, and Shelley). You should not replicate any of thesedefinitions, but they may inspire your own. Keep in mind that they are all about haunting, and yourtheory may or may not engage the ghostly afterlives of poetry.