Essays and Research Papers on Poetry

The sonnet seems to be the epitome of the lover's message. It is a type of poetic form that was extremely popular in Elizabethan and Victorian England. The sonnet form was invented by Giacomo da Lentino in the mid-13th century. This 5 page paper compares and contrasts Shakespeare's Sonnet #18, Shall I compare thee to a ...

A 5 page analysis of Allen Ginsberg's poem "America." The writer analyzes what Ginsberg is saying about American culture and also discusses Ginsberg as a writer. Bibliography lists 4 sources.

A 7 page research paper on the life and work of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who was a poet and philosopher-critic of the English romantic movement. His poems are considered to be some of the greatest and most original in English literature. During his own lifetime, public opinion on Coleridge and his work was sharply divided. ...

A 5 page paper which compares and contrasts the poetic styles employed by William Wordsworth in "It is a Beauteous Evening" with those utilized by William Blake in "To The Evening Star." Specifically considered are the style, themes, imagery and relationships, to evaluate how strong the personal voice of the poet is in each, ...

A 7 page analysis of the poetry of African American poet Langston Hughes. The writer argues, citing several poems, that Hughes eloquently used black vernacular as well as the African American musical idioms of blues and jazz to celebrate the suffering and the beauty in black life. No additional sources cited.

A 5 page paper comparing Wilfred Owen's 'Dulce Et Decorum Est' and Thomas Hardy's 'The Man He Killed,' both poems born of combat in World War I. Reaction to Owen's descriptions in 'Dulce Et Decorum Est' transcends mere emotion; in 'The Man He Killed,' Hardy evokes it by avoiding any allusion to it. Both, ...

Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen were contemporaries during a time that has come to be known as the 'Harlem Renaissance'. This 8 page paper asserts that both were influential poets from the same era; however, the differences between them went further than their poetic voice or style, it was ultimately the difference in the manner they chose to view ...

Poetry is defined, in part, as "that form of communication in which words are never simple equivalents of experience or perception. This 5 page paper argues that the poem, After Great Pain A Formal Feeling Comes, by Emily Dickinson, brings the reader to a place where the imaging and artful use of language provide a foundation for personal thought ...

A 6 page paper which examines how Elizabeth Bishop explored human issues in her poetry, with analysis of "Sestina," "The Armadillo," "One Art," "Exchanging Hats" and "Casablanca." Bibliography lists 7 sources.

5 pages in length. This poem weaves together love and time, beauty and poetry, and Yeats' skill is evident when we read his works. This paper shows the correlation between love and the passage of time when reading the title work and two other pieces by W. B. Yeats. Bibliography lists 3 ...

A 7 page paper that discusses Juan Ramón Jiménez, Nobel Laureate. Born in Spain in 1881, Jimenez had his first poem published at age 19. Juan Ramón Jiménez was a well-known, prolific and highly influential poet. His life is highlighted. A portion of one of his most famous works is included, translated into English. Bibliography ...

This 5 page report discusses the poetry of William Butler Yeats with a primary focus on “Adam’s Curse.” In the vast majority of Yeats’ love poetry he is able to separate a clearly personal experience and emphasize its greater universality in terms of shared emotion and a tone of melancholy awareness that transfixes most people at some point in the midst ...

A 5 page paper discussing the one who would have for her epitaph, 'Excuse My Dust.' The quick wit and quicker tongue won Dorothy Parker (1893 - 1967) a place on New York's most outrageous list. She was in her stride in the roaring 20s when social taboos dropped with regularity, money flowed ...

This 5 page paper explicates three of Owen's World War I poems. The thesis of this paper is that Owen is able to evoke emotions through the use of imagery. No additional sources cited.

The juxtaposition of poetry and metaphysics, or philosophical thought, would seem to be logical and one would expect that both poets and philosophers would rally to the combination. This 11 page paper explores the differences and similarities between John Donne and George Herbert, with an emphasis on the 'metaphysical conceit' in their poetry. Bibliography lists 17 sources.

When one thinks of John Donne, 'romantic poetry' is certainly not the first thing that comes to mind. This 6 page paper argues that the love lyrics that Donne includes in his poetry are rich in emotion and are the equal to any of the contemporary poets in their representation of romanticism.. Bibliography lists 9 sources.

Chaucer's Canterbury tales are said to be a collection of folktales that are told in the form of poetry. The writing was Chaucer's, the tales were collected along his travels throughout England and Italy. This 11 page paper explores the ways in which Chaucer brought form and variety to a unified work. No additional sources are listed. ...

Poetry that includes representation of death is fairly common. Poetry that calls to death at a point where it is inevitable is not quite so common, however, John Donne's Death Be Not Proud and William Dunbar's Timor Mortis Conturbat Me both seem to be of this type. This 5 page paper explores the poetic content as well ...

A five page paper looking at these three poets and the use of the faculty of imagination in their work. The paper focuses on the way these poets extol the human imagination as a creative faculty, use their own imaginations in constructing alternate realities in their lyric modes, and call upon the reader's imagination in ...

Conventional English poetry of the Victorian era, from the end of the eighteenth century until the second decade of the nineteenth, was well defined. This 5 page paper explores the poems, Porphyria's Lover and The Last Duchess with special attention made to tone, symbolism and characters. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

A 5 page paper that examines the life of Emily Dickinson, the many contradictions that this life presented, and the resulting loneliness of this life that is reflected in her poetry. This paper includes a short synopsis of Dickinson's childhood as well as an examination of those few individuals who impacted her life, plus ...

This 10 page report discusses the English poet Ted Hughes is too often only thought of as having been married to Sylvia Plath when she killed herself. His work was truly remarkable for its deep and unsentimental love of nature, as well as its depth of passion and insight. His poetry often demonstrated the delicately balanced web of energies of ...

A 10 page paper which analyzes the religious aspects of Emily Dickinson's poetry, despite her professed religious ambivalence. Bibliography lists 14 sources.

A 10 page paper which discusses how renaissance poetry has often been seen as a body of work which presents a speaking picture. Poetry is much like painting in that it attempts to portray one moment in time, or one moment of thought, into words. It paints a picture full of images that allows us to envision in ...

The Elizabethan era helped to spawn the creative endeavors of the poet, Edmund Spenser and is spoken of in the sonnet, The Sovereign Beauty. This 6 page paper asserts that The Sovereign Beauty is a testament to the glory and 'virtue' of a nation as well as its Queen and is solidly set in the time from which ...