Essays and Research Papers on Poetry

A 3 page essay that analyzes the poem in terms of the political climate of the time as well as the literary trends of the day. Bibliography lists 3 sources.

A 6 page explication of this anti-war poem by Wilfred Owen. The writer concludes that to Owen, it is not sweet and fitting to die for one's country; it is vile and inhuman to inspire young people to do it. Bibliography lists 3 sources.

A 5 page paper showing how Tennyson used the unusual analogy of a bride leaving her parents' home to reflect on the death of a friend. The paper also shows how this section of the poem (Section 40) fits in with the rest of the work as a whole. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

An 8 page paper on this sonnet sequence by sixteenth-century poet Sir Philip Sidney. It discusses the poetic techniques used in the sonnets --particularly in terms of structure -- and points out that while many of these techniques were innovations in English poetry, not all were totally successful. Bibliography lists seven sources.

A 5 page paper on Sonnet 72 from Sir Philip Sidney's long work Astrophel and Stella. The paper explicates the poem in great detail, suggesting that although its poetic expression is lovely, it doesn't really work as a sonnet because its rhyme scheme and structure don't fit together. Bibliography lists five sources.

A 5 page paper on these two poems by Matthew Arnold. The paper specifically analyzes the way their imagery conveys Arnold's sadness over the loss of his friend as well as his own advancing age. No additional sources.

5 pages in length. Wystan Hugh Auden has a most curious use of style within his many works. The manner by which he utilizes rhyme leaves the reader to interpret more than just the author's obvious implications. As well, while his sometimes-morbid creations can plunge one into the depths of the poem's ...

A 5 page paper looking at five of Burns' poems: Of A' the Airts, John Anderson, My Jo, A Man's A Man for A' That, Flow Gently, Sweet Afton, and Robert Bruce's March to Bannockburn. The paper looks at the literary devices used, particularly those of metrical structure. Bibliography lists 8 sources.

A 5 page paper examining these dual issues as they are presented in Robert Herrick's 'To Virgins, To Make Much of Time' and Andrew Marvell's 'To His Coy Mistress'. The paper observes that both these poets are haunted by the thought of the passage of time, and advocate finding pleasure in the here and now. ...

A 3 page essay comparing the lyrical beauty of I Hoed and Trenched and Weeded with the emotional assault and incoherence of Terrence, This is Stupid Stuff. The writer focuses on poetic technique. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

A 3 page paper examining the work of this early American poet. The paper looks at both the Neoclassical school of poetry and the Metaphysical movement in order to determine in which camp Bradstreet fits, and concludes that abundant evidence proves her to be Metaphysical. Bibliography lists two sources.

A 5 page essay on the story, imagined story, and unanswered story in Pound's poem. The writer proposes several interpretations of text, subtext and symbolism which discuss love and marriage between humans, souls, and life. Bibliography lists 1 source.

An 8 page analysis of these two works by William Carlos Williams and Ezra Pound, respectively. The paper seeks to define modernism and show how each of these works both deviate from and uphold the original definition. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

An 8 page research paper on this black poet of the late nineteenth century. The writer analyzes his reasons for writing dialect verse; the subliminal messages expressed by that type of verse; and how he became trapped in a persona he could not escape. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

This 4 page paper provides an analysis of Elizabeth Bishop's The Fish. The thesis is that the poem was clearly intended to represent man's unfair domination over animals and nothing more. No additional sources cited.

A 10 page paper comparing the work and the outlook of the two authors. Phillis Wheatley traditionally is considered to be the first black American poet. Though Paul Laurence Dunbar was born nearly a century after Wheatley's death, the two share common traits other than their skin color. Dunbar was the first ...

This 8 page paper discusses the African- American, Jewish, 'Beat Generation' poet Bob Kaufman. Critics and many of his fellow poets thought he was the most talented of the 'Beat' poets but certainly one of the least recognized and least well-known. Many critics have thought it was Kaufman that Ginsberg wrote about in 'Howl' ...

A 5 page paper that compares Dryden's development of the character of Mac Flecnoe which is a devastating attack on Thomas Shadwell, one of Dryden's contemporaries. Bibliography lists 3 sources.

A 5 page paper which explains the importance and significance of 'The Unities' in the development of literary structure, as interpreted by Aristotle and John Dryden and its implications as to how people may read literature in the future. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

This 4 page essay deals with Lucille Clifton and her changing body--her hips in particular and what that really means. No additional sources cited.

A 12 page paper discussing the life and some of the recurrent themes of 'The Prophet.' Kahlil Gibran admonishes us to always perform at the best levels we are capable of attaining, and everything we do, to do in love. He tells us that each of us is responsible not only for ourselves, ...

A 7 page paper analyzing Daniel Halpern's painful look at his own generation. The paper asserts that although the poem seems happy on the surface, it is actually full of unresolved tensions, and its theme -- isolationism -- cuts to the very root of the American way of life.

This 4 page explication reveals the author's anger toward God as well as his vision for the future of the world.

An 8 page paper providing a feminist reading of three of John Donne's poems -- 'The Undertaking,' 'The Good Morrow,' and 'A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning.' The paper connects Donne's highly-tuned ability to think in metaphor -- in other words, to see with a kind of double vision -- to his acceptance of the personhood of ...

5 pages in length. The characteristic features of John Donne's poetry, as they relate to theme, imagery, audience and approach, blend together in an insightful combination of metaphysics, wit, sensuality and contrast. Indeed, Donne projects not just a singular image or approach, even though each individual work of poetry may focus upon a ...