What to do for week 9:

Tuesday, March 9^th:

• Essay #2: Bring copies of your typed draft. The number of copies depends on the size of your group.
• This essay is similar to Essay #1:
• Observe a poem through a very, very close reading of the language, the punctuation, the images, etc. The question remains: What is going on in this poem, and what are all the techniques and word choices used by the poet to make this poem come alive.
• Go from top to bottom, dividing the poem into its units. Start with the title—if the title is something that matters to your poem.

• And this essay is different than Essay #1:
• Look for the sound devices at work in your poem. The sound devices are the sound of letters and the rhythms of syllables, and both of these correspond to emotions. Through the manipulation of rhythm and sound, the poet can emphasize certain things. Remember the principle: sound and sense must go together—which means that whatever you observe about the sound must go hand-in-hand with the content (e.g., the content of war will have war-like sounds and rhythms).
• You learned some things from essay #1 (hopefully), and the expectation is that you will apply those lessons to the writing of essay #2. I encourage you to listen to your tape again and to study your first essay.

Thursday, March 11^th:

• On this day I will need these things:

1. Essay #2;
2. Essay #1;
3. The transcript of my comments for essay #1;
4. Your cassette tape—all cued up to fresh tape (so I don’t have to talk over my golden words);
5. A “Dear Jimbo” letter in which you tell me or ask me anything you want.

• Recite your poem to me. I will be in my office until 5:30 on this day—but, of course, you can come to me at any time before this deadline.

Final note: I recognize that it takes a lot of time to write these essays and memorize a poem. For that reason, I think it’s only fair to pause our reading of Anil’s Ghost and the poetry book for a week. I know it breaks the flow of things, but we just can’t do it all at once.