Literary Analysis of Poetry

Use only sources provided. Develop a theory about both texts: compare the motivations and or personalities of two characters, apply a shared theme or idea. Suicide Note, and The Bridegroom deal with the position of women in modern life. These may be comments about, defenses of, or reactions to gender norms and/or patriarchy (the power system of male rule). Form a theory about the status/condition of women as the author(s) see it. How are men shown to act and how does society want them to act?

• Make sure you have a bold, clear, arguable thesis statement about the meaning of the texts. A reasonable reader should be able to disagree with your thesis or else you don’t have enough to prove in your essay.
• You are required to use at least four direct quotes from the poems.
• When making claims about the meaning, always support them with evidence from the text: direct quotes and summaries of important scenes and actions. Do not go on and on summarizing the plot of the story. Tell us what the plot points show us about the meaning.
• Ask yourself constantlyam I analyzing the text, or just describing/summarizing it? You should do both, but at least half of the essay should be explaining the meaning (analyzing).