Compose a 3-4 page essay in which you situate a poem within a broader scholarly context, and then present an interpretation of the poem. The essay will have two key components:

• Situating the work. For this component, you will review key points that have been made about the poem. Identify key controversies or accepted readings of the poem. You can also use this section to discuss adjacent aspects of the work like literary schools, authors, eras, literary concerns, etc. Use quotations from scholarly research sources to provide examples and develop your discussion.
• Interpreting the work. Develop your own reading of the poem. You reading may reference some of the key elements of the situating the work research that you have done, perhaps confirming, extending, or challenging them. In this section, you should also use excerpts from the poem to help make your points.
• You will also create an introduction that provides publishing and background information and forecasts your discussion.

Use these broad aims to develop the essay. Note that there will be some overlap in the way you go about developing these aims; you need not keep the discussion of the poem and the use of quotes from the poem out of your discussion of what scholars have said about the work, or vice-versa.

As you compose, use MLA format to integrate and cite scholarship or the poem in the body of the essay.  Also include a Works Cited page. Submit your essay using our Poetry Research and Analysis option.