Instructions for an essay on a sonnet–fall 17 prompt: choose a

Instructions for an Essay on a Sonnet–Fall 17

Prompt: choose a sonnet from the approved list. In a five paragraph essay, discuss the theme of the sonnet, showing how a variety of poetic devices contribute to the theme.

1. Use a combination of prewriting and planning with the Illustration/Example GO to invent, explore, and organize ideas.

2. The thesis statement should state the theme of the poem.

3. Find three main ideas that work together to create the theme. These main ideas will become the topic sentences of your body paragraphs.

4. In the body of your essay, use at least one example from (a) and at least two examples from (b):

a. devices of sound/music: how rhyme, meter, alliteration and/or assonance add force to the meaning of the words

b. devices of language:

imagery– how word(s) that refer to sensory experience create meaning

figures of speech– how simile, metaphor, personification

symbol—an object that suggests further meaning in addition to itself

tone—the speaker’s attitude (an emotion word)

5. Your essay must include a Work Cited page and be formatted correctly as shown in the MLA tab of the 8th ed. of A Writer’s Reference by hacker/Sommers.