Word Count: 750-1000 words (the reference list will not be included in the word count)

Topic: Choose one of the weekly discussion questions from the e-Unit website as the topic for your short paper (submit via Moodle). The analysis of the poem/s you choose must reflect an understanding of analytical techniques used in John Stephen's Reading the signs, chapters 5 & 6. This reading is available on the e-Unit Moodle site.

NOTE: Poems and poets used for this short paper may not be used in the essay (Assessment 2 - Essay). Please see unit Moodle site for specific details about this assessment item.

The short paper will be assessed using the following criteria:

1. The way in which the analysis of the poetry reflects an understanding of analytical techniques used in John Stephen's Reading the signs, chapters 5 & 6;
2. The proper formatting of the prose and references according to the Harvard (author-date) referencing style;
3. Clarity of expression and presentation (including spelling and grammar).

Word Count: 1500-2000 words (the reference list will not be included in the word count)

Choose ONE of the following topics (poems and poets used for the short paper - Assignment 1 - may not be used in this essay):

1. Anthony Easthope argues that ‘just as poetry is always a specific poetry discourse, so line organization always takes a specific historical form, and so is ideological’ (Poetry as discourse 1983, p. 24). Discuss this statement using a fair selection of poetry discussed during the term (no less than 4, no more than 8).

2. Cleanth Brooks argues that ‘Romantic poetry does not abandon metaphor, but it does rely for its most important statements on the symbol, that is, on an image which, through its special relation to the context in which it is embedded, is made to point beyond itself to other and larger meanings’ (Modern poetry and the tradition 1939, p. xii). Explore this characteristic using a fair cross section of Romantic poets/poetry (no less than 4, no more than 8).

3. Terry Eagleton claims that ‘in poetry ‘similarity is superinduced upon contiguity’: words are not just strung together for the sake of the thoughts they convey, as in ordinary speech, but with an eye to the patterns of similarity, opposition, parallelism and so on created by their sound, meaning, rhythm and connotations’ (Literary theory: An introduction 2008, p. 86). Working with a selection of modern and contemporary poetry (no less than 4, no more than 8), explore the significance of Eagleton's comment for our practice of reading poetry.

4. David Buchbinder argues ‘contemporary poetics are all gender-blind in one way or another. Traditional mimetic and expressionist theories emphasise the way in which literature represents a universal human nature, but its qualities upon closer examination are basically masculine ones’. (Contemporary literary theory and the reading of poetry 1991, p. 120). Examine this comment in the context of contemporary poetic challenges to the so-called concept of ‘universal human nature’ as reflected in a selection of contemporary poetry (no less than 4, no more than 8).

5. Margaret Ferguson states that poetic syntax ‘is a slippery and even in some ways a contradictory topic, for while we are thinking about syntax as an orderly arrangement of verbal elements according to the conventions of a particular language, we also need to be thinking about poetic syntax as the making of a significant disorder within a language’. (The Norton anthology of poetry, 2005, p. 2052). Explore the implications of this comment in the context of a selection of poetry (no less than 4, no more than 8).

Please refer to the unit Moodle site for specific detail and further information.

The Essay will be assessed using the following criteria:

1. The relevance, insight and depth of analysis of both direct evidence from the poems and associated issues;
2. The extent to which the Essay demonstrates clear critical thinking skills through the clarity of arguments made and the effective use of secondary material to support both argument and analysis (no less than 5 credible, scholarly, secondary sources);
3. The extent to which the Essay demonstrates advanced poetry reading skills;
4. The proper acknowledgement of all in-text sources and reference list using the Harvard (author-date) referencing style; and,
5. The extent to which the essay is carefully edited for presentation (expression, spelling and grammar) and overall clarity.

Word count: 3200 - 3600 words (the reference list/s will not be included in the word count).

Students will be expected to keep a Poetry Journal from Week 2 to Week 11 (inclusive) during the term. As the Journal is worth 50% of the overall mark, the standard expected will be high.

This will require reading the set poems (and others) each week and making weekly entries using the weekly Blog platforms on the e-Unit Moodle site that reflect your reading/interpretation of the poems and of any secondary sources.

In Week 12, you are expected to submit a total of eight (8) of your weekly entries from over the course of the Term, selected from Week 2 to Week 11. Each topic section of the e-Unit Moodle site includes a Blog platform for the respective weekly topics.

Each of the eight (8) weekly entries MUST:

1. address at least ONE of the discussion questions listed for each week on the unit website, and;
2. comment on two Journal blog posts, per week, posted by another student (either different students each week, or, the same two students over the course of the term).
3. be between 400-450 words including your response to another student's post (which only needs to be a line or two - around 50 - 70 words).

For submission of the assessment item, you will combine your 8 weekly entries in a single Word document and submit to Moodle using the unit’s submission platform for this item.

Each weekly entry is worth an equal proportion of the marks. 

Please refer to the ‘Critical Reading: A Guide’, 'Poetry Reflection Journal Guide', and ‘A Framework for Reading and Responding to Poetry’ documents (provided on the unit website) for suggestions regarding approaching poetry, which will be helpful for making entries in the journal.

Please refer to the e-Unit Moodle site for specific detail and further information.

Poetry Journals will be assessed using the following criteria:

1. The extent to which each of the eight (8) weekly Journal Entries represents an organised and genuine attempt to develop an in depth understanding of the poems and associated issues on a weekly basis over the course of the term (avoid completing all the blog entries in one 'hit');
2. The extent to which the Journal Blog as a whole demonstrates clear poetry analysis skills, through the clarity and depth of an engagement with the poem(s), and through the effective use of secondary material to support this analysis;
3. The Journal comments on two blog posts, per week, posted by another student (either different students each week, or, the same two students over the course of the term)
4. The extent to which each blog entry properly acknowledges all sources using the Harvard (author-date) referencing style; and,
5. The extent to which the blog entries are carefully edited for presentation (expression, spelling and grammar) and overall clarity.