New Poetry Essay

Step 1: Read

* W.H. Auden’s “The Unknown Citizen” {P.481 in Compact
Literature};

* Sherman Alexie’s “The Facebook Sonnet” {P. 613 in Compact
Literature}

* “Richard Cory” (both Robinson’s and Simon’s versions)–
{pp. 560-561 in Compact Literature}

Step 2: Watch and listen to Simon and Garfunkel’s musical version of “Richard Cory” {See link below; if you have misplaced the textbook, the lyrics are also included in this Unit.}

Step 3: Write a 3-4-page essay analyzing these 3 poems. Focus on the following questions:

What do these 3 works say about the human condition?
Have people become lonelier and more alienated over the past 80 years (since Auden’s poem was written)—or are we connected to each other in healthier ways?
Does Materialism play any part in the ways social standing in determined?
What about peer pressure to conform to certain standards of behavior?
You don’t need to answer all these questions in order. Just use them to help you develop one unified, well-developed essay. and remember that this is a poetry essay—not a sociology paper. Don’t just generalize about social phenomena. So be sure to discuss the techniques (Imagery, Symbolism, Metaphor, etc.) which the poets use to address important themes–and quote from the poems