Assignment Detail

Assignment ID: FG133232727

Assignment – English Poetry Discussion

Description – Explain the significance of word choice or word order using one of the poems assigned [Note: This question is not asking about the order of ideas in the poem as a whole or order of sentences. Instead, it is asking about the order of words in a line or from line to line (particularly if the order of similar words changes in repeated lines or if the natural order or a sentence is changed–think of Yoda’s speech patterns here. Why does he say, “Always in motion the future is” instead of “The future is always in motion”, for example? How does that change the intention/emphasis of the statement?]. What effect does the word order have on the poem? Does it contribute to the theme or tone of the poem? For word choice, be specific about the words you are referencing. For instance, in Billy Joel’s song “Allentown”, he sings, “And their graduations hung on the wall”. Why not say “diplomas” instead of graduation? The first response is that one word is three syllables and the other is four. That makes a difference in the rhythm. But what difference does the image implied by graduations versus diplomas make? When citing from a poem, use line numbers in the parenthetical reference instead of page numbers. Also, be sure to use the forward slash to show when lines of poetry end within a paragraph citation.