Reviewing Writing Basics and Analyzing Poetry Objective Using two outside sources of biographical background, the student develops a 1,000- to 1,500-word paper analyzing the following literary devices as demonstrated in the lyrics of a song: irony, metaphor, personification, simile, and/or symbolism. Topic Choose a meaningful song you frequently think about or hum to yourself. Besides the music and beat, what makes particular words stand out? Because of your experiences, the way you interpret and take meaning from the song will be different from others.
Reviewing Writing Basics and Analyzing Poetry Objective Using two outside sources of biographical background, the student develops a 1,000- to 1,500-word paper analyzing the following literary devices as demonstrated in the lyrics of a song: irony, metaphor, personification, simile, and/or symbolism. Topic Choose a meaningful song you frequently think about or hum to yourself. Besides the music and beat, what makes particular words stand out? Because of your experiences, the way you interpret and take meaning from the song will be different from others. It may even be different from what the songwriter intended when choosing certain word combinations to create an evocative, memorable experience. The same can be said of the person who chose those lyrics to sing. Using your choice of song, analyze the type and the effectiveness of the literary devices used by the songwriter: irony, metaphor, personification, simile, and/or symbolism. Apply that analysis to explain the structure and meaning of the song. Incorporate related biographical or autobiographical information about the writer to provide further insight into the meaning of the song. You must use a total of three sources for this assignment: the song and two sources with biographical information. Purpose To express ideas and inform readers about the meaning of one song based on its literary devices and applicable biographical information of the songwriter Audience Distance-education students Process Choose a song that you like because the words are memorable and meaningful to you. Copy the lyrics into a Word document, provide the citation information in MLA format, and then write a paragraph of five to eight sentences explaining why you’ve chosen it. This represents the first part of your assignment but isn’t part of the word count. Start on “Generating Ideas,” and work through the steps for analyzing a poem, which you apply to the song lyrics you’ve chosen. Use the knowledge you’ve gained about poetic literary devices to analyze and explain the use of irony, metaphor, personification, simile, and/or symbolism in the song you’ve chosen. Stop at the bottom of after completing a rough organizational plan for your analysis. Don’t conduct any research at this point. Judiciously choose the most suitable phrases from the song to illustrate the poetic elements you’ve identified. Be sure that you use the correct MLA format for quotes from poems (including any line breaks). Since this is your primary source, you don’t have to provide parenthetical citations each time you quote, paraphrase, or summarize the song, but provide line or stanza indicators as needed to guide your readers. Although the primary purpose of your paper is to analyze the literary elements of the song lyrics, you must also incorporate some biographical background about the writer related to the meaning the artist intended for the song. First, search for primary sources: What has the songwriter written about the song? Then seek biographies of the lyricist you’ve chosen (secondary sources). Investigate several different sources to educate yourself about the songwriter. Choose five sources that provided the most insight for you into both the meaning of the song and the use of the literary elements you’ve identified. Prepare an annotated bibliography of those five sources (see pages 680–681). Each annotation must contain two to four sentences explaining not only what the source covered in relation to the song and/or writer, but also what you found most interesting or unusual about the information provided. (The annotated bibliography isn’t part of the word count.) However, you’ll use information from only two of your five sources for the actual paper. Return to your organizational plan and look for places to incorporate the illustrations you chose from the song and relevant, reliable information from your two research sources. This biographical support, as well as the direct quotations from the song, must be appropriately incorporated into the paper with MLA in-text citations and explanation. Continue with the Guided Writing Assignment, pages 787–792. Use the third-person point of view for this academic essay. Review your textbook as needed to apply appropriate writing skills as you prewrite, research, and develop your essay. In addition, ensure that your work displays good writing traits and represents the characteristics described on the Course Rubric (see Appendix). Prepare the final draft of this research paper according to the exam submission format assigned in the introductory instructions of this guide. Be sure the paper itself meets the word-count requirements. Place all required work in the same document and in the following order, beginning a new page for each part: ■ The lyrics for the song, your reasons for choosing it, and the source information ■ The actual research paper ■ MLA Works Cited page (three sources used in the paper—the song and two research sources) ■ Annotated MLA Bibliography of four research sources For this examination, submit the required work as instructed