Analytical essays are a special type of essay that requires you to build your analysis around an argument and/or claim; these claims or arguments are called a thesis statement. Read the step-by-step guide on how to write analytical essays here. You will have a choice between four poems for your analytical essay. The poems are outlined below:
Poem #1: “The World Is Too Much with Us” by William Wordsworth.
Poem #2: “Mutability” by Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Poem #3: “This Living Hand” by John Keats.
Poem #4: “Work Without Hope” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Directions: Write your answers in 1-2 complete sentences each.

1-What poem did you choose for your analytical essay? Why?

2-What is your poem’s theme and/or central idea?

3-How does the author use figurative language or other poetic devices? How do they affect the meaning of the poem?

4-How would you describe the tone of the poem?

5-How is the poem organized or structured?