Description
Please answer both following parts:
Part one:
I would like you to take a close look at the song “The Queen and the Solider” by Suzanne Vega, whose lyrics are in the form of a poem.
Once you have carefully read the lyrics and listened to the song, please tell us what type of poem it is? Is it lyric, narrative, or dramatic. Explain why.
Next, I would like you to tell me who the two personas in the poem are. Once you have done that, please characterize the personas. How do you know how what type of person each is? Use quotes (line numbers as citations)to prove this. (Some questions you may consider here: is the queen a good person? Is the soldier overstepping his role by going to the palace? What does he want out of life? Do you think there is a backstory here between the two?)
By no means are you limited to just the questions I asked above. Those were just to get you thinking. I hope you have plenty to say about the main personas and their actions in the song!
Part two:
Compare the poem “Richard Corey” to the song “Eleanor Rigby” by The Beatles using this format:
THESIS: By using theme, characterization and tone, the poet and the songwriter achieve the same point: that growing up is far from easy.
I. Poem
Theme (brief explanation of theme of poem here)
Characterization (brief explanation of character(s) of poem here)
Tone (brief explanation of tone of poem here)
II. Song
Theme (brief explanation of how the theme varies from the poem or is the same)
Characterization (same as above)
Tone
You can choose to add as much detail as you wish to your outline. I have just given you a skeleton outline above, you would have to fill in all the details. I have found that the most successful essay writers usually compose more thorough outlines. If you plan things out carefully, writing your essay can be a breeze! Remember you can also use a point by point outline if you feel that would work better!
Remember: All you are turning in the week is an OUTLINE for your essay on a poem and a song.
Make sure you:
Include a thesis statement at the top of your outline
Indicate whether you are using block format or point by point format somewhere on the top of your page
Fill in your outline with various SPECIFIC points you are going to make in your essay. Your outline should be filled out a lot more than the one I provided to you here for formatting purposes.
Feel free to reach out to me should you have any questions!
