I’m working on a poetry project and need an explanation and answer to help me learn.

Option 1: Playing with Anaphora

For this option, you will take Christopher Smart’s “Jubilate Agno” and Mary Oliver’s “For I Will Consider My Dog Percy” as your model.

Begin your poem with the phrase “For I shall consider ________” and fill in the blank with an animal, person, thing, or even an abstract concept.

For as many lines as you feel the poem needs, continue creating lines that begin “For he/she/it…” You might choose to have a few of your lines vary the opening slightly (so you might begin with “For” but follow with something other than “he/she/it,” or you might strategically not begin a couple lines with “For,” though you will want to think carefully about how this changes the effect of the poem). Each line should state something that you are asserting to be true about the entity you are writing the poem about.

You might, if you wish, choose to include a couple of words or phrases from Smart or Oliver, but you certainly do not have to.

A challenge of this form is creating closure at the end when every line has such a similar structure. You might consider making your final line extra short to give it a sense of punctuating the end, or you might find another way to make your final line sound…well, final.

Reflection for Option 1:

As with your previous creative assignments, you must include with your poem a 1.5-2 page (MLA-formatted, double-spaced 12pt Times New Roman) reflection. If selecting option 1, your reflection should do the following:

• Reflect on the process of writing this poem. How did it feel to craft a poem based on the rhythmic repetition of anaphora? Where did you find this form constraining and where did you find it liberating or fun? How did your ideas develop or take a different turn from where you thought you might be going, and how do you think the form facilitated that? (200 word minimum)

• Identify and reflect on how your understanding of the two model poems changed as a result of building your own poem based on anaphora. What is one element of one of the model poems you feel like you “get” now? Explain how your understanding changed. (100 words minimum)

• Reflect on how your understanding of poetic form and poetry in general has developed across these creative assignments. Do you find you are thinking differently about poetry now as opposed to when you created your first or second creative poem and reflection? How so? How has learning by creating felt different from learning by analyzing? (100 words minimum