To prepare for your presentation:

• Read the assignment for the analysis paper.
  
• Read the assignment for the presentation.
  
• The first thing you need to do is choose a book of poetry to analyze for your analysis paper & presentation. There are several ways to go about this: you can go to the library and flip through the poetry books, you can browse the list of poets on the web site to find a poet you want to read, or you can browse the list of award-
  winning poetry books on the web site to find a book you want to read.
  
• The easiest way to decide on a book is to flip through and skim a few poems to get a sense of whether or not you will like the book. Please pick a book you think you’ll enjoy reading—otherwise the presentation and analysis paper will be a nightmare for you.
  
• Once you’ve chosen a book, read it and decide which poem you want to do your presentation on. You should choose the poem based on your ability to explain to the class which poetic devices it’s using well (onomatopoeia, alliteration, assonance, consonance, dissonance, internal rhyme, end rhyme, slant rhyme, caesura, line breaks/enjambment, irregular syntax, metaphor, simile, or personification).
  
• On the day of your presentation you need to bring copies of the poem you’re going to present on, and you need to come prepared to point out examples of one or more poetic devices the author is using in the poem and explain how they effect the way the poem is read/experienced by the audience.
  
• You do not need to turn in anything typed for your presentation.
  

• You have four poems due over the course of the semester, and I don’t usually give “assignments” for poems or stories. If you need help getting started, check out the writing exercises on the website.
  
• You can also try to begin a poem with description, imagery, or metaphor. Sometimes coming up with a good image or metaphor can be the center of a poem.
  
• Reading poetry also helps to get your mind on the right track. Try checking out a few books from the library or reading poems online. Also, keep in mind that you need to be reading literary magazines over the course of the semester in order to put together a collection of poems for your anthology.
  

• Read the assignment for the anthology.
  
• You need to find 25 poems you like from recent issues of literary magazines and compile them in an anthology (i.e., folder) that you turn in at the end of the semester. You can find sample poems and recent issues on most literary magazine websites or you can browse the literary magazines in the library.