In MLA format, write an essay comparing and contrasting two of the poems suggested below. Compare and contrast essays are a bit different than regular literary analysis essays in that they critically discuss the similarities and differences of two texts, then synthesize meaning out of the differences. (This strategy essentially follows the process of what we in the humanities call “thesis, antithesis, and synthesis.”)
This essay will require more than one draft in order to synthesize a decent thesis, and cannot be satisfactorily completed the night before the due date. Remember to include your topic sentence and your thesis statement near the beginning of your essay and provide ample support for your assertions. Also be sure to properly reference your quotations and sources, and to include a “Works Cited” page at the end of your essay. You should quote from each poem at least once (but probably no more than twice each). Some topics you may wish to consider are:
1) Compare and contrast the concept of death in John Donne’s [Death be not Proud], and Percy Shelly’s “Ozymandias.” Both seem to address the concept of physical life and what lies beyond, but both do so in very different ways. Where do these two poems agree and disagree? What meaning can you determine from the different ways in which these two poems consider the same subject
