The assignment: write a prose paraphrase of one poem from the anthology (Six American Poets). Select a poem that has at least 12 lines and not much more than 25 lines (you may also use a longer stanza from a poem such as "Sunday Morning." There is, by the way, no "page requirement": write until you've "done the job." The form for this assignment is the "literary essay"; it is a descriptive essay.

What is a paraphrase? The paraphrase is a prose rephrasing of the poem that operates at a literal level. What do the lines say at the most basic level? (Not what they might mean, not yet.) The paraphrase is a narrative of the poem and includes language such as "In the first stanza, a winter scene is described by an unnamed person or voice as a world that is primarily cold and white." And so on. Do not venture into metaphor, symbolism, theme, significance--these you will handle in the explication.