Write an essay in which you compare and contrast “Supernatural Love” with Sylvia Plath's poem “Daddy,” from her collection Ariel, or Andrew Hudgins's poem “Elegy for My Father, Who Is Not Dead,” in Hudgins's collection The Never-Ending (1991). What does each poem reveal about the relationship between son or daughter and father?

Write a short poem on any topic in metered verse that rhymes. Try to introduce variations in the meter, so that the poem does not sound monotonous. Then take the same theme and write the poem in free verse. Write a separate brief essay in which you state which is the better poem and why and which was easier to write.

Make a class presentation in which you discuss the question of whether poetry has any relevance for modern life. What do poetry and other forms of literature add to life...