HElp, I have to write an essay and haven't a clue what to do. "choose any of the poems we studied that allude to greek , roman classics or the Bible. show how the allusions help the author convey the theme" Half of these poems I have to choose from didn't make a whole lot of sense until the 50th reading of it HELP!!!

the Language of the Brag
Do Not GO GEntle into The Good Night
THe passionate Shepard to His Love
COme live with me and be my love
The Sun Rising
To His Coy Mistress
How Do I Love Thee
To A Stranger
The Love Song of J. Alfed Prufrock
Marriage
Waitng for Icarus
Diving into the Wreck

Pattie, some of the poems on your list are well known by their titles, but some are not. To help identify the latter, can you list for us the author's name beside each title?

'Allusion' means a direct or indirect reference. So you need to start by assessing which of the poems on your list have some kind of reference to something in the Bible or in ancient Greek or Roman literature. That shouldn't be too difficult if you have read them fifty times! There's one that has such a reference ('Icarus') in the title, and may be others with references in their texts. Some of the poems on your list have no biblical or classical references that I'm aware of.

When you have shortened your list to no more than a few poems, you can decide which to choose, and if the whole poem is then posted, we may be able to help you with some comments and suggestions.

On the general subject of how to go about writing an essay, Les has posted useful advice in the past, and perhaps he can do so again.

Pattie, you might want to compare Marlowe's poem to this passage from the Gospel of John in the King James version of the Bible:

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Les