British Literature since 1800

Essay #3: A Comparative Reading

Length:             6 pages (approximately 1,500 words). Essays must be typed and stapled.

Citations:          MLA citation style

Other:                Your essay must follow the rules established on the sheet entitled “Grammar, Punctuation, and Citation Rules.” Essays that do not will be penalized.

            In this essay, your objective is to compare the speaker and/or chief character of two different assigned poems by Tennyson, Arnold, Browning, Rossetti, Hopkins, or Hardy. The poems you choose must be by different authors.

            Effective essays will assert a sharp and specific basis of comparison. It would not make a compelling comparison to argue, for example, that the speaker of “England in 1819” is interested in politics while the speaker of “Ode to the West Wind” is interested in the poetic imagination. To argue, on the other hand, that both speakers are inspired by the notion of a revolutionary cycle establishes a sharp and specific basis from which to consider similarities and differences.

            Remember that comparison involves the discovery and analysis of differences as well as similarities. Your thesis might just as well focus attention on a central contrast between two figures. If you focus attention on a central contrast, however, be sure that you still construct a specific basis against which to judge it.

            There are different and equally effective ways to organize a comparative essay. You might have several paragraphs on poem A followed by several paragraphs on poem B, or you might alternate paragraphs on A and B. However you decide to organize your essay, you should be certain that you are sustaining the comparison with pointed references that link your analysis of the two poems. As a literary critic, you should aim to prove your claims by identifying and interpreting literary devices: the connotations of words and phrases and metaphors, symbols, imagery, etc. I suggest that you use a good dictionary to help you establish the meanings and bring out the “color” of words.

            This essay provides you with an opportunity to demonstrate your own insight into a poem, not your ability to rephrase class notes or summarize another critic’s argument. I ask you not to use any sources aside from the dictionary and our text book. As always, I am happy to discuss your ideas with you and comment on drafts during office hours. Plagiarism constitutes grounds for failing the course.