Download Q1 Saturation Experience

Q1 SATURATION EXPERIENCE
COMPARE & CONTRAST PROMPTS
1-3 FEBRUARY 2017
Q1 2008: REFLECTING ON SIMILAR CONCERNS
JOHN KEATS’S “WHEN I HAVE FEARS &
HENRY W. LONGFELLOW’S “MEZZO CAMMIN”
IN THE TWO POEMS BELOW, KEATS AND LONGFELLOW REFLECT ON SIMILAR CONCERNS. READ
THE POEMS CAREFULLY. THEN WRITE AN ESSAY IN WHICH YOU COMPARE AND CONTRAST THE
TWO POEMS, ANALYZING THE POETIC TECHNIQUES EACH WRITER USES TO EXPLORE HIS
PARTICULAR SITUATION.
BOTH ARE SONNETS
KEATS: ENGLISH (4-4-4-2)
LONGFELLOW: ITALIAN (8-6)
SAMPLING OF LEAD PARAGRAPHS USING THE 2-SENTENCE TEMPLATE. KEATS/LONGFELLOW
SONNETS
1. BOTH “WHEN I HAVE FEARS” BY JK AND “MEZZO CAMMIN” BY HWL EXPLORE HUMAN DESPAIR THROUGH THEIR
POETIC STRUCTURES, EXTENDED METAPHORS, AND REGRETFUL TONES. WHILE KEATS USES AN ENGLISH SONNET TO
EMPHASIZE THE DESPAIR OF LOVE AND KEATS’S ITALIAN SONNET CONVEYS THE SADNESS OF AGING, BOTH POEMS USE
MYSTICAL METAPHORS AND A DEPRESSED TONE TO SUPPORT THEIR CONCERNS.
2. BOTH “WHEN I HAVE FEARS” BY JK AND “MEZZO CAMMIN” BY HWL RECALL THE UNACCOMPLISHED DREAMS AND
GOALS THE SPEAKERS HAD IN EARLIER YEARS AS THEY APPROACH THE ENDS OF THEIR LIVES. HOWEVER, THE SPEAKER IN
“WHEN I HAVE FEARS” SUGGESTS THAT ALTHOUGH WORTHWHILE TO EXPLORE, THESE LIFE POSSIBILITIES BECOME LESS
IMPORTANT AS HE LOOKS INTO THE “WIDE WORLD,” WHILE THE SPEAKER IN “MEZZO CAMMIN” FEELS “SORROW” AS HE
PONDERS THE UNACHIEVED POSSIBILITIES AND THEN BECOMES FEARFUL OF DEATH.
3. IN BOTH “WHEN I HAVE FEARS” BY JK AND “MEZZO CAMMIN” BY HWL THE SPEAKERS USE THE SONNET FORM TO
EXPRESS THEIR THOUGHTS AND FEARS ON DEATH. IN WHEN I HAVE FEARS, HOWEVER, THE SPEAKER EXPANDS ON HIS
FEARS OF DEATH IN GENERAL AND A DEEP LONGING FROM A ROMANTIC PERSPECTIVE FOR EVERYTHING HE WILL MISS
WHEN HE IS GONE, WHEREAS IN “MEZZO CAMMIN” THE SPEAKER EXPRESSES THE REGRETS THAT HE WILL TAKE WITH HIM
TO HIS GRAVE AND THEN REFLECTS UPON HIS PAST.
MORE LEAD PARAGRAPHS USING THE 2-SENTENCE TEMPLATE.
KEATS/LONGFELLOW SONNETS
4. IN BOTH “WHEN I HAVE FEARS” BY JK AND “MEZZO CAMMIN” BY HWL THE SPEAKERS
EXPLORE THE CONCEPT OF ISOLATION AND ITS CAUSES. IN “WHEN I HAVE FEARS,” HOWEVER, THE
SPEAKER EXPOUNDS HIS FEAR OF FUTURE ISOLATION WHILE IN “MEZZO CAMMIN” THE SPEAKER
LAMENTS HIS CURRENT ISOLATION AND THE INDELIBLE PAST THAT CAUSED IT.
5. BY USING VARIOUS METAPHORS AND VIVID DICTION, BOTH “WHEN I HAVE FEARS” BY JK AND
“MEZZO CAMMIN” BY HWL THE SPEAKERS EXPLORE THEIR APPREHENSION OF DEATH AND THEIR
INABILITY TO FULFILL THEIR ASPIRATIONS. HOWEVER, IN “WHEN I HAVE FEARS” THE SPEAKER EXPLOITS
THE SONNET STRUCTURE AND INSINUATING DICTION TO FOCUS ON HIS OR HER BELOVED, WHILE IN
THE LONGFELLOW SONNET, THE SPEAKER USES AN EXTENDED METAPHOR AND MORE DIRECT
DICTION TO EXPLORE HIS OR HER OWN INTENSE EMOTIONS.
Q1 2013: ADDRESSING DEATH & REMEMBRANCE
CHRISTINA ROSSETTI’S “REMEMBER” &
HENRY W. LONGFELLOW’S “THE CROSS OF SNOW”
THE TWO SONNETS BELOW ADDRESS DEATH & REMEMBRANCE, BUT FROM DIFFERENT
PERSPECTIVES. READ THE POEMS CAREFULLY. THEN WRITE AN ESSAY IN WHICH YOU COMPARE
AND CONTRAST HOW THE POETS USE LITERARY TECHNIQUES TO EXPLORE THE GRIEVING
PROCESS.
BOTH ARE ITALIAN SONNETS
OCTAVE (8)+ SESTET (6)
*THE SHIFT FROM THE OCTAVE TO THE SESTET IS THE ‘VOLTA” OR ‘TURN’—A SHIFT IN THOUGHT
OR ARGUMENT. HTTPS://EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG/WIKI/VOLTA_(LITERATURE)
LEAD PARAGRAPHS USING THE 2-SENTENCE
TEMPLATE. ROSSETTI/LONGFELLOW SONNETS
• BOTH CHRISTINA ROSSETTI’S “REMEMBER” AND HENRY W. LONGFELLOW’S “THE CROSS OF SNOW” EXPLORE THE
DEPTHS OF DEATH, REMEMBRANCE, AND BEREAVEMENT. IN ROSSETTI’S SONNET, HOWEVER, THE PERSPECTIVE IS FROM
THE DYING, A SPEAKER WHO IS AT PEACE WITH HER FATE AND WORRIES ONLY ABOUT HOW HER BELOVED WILL GO
ON—WHEREAS IN LONGFELLOW’S SONNET THE SPEAKER IS STUCK IN AN ENDLESS CYCLE OF MOURNING AND
CANNOT COME TO TERMS WITH THE FACT THAT HIS LOVE IS DEAD AND THAT HE HAS CONSEQUENTLY STOPPED
LIVING.
• THROUGH AN ARRAY OF LITERARY TECHNIQUES, BOTH CHRISTINA ROSSETTI’S “REMEMBER” AND HENRY W.
LONGFELLOW’S “THE CROSS OF SNOW” EXPLORE PERSPECTIVES ON DEATH, MOURNING, AND REMEMBRANCE. IN
“REMEMBER,” HOWEVER, THE DECEASED SPEAKER URGES HER LOVED ONES TO MOVE ON AND FIND NEW SOURCES
OF JOY IN THEIR LIVES, WHILE IN “THE CROSS OF SNOW” THE SPEAKER DESCRIBES THE LENGTHY DEPRESSION AND
MONOTONY IN WHICH THE BELOVED’S DEATH HAS STRANDED HIM.
• THERE WERE OTHER GOOD ONES, BUT I DO NOT HAVE TIME TO TYPE UP THEIR TEXTS! 
Q1 2010: COMING OF AGE!
SAMUEL JOHNSON’S “TO SIR JOHN LADE, ON HIS COMING
OF AGE” &
A. E. HOUSMAN’S “WHEN I WAS ONE-AND-TWENTY”
EACH OF THE TWO POEMS BELOW IS CONCERNED WITH A YOUNG MAN AT THE AGE OF TWENTYONE, TRADITIONALLY THE AGE OF ADULTHOOD. READ THE TWO POEMS CAREFULLY. THEN WRITE A
WELL-ORGANIZED ESSAY IN WHICH YOU COMPARE AND CONTRAST THE POEMS, ANALYZING THE
POETIC TECHNIQUES, SUCH AS POINT OF VIEW AND TONE, THAT EACH WRITER USES TO MAKE HIS
POINT ABOUT COMING OF AGE.
THE SUGGESTED POETIC TECHNIQUES ARE GOOD ONES IN THIS Q1.
MOST OF YOU WISELY PARAPHRASED (IN THE MARGINS) EACH STANZA—AND SOME OF YOU ALSO
DID AS DIRECTED, MAKING NOTES OF ALLITERATION, IMAGERY, ANAPHORA, SIMILE/METAPHOR,
REPETITION, ETC. DOING SO IS A HUGE TIME-SAVER.
LEAD PARAGRAPHS USING THE 2-SENTENCE TEMPLATE.
JOHNSON & HOUSMAN POEMS
1. BOTH SAMUEL JOHNSON’S “TO SIR JOHN LADE, ON HIS COMING OF AGE” AND A.E. HOUSMAN’S “WHEN I WAS ONEAND-TWENTY” WARN AGAINST THE DANGERS OF ADULTHOOD’S NEWFOUND FREEDOM. WHILE JOHNSON USES A PLAYFUL
TONE AND METER, AS WELL AS STORYTELLING THROUGHOUT, TO WARN OF THE DANGERS OF HAVING CONTROL OVER YOUR
OWN WEALTH, HOUSMAN WARNS OF YOUNG LOVE THROUGH HIS WOEFUL TONE AND RHYME, ILLUSTRATING THE WISTFUL
RAMBLINGS OF A NOW-WISER MAN.
2. BOTH SAMUEL JOHNSON’S “TO SIR JOHN LADE, ON HIS COMING OF AGE” AND A.E. HOUSMAN’S “WHEN I WAS ONEAND-TWENTY” EXPLORE THE CONCEPT OF MATURATION CONCERNING YOUNG MEN WHO ARE JUST ENTERING LEGAL
ADULTHOOD. HOWEVER, WHILE JOHNSON FOCUSES MORE ON FINANCIAL MATURATION, MOCKING SIR JOHN’S CARELESS
ATTITUDE TOWARD HIS INHERITED WEALTH, HOUSMAN EXAMINES THE MENTAL ASPECTS OF MATURATION, SHARING A
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE IN A REGRETFUL TONE.
3. BOTH SAMUEL JOHNSON’S “TO SIR JOHN LADE, ON HIS COMING OF AGE” AND A.E. HOUSMAN’S “WHEN I WAS ONEAND-TWENTY” CONTEMPLATE THE EXPERIENCE OF REACHING ADULTHOOD AND ITS ACCOMPANYING FREEDOMS AND
BURDENS. IN “SIR JOHN…,” HOWEVER, THE SPEAKER ENCOURAGES A YOUNG MAN TO ENJOY THE FREEDOMS OF ADULTHOOD
WHILE REMINDING HIM TO BEWARE THE FAILURES THAT SUCH FREEDOM CAN BRING, WHILE IN “WHEN I WAS ONE-ANDTWENTY,” THE SPEAKER REGRETS HIS OWN IRRESPONSIBLE DECISION TO DISMISS THE ADVICE OF HIS ELDERS WHEN HE TURNED
TWENTY-ONE.