Hey. I just discovered this site, so hopefully it will help.
I am supposed to write a comparison essay on two different poems. The actual process of writing the essay is no problem for me. However, I'm having trouble selecting 2 poems that have enough points for comparison. I've been looking through poems for the past 3 days and I still haven't found what I need.
My situation gets trickier, though. One of the poems that I am to compare must be from a book of ours. This book contains many popular poems though, so I doubt it should be too much of a problem.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
At this point I have decided to use Poe's "Alone".
It all depends on whether or not I can find a poem that is featured in my book.
Never mind, I have found a poem.
Sorry if I wasted anyone's time.
Elegiac, perhaps you could use part, or all of this by John Donne, for comparison purposes:
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Les
Here's another you might use:
SOLITUDE
---Alexander Pope
Happy the man, whose wish and care
A few paternal acres bound,
Content to breath his native air
In his own ground.
Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread,
Whose flocks supply him with attire;
Whose trees in summer yield him shade,
In winter, fire.
Blest, who can unconcernedly find
Hours, days, and years slide soft away
In health of body, peace of mind;
Quiet by day.
Sound sleep by night; study and ease
Together mixed, sweet recreation,
And innocence, which most does please
With meditation.
Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;
Thus unlamented let me die,
Steal from the world, and not a stone
Tell where I lie.
Les
Hey, you found a Pope with something other than rhyming couplets, congratulations! What is the form, though? Something like sapphics, but not quite. Something in common with Keats' (Keats's? prolly not.) La Belle Dame Sans Culo, but his is more ballad-like.
What form? According to the U of Toronto site it is:
Form: Horatian Ode
Rhyme: abab
Les
Post Edited (01-17-05 11:44)
Okay, I'm back.
I seem to have a problem with writing a paragraph comparing the tones of each poem.
How would you describe the tone of "Alone"? It's obviously serious, but how could I elaborate?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Reflective?
Contemplative?
Regretful?
Actually, for Poe this is practically giddy!
Jack
Yeah, 'tone' is a vague enough word that one can interpret it to mean pretty much whatever one wants. A pensive tone seems safe, suggesting melancholy. But is Poe sad about being different? Your call. Could also be that he knows he is different and is content (even giddy) to be so.
The important thing is to be able to elaborate whatever position you take, innit.
What is the form, though?
Here is is again?
The Rich Man by Franklin P. Adams, 1881-1960
The rich man has his motor-car,
His country and his town estate.
He smokes a fify-cent cigar
And jeers at Fate.
He frivols through the livelong day,
He knows not Poverty her pinch.
His lot seems light, his heart seems gay,
He has a cinch.
Yet though my lamp burns low and dim,
Though I must slave for livelihood—
Think you that I would change with him?
You bet I would!