Composition Final Essay Questions
PART II: Short Essay (20 points): Select one (1) question from either Part A OR Part B
and answer all parts of each question in a 2-4 paragraph short essay with a topic sentence
that serves as your thesis (FATt) supported by examples, details, and quotes from the
primary text.
Suggested Time: 50 minutes
Open Book: After you turn in your Scantron, you may use your textbook for the essay.
Extra Credit (5 points): If you have time, you may respond to a second essay prompt listed
below.
 Your first sentence is your thesis and should contain FATt
 Use the present tense and skip lines
 Answer all parts of the prompt (address all bullet points)
 Use relevant quotes from the text to support your claim.
 Use in-text MLA citations: Introduce the quote, “ ,” then cite it using this format:
(Author page #)
 Your writing should not contain spelling, grammatical, or punctuation errors
 Please see the rubric attached on page 21.
Part A: “The Seven Ages of Man,” “A Dream Deferred,” “Odyssey”
1.
Re-read Shakespeare’s “The Seven Ages of Man.”
a. Summarize how the speaker characterizes the seven ages of man.
b. Do you agree with his interpretation? Why or why not?
c. Through analysis of the tone and diction, use specific examples from the dramatic
poem to suggest what the speaker’s language reveals about his attitude towards
lovers, soldiers, and life in general.
1.
Re-read Langston Hughes poem “A Dream Deferred.”
a. Analyze the structure of the poem.
b. Discuss what comparisons are being made in each line that contains a simile.
c. Identify the metaphor in the poem and explain why Hughes uses a metaphor instead
of a simile.
d. What do the use of colors brown and red suggest?
e. What is the theme of the poem?
f. How did the Harlem Renaissance influence Hughes’ voice as a poet?
g. How does the poet’s voice influence the tone of the poem and its central theme?
2.
Select at least one of the following themes in the Odyssey and discuss its
significance: hospitality, loyalty, perseverance, vengeance, appearance vs. reality
(think of disguise), spiritual growth or wisdom vs. hubris. Use concrete examples.
3.
Discuss Odysseus as a vegetative hero and The Odyssey as the epic of domesticity.
Incorporate into your discussion the distinct yet equally important roles man and
woman play in the preservation of the household and the continuation of the family
lineage.
4.
What is the nature and function of the gods in the Odyssey? What character traits do
they have? What are their goals, motives, desires, strengths and/or weaknesses?
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5.
Discuss the portraits of women in the Odyssey, paying particular attention to
Penelope, Nausicaa, Calypso, and Circe. What role do women play in Homer’s
work? Are the monsters Scylla and Charybdis feminine? Is so, what does that
imply?
6.
Read the following passages from The Odyssey provided below.
Select one that you like and
a. Analyze the passage, commenting on Odysseus’ traits as a hero
b. Identify the epic simile (what two things are being compared
c. Explain the significance of the simile within the context of the epic
Odysseus Meets Nausikaa:
“So speaking, Great Odysseus came from under his thicket,
and from the dense foliage with his heavy hand he broke off
a leafy branch to cover his body and hide the male parts,
and went in the confidence of his strength, like some hill-kept lion,
who advances, though he is rained on and blown by the wind, and both eyes kindle; he
goes out after cattle or sheep, or it may be
deer in the wilderness, and his belly is urgent upon him/to get inside of a close steading
and go for the sheepflocks.
So Odysseus was ready to face young girls with well-ordered
hair, naked although he was, for the need was on him…”
Skylla killing Odysseus’ Men:
“…Skylla out of the hollow vessel snatched six
Of my companions, the best of them for strength and hands’ work,
I saw their feet and hands from below, already lifted
high above me, and they cried out to me and called me
by name, the last time they ever did it, in heart’s sorrow.
And as fisherman with a very long rod, on a jutting
rock, will cast his treacherous bait for the little fishes,
and sinks the horn of a field-ranging ox into the water,
then hauls them up and throws them on the dry land, gasping
and struggling, so they gasped and struggled as they were hoisted up the cliff. Right in
the doorway she ate them up.
Odysseus’ Revenge: After killing the suitors
“Think of the catch that fishermen haul in to a half-moon bay
In a fine-meshed net from the whitecaps of the sea:
How all are poured out on the sand, in throes for the salt sea,
Twitching their cold lives away in Helios’ fiery air:
So lay the suitors heaped on one another.”
Penelope patiently waiting :
“My lady, never a man in the wide world should have a fault to find with you. Your
name has gone out under heaven like the sweet honor of some god-fearing king, who
rules in equity over the strong: his black lands bear both wheat and barley, fruit trees
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laden bright, new lambs at lambing time—and the deep sea gives great hauls of the fish
by his good strategy, so that his folk fare well.”
The Challenge: Beggar stringing the bow
“But the man skilled in all way of contending,
Satisfied by the great bow’s look and heft,
Like a musician, like a harper, when
With quiet hand upon his instrument
He draws between his thumb and forefinger
A sweet new string upon a peg: so effortlessly
Odysseus in one motion strung the bow.
Then slid his right hand down the cord and plucked it,
So the taut gut vibrating hummed and sang
A swallow’s note.”
Part B: Romeo and Juliet
Select one of the following passages and analyze its content and significance within the context
of the entire play.
7.
Juliet
‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy.
Thou are thyself, though not a Montague.
What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face. O, be some other name
Belonging to a man.
What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet? (2.2 38-44)
9.
Juliet
My only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
Prodigious birth of love it is to me,
That I must love a loathed enemy.
(1.5.10)
Juliet
10.
My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite. (2.2. 141-3).
11.
Juliet
Oh Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet (2.2.37-40)
12.
Lady Capulet:
Think of marriage now; younger than you,
Here in Verona, ladies of esteem,
Are made already mothers. (1.3.76-78)
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Juliet
I’ll look to like, looking liking move;
But no more deep will I endart my eye
Than your consent gives strength to make it fly
(1. 3. 100-101).
13.
Friar Laurence
O, mickle is the powerful grace that lies
In plants, herbs, stones, and their true qualities:
For naught so vile that on the earth doth live
But to the earth some special good doth give;
Nor aught so good but, strained from that fair use,
Revolts from true birth, stumbling on abuse.
Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied,
And vice sometime by action dignified. (2.3.15-22).
14. Romeo
But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief
That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she. . . .
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars
As daylight doth a lamp; her eye in heaven
Would through the airy region stream so bright
That birds would sing and think it were not night (2.1.44-64).
15. Romeo
O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear;
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!
So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows,
As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows.
The measure done, I'll watch her place of stand,
And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand.
Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight!
For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.
(1.5.1)
16. Romeo
If I profane with my unworthiest hand
This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this:
My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
Juliet Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,
Which mannerly devotion shows in this;
For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch,
And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss.
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Romeo
Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?
Juliet
Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.
Romeo
O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do;
They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.
Juliet
Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake.
Romeo
Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take.
[He kisses her.] Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purged.
Juliet
Then have my lips the sin that they have took.
Romeo
Sin from thy lips? O trespass sweetly urged!
Give me my sin again.
Juliet
You kiss by the book (1.5.2).
17. Friar Laurence These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which as they kiss consume: the sweetest honey
Is loathsome in his own deliciousness
And in the taste confounds the appetite:
Therefore love moderately; long love doth so;
Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow (2.6.1).
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Literary Analysis Paragraph Rubric #1
3=excellent 2.5=strong
2=adequate
1.5=needs work
1=poor
TOPIC SENTENCE/THESIS STATEMENT expresses your point in relation to the
prompt. (Should include author and title of the work being discussed.)
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
QUOTES and/or SUPPORTING DETAILS from the text are appropriately used to support
your point. Quotes/details are introduced and explained.
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
ORGANIZATION AND TRANSITIONS: ideas are introduced in a logical, coherent order
and the transitions between ideas are smooth.
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
STYLE and TONE: paragraph contains appropriate tone, sentence variety, precise word
choice, and is written objectively (no “I” or “You”)
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
CONCLUDING SENTENCE summarizes your thoughts and/or makes a real-world
connection.
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
MECHANICS AND MLA CITATIONS: writing is free of punctuation, mechanical, and
grammatical errors, including consistent verb tense.
All quotes and cited in MLA style (Author page #).
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
Your paper demonstrates critical thinking/writing skills and it contains an ORIGINAL
VOICE / STYLE. I’m engaged and intellectually stimulated.
2
1.5
1
.5
Total ______
20
Your paragraph(s) should be printed clearly, double-spaced (skip lines), and your in-text citations
should include the page number in parentheses after the quote with the period at the end, like this:
“She backed out of the room, stunned, as if she were blowing away like a small brown leaf, thin,
brittle, lifeless” (Smith 98).
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3=excellent 2.5=strong
Literary Analysis Paragraph Rubric #2
2=adequate
1.5=needs work
1=poor
TOPIC SENTENCE/THESIS STATEMENT expresses your point in relation to the
prompt. (Should include author and title of the work being discussed.)
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
QUOTES and/or SUPPORTING DETAILS from the text are appropriately used to support
your point. Quotes/details are introduced and explained.
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
ORGANIZATION AND TRANSITIONS: ideas are introduced in a logical, coherent order
and the transitions between ideas are smooth.
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
STYLE and TONE: paragraph contains appropriate tone, sentence variety, precise word
choice, and is written objectively (no “I” or “You”)
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
CONCLUDING SENTENCE summarizes your thoughts and/or makes a real-world
connection.
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
MECHANICS AND MLA CITATIONS: writing is free of punctuation, mechanical, and
grammatical errors, including consistent verb tense.
All quotes and cited in MLA style (Author page #).
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
Your paper demonstrates critical thinking/writing skills and it contains an ORIGINAL
VOICE / STYLE. I’m engaged and intellectually stimulated.
2
1.5
1
.5
Total ______
20
Your paragraph(s) should be printed clearly, double-spaced (skip lines), and your in-text citations
should include the page number in parentheses after the quote with the period at the end, like this:
“She backed out of the room, stunned, as if she were blowing away like a small brown leaf, thin,
brittle, lifeless” (Smith 98).
7
3=excellent 2.5=strong
Literary Analysis Paragraph Rubric #3
2=adequate
1.5=needs work
1=poor
TOPIC SENTENCE/THESIS STATEMENT expresses your point in relation to the
prompt. (Should include author and title of the work being discussed.)
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
QUOTES and/or SUPPORTING DETAILS from the text are appropriately used to support
your point. Quotes/details are introduced and explained.
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
ORGANIZATION AND TRANSITIONS: ideas are introduced in a logical, coherent order
and the transitions between ideas are smooth.
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
STYLE and TONE: paragraph contains appropriate tone, sentence variety, precise word
choice, and is written objectively (no “I” or “You”)
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
CONCLUDING SENTENCE summarizes your thoughts and/or makes a real-world
connection.
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
MECHANICS AND MLA CITATIONS: writing is free of punctuation, mechanical, and
grammatical errors, including consistent verb tense.
All quotes and cited in MLA style (Author page #).
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
Your paper demonstrates critical thinking/writing skills and it contains an ORIGINAL
VOICE / STYLE. I’m engaged and intellectually stimulated.
2
1.5
1
.5
Total ______
20
Your paragraph(s) should be printed clearly, double-spaced (skip lines), and your in-text citations
should include the page number in parentheses after the quote with the period at the end, like this:
“She backed out of the room, stunned, as if she were blowing away like a small brown leaf, thin,
brittle, lifeless” (Smith 98).
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