Comparison Paper
Your assignment is to write a composition that compares two poems. This assignment is
due on October 10th - it must be on your group’s website to be graded.
Pre-writing
1. Select two poems to compare. The poems must come from the attached list.
2. Annotate both poems. Look for denotations, connotations, images, metaphors,
similes, rhythm,
meter, rhyme, syntax, and sounds. Try to summarize each section.
3. Use the Venn Diagram handout to find similarities and differences in the two poems.
4. Use the Thesis and Outline Handout to organize your ideas before writing.
Drafting
1. Introduction - introduce the titles, authors, and short (1 sentence) summaries of both
poems. Explain what you are going to be writing about in your essay - do not use “I”
statements. End the introduction with your thesis.
2. Support Paragraphs (minimum 3) - Each support paragraph should compare or contrast
one element of the two poems and connect to the content of the poem and support your
thesis
You may choose to talk about
Diction - word choice, connotations, denotations
Form - rhythm, rhyme, meter, shape, length
Rhetoric - figurative language, sounds, syntax
do not merely summarize or compare summaries of the poems.
3. Conclusion - summarize your argument and add any closing thoughts. Do not add any
new information or arguments, those belong in the support paragraphs.
Revision
1. Read your paper and revise for the following:
Weak arguments - do you have enough evidence in each paragraph to support
your idea?
Organization - are your ideas presented in a logical order?
Transitions - look at your transitions between paragraphs. Can they be stronger?
Sentence Variety - do you use a variety of sentences? If your sentences are of the
same length try combining or altering syntax.
Thesis - do all of your support paragraphs support your thesis?
Editing
1. Check for spelling errors.
2. Check for errors in verb agreement
3. Check for capitalization errors.
10 points
Introduction
5 points
0 points
Includes both poem
titles and authors,
short summary of
each poem,
explanation of
purpose and a thesis.
Introduction is not
developed, adds
unnecessary summary
or biographical
information, or missing
one of the 10 point
elements.
Missing more
than 2 of the 10
point elements
Support
paragraphs
Each support
paragraph is
developed and focuses
on one theme or
aspect and compares
it between both
poems.
Not developed, ignores
appropriate talking
points, discusses
summary only, or does
not compare both
poems.
Less than 3
support
paragraphs on
three separate
topics.
Conclusion
Sums up the paper’s
main points and adds
no new arguments or
information
Does not adequately
sum up the paper’s
arguments or adds new
information
Missing
0 errors in verb
agreement or
capitalization
1-2 errors in verb
agreement or
capitalization
3 or more errors
in verb
agreement or
capitalization
Sentences vary in
length and syntax
throughout paper
Sentences mostly vary
in length and syntax
Sentences are
not varied
1-4 errors in spelling or
mechanics
5 or more errors
in spelling or
mechanics
Grammar
Sentence
Effectiveness
Spelling/Mechanics 0 errors in spelling or
mechanics
Choose 2 of the following poems to compare
Robert Frost - “Out, Out-”
Emily Dickinson - “I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died”
Thomas Hardy - “Ah, Are You Digging on My Grave?”
William Shakespeare - “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” from Macbeth
Wallace Stevens - “The Emperor of Ice-Cream”
Edgar Allan Poe - “Conqueror Worm”
“Out, Out-” by Robert Frost
The buzz saw snarled and rattled in the yard
And made dust and dropped stove-length sticks of wood,
Sweet-scented stuff when the breeze drew across it.
And from there those that lifted eyes could count
Five mountain ranges one behind the other
Under the sunset far into Vermont.
And the saw snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled,
As it ran light, or had to bear a load.
And nothing happened: day was all but done.
Call it a day, I wish they might have said
To please the boy by giving him the half hour
That a boy counts so much when saved from work.
His sister stood beside him in her apron
To tell them ‘Supper.’ At the word, the saw,
As if to prove saws know what supper meant,
Leaped out at the boy’s hand, or seemed to leap—
He must have given the hand. However it was,
Neither refused the meeting. But the hand!
The boy’s first outcry was a rueful laugh,
As he swung toward them holding up the hand
Half in appeal, but half as if to keep
The life from spilling. Then the boy saw all—
Since he was old enough to know, big boy
Doing a man’s work, though a child at heart—
He saw all was spoiled. ‘Don’t let him cut my hand off—
The doctor, when he comes. Don’t let him, sister!’
So. But the hand was gone already.
The doctor put him in the dark of ether.
He lay and puffed his lips out with his breath.
And then—the watcher at his pulse took fright.
No one believed. They listened to his heart.
Little—less—nothing!—and that ended it.
No more to build on there. And they, since they
Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.
“To-morrow, and To-morrow, and To-morrow” from Macbeth by William Shakespeare
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
“I heard a Fly buzz - when I died-” by Emily Dickinson
I heard a Fly buzz - when I died The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air Between the Heaves of Storm The Eyes around - had wrung them dry And Breaths were gathering firm
For that last Onset - when the King
Be witnessed - in the Room I willed my Keepsakes - Signed away
What portion of me be
Assignable - and then it was
There interposed a Fly With Blue - uncertain - stumbling Buzz Between the light - and me And then the Windows failed - and then
I could not see to see -
“The Emperor of Ice-Cream” by Wallace Stevens
Call the roller of big cigars,
The muscular one, and bid him whip
In kitchen cups concupiscent curds.
Let the wenches dawdle in such dress
As they are used to wear, and let the boys
Bring flowers in last month's newspapers.
Let be be finale of seem.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.
Take from the dresser of deal.
Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet
On which she embroidered fantails once
And spread it so as to cover her face.
If her horny feet protrude, they come
To show how cold she is, and dumb.
Let the lamp affix its beam.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.
“Ah, Are You Digging on My Grave?” by Thomas Hardy
"Ah, are you digging on my grave
My loved one? -- planting rue?"
-- "No, yesterday he went to wed
One of the brightest wealth has bred.
'It cannot hurt her now,' he said,
'That I should not be true.'"
"Then who is digging on my grave?
My nearest dearest kin?"
-- "Ah, no; they sit and think, 'What use!
What good will planting flowers produce?
No tendance of her mound can loose
Her spirit from Death's gin.' "
"But some one digs upon my grave?
My enemy? -- prodding sly?"
-- "Nay: when she heard you had passed the Gate
That shuts on all flesh soon or late,
She thought you no more worth her hate,
And cares not where you lie."
"Then, who is digging on my grave?
Say -- since I have not guessed!"
-- "O it is I, my mistress dear,
Your little dog, who still lives near,
And much I hope my movements here
Have not disturbed your rest?"
"Ah yes! You dig upon my grave . . .
Why flashed it not on me
That one true heart was left behind!
What feeling do we ever find
To equal among human kind
A dog's fidelity!"
"Mistress, I dug upon your grave
To bury a bone, in case
I should be hungry near this spot
When passing on my daily trot.
I am sorry, but I quite forgot
It was your resting-place."
“The Conqueror Worm” by Edgar Allan Poe
Lo! ’t is a gala night
Within the lonesome latter years!
An angel throng, bewinged, bedight
In veils, and drowned in tears,
Sit in a theatre, to see
A play of hopes and fears,
While the orchestra breathes fitfully
The music of the spheres.
Mimes, in the form of God on high,
Mutter and mumble low,
And hither and thither fly—
Mere puppets they, who come and go
At bidding of vast formless things
That shift the scenery to and fro,
Flapping from out their Condor wings
Invisible Wo!
That motley drama—oh, be sure
It shall not be forgot!
With its Phantom chased for evermore
By a crowd that seize it not,
Through a circle that ever returneth in
To the self-same spot,
And much of Madness, and more of Sin,
And Horror the soul of the plot.
But see, amid the mimic rout,
A crawling shape intrude!
A blood-red thing that writhes from out
The scenic solitude!
It writhes!—it writhes!—with mortal pangs
The mimes become its food,
And seraphs sob at vermin fangs
In human gore imbued.
Out—out are the lights—out all!
And, over each quivering form,
The curtain, a funeral pall,
Comes down with the rush of a storm,
While the angels, all pallid and wan,
Uprising, unveiling, affirm
That the play is the tragedy, “Man,”
And its hero, the Conqueror Worm.
Venn Diagram
What things do the poems have in common?
What are some differences between the poems?
Pick at least 3 points you could write a paragraph about.
Venn Diagram
What things do the poems have in common?
What are some differences between the poems?
Pick at least 3 points you could write a paragraph about.
Thesis Graphic Organizer