Paragraph Exemplars
Directions: Each of the three paragraphs below is a student’s attempt to answer the
prompt. Grade each paragraph according to the standards in your rubric. Be sure to
identify and justify the grade with three specific reasons.
Prompt: How does this sonnet reflect the Renaissance ideal of intelligence?
1.)
Shakespeare’s sonnet reflects renaissance ideals. It is very difficult to write
fourteen lines of rhyming iambic pentameter while introducing and solving a problem.
An Iambic foot is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Pentameter is
five beats per line. Shakespeare solves the problem in the sestet, “Star-crossed lovers take
their life” to “bury their parents strife.” Shakespeare writes his sonnet to demonstrate
human intelligence. GRADE:_______
2.)
Shakespeare’s sonnet reflects intelligence. Sonnets are hard to write. You have to
be smart to write a sonnet. Shakespeare wrote his sonnet about two families in “Verona.”
Both these families were “alike in dignity” and their children had “uncivil blood” and
they were always fighting. The Prince warned them not to fight or he would kill them.
Then, Romeo fell in love with Juliet at first sight. But it was Eros. They got married but
there families wouldn’t let them be together so they committed suicide and then their
families did not fight anymore. Shakespeare’s rhyming couplet says; “what here your
ears shall miss” the “toil” will explain. Shakespeare was very smart to make his story
rhyme and have iambic pentameter. Shakespeares sonnet reflects human intelligence.
GRADE:_______
3.)
Shakespeare’s poem reflects the renaissance ideal of intelligence by meeting the
requirements of the sonnet form. The first requirement of the sonnet form to reflect the
ideal of intelligence is the rhythm in which the poem is to be written. The rhythmic
demands of the sonnet require that Shakespeare write his poem using iambic pentameter
and an English’s sonnet rhyme scheme. Shakespeare demonstrates the ideal of
intelligence because his sonnet meets these difficult, rhythmic requirements. Another way
the sonnet’s form reflects the ideal of intelligence is that it requires the poet to use logic,
to introduce and solve a problem. In his sonnet, Shakespeare demonstrates his ability to
use logic when he suggests the play will be about an “ancient grudge” (ln3) between two
families that can only be resolved by their “children’s end” (ln11). In the sonnet’s
rhyming couplet at the sonnet’s conclusion, Shakespeare solves the problem he has
introduced; he states that what is unclear about how the death of two teenage lovers
brings peace to two warring families will be made clear by the “toil” (ln14) of actors on
stage. In this sonnet, Shakespeare demonstrates the ideal of intelligence by using his skill
to introduce and solve a problem within his poem. Finally and perhaps most
impressively, the sonnet form reflects the ideal of intelligence through its requirement
about the poem’s length. The length requirements of the sonnet task Shakespeare to
sustain the sonnet’s rhythmic requirements for fourteen lines; yet, at the same time, the
length requirements task Shakespeare again by severely limiting the number of syllables
and lines he can use to demonstrate his ability to reason. While most of us would shy
away from submitting to the sonnet’s demanding requirements, Shakespeare was a
Renaissance poet, a human on a mission to reflect Renaissance ideals. Shakespeare goes
through all the trouble of writing a sonnet to show that humans can accomplish great and
beautiful things when they use their intelligence. GRADE:_______