Paired Poetry Assignment: It's a Woman's World

2009 AP© ENGLISH LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION

FREE RESPONSE QUESTIONS

ENGLISH LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION

SECTION II

Total time- 2 hours

Question 1

(Suggested time- 40 minutes. This question counts as one-third of the total essay score.)

The following two poems present two views on a women’s role in society, from the perspective of women, the first, a contemporary poem written by Eavan Boland, the second, a romantic poem written by Charlotte Smith. Read each poem carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze the techniques each author used to forge their complex ideas on the roles of women, especially highlighting their tones and imagery. The student should take note of the contrasts and comparisons between the two poems both thematically and through the authors’ distinct literary techniques.

IT’S A WOMAN’S WORLD

Our way of life
has hardly changed
since a wheel first
whetted a knife

Well, maybe flame
burns more greedily
and wheels are steadier
but we're the same:

who milestone
our lives
with oversights—
living by the lights
of the loaf left

by the cash register,
the washing powder
paid for and wrapped,
the wash left wet;

Like most historic peoples
we are defined
by what we forget,

by what we never will be:
star-gazers,
fire-eaters.
It’s our alibi

for all time that as far as history goes
we were never
on the scene of the crime.

So when the king's head
gored its basket—
grim harvest
we were gristing bread

or getting the recipe
for a good soup
to appetize
our gossip.
And it's still the same:

By night our windows
moth our children
to the flame
of hearth not history.
And still no page
scores the low music
of our outrage.
But appearances
still reassure: That woman there, craned to the starry mystery

And still no page
scores the low music
of our outrage.

But appearances
still reassure: That woman there,
craned to
the starry mystery

is merely getting a breath
of evening air,
while this one here—
her mouth
a burning plume—

she's no fire-eater,
just my frosty neighbor
coming home
1982 -Eavan Boland (1944-)

SONNET XLVII TO FANCY
Thee, Queen of Shadows! -- shall I still invoke,Still love the scenes thy sportive pencil drew,When on mine eyes the early radiance brokeWhich shew'd the beauteous rather than the true!Alas! long since those glowing tints are dead,And now 'tis thine in darkest hues to dressThe spot where pale Experience hangs her headO'er the sad grave of murder'd Happiness!Thro' thy false medium, then, no longer view'd,May fancied pain and fancied pleasure fly,And I, as from me all thy dreams depart,Be to my wayward destiny subdued:Nor seek perfection with a poet's eye,Nor suffer anguish with a poet's heart! 1789 -Charlotte Smith (1749-1806)