Examples
of more effective approaches to writing about more than one text in a single
essay
Example 1
Essay question: Compare
and contrast two Renaissance sonnets of your choice.
This is an extract from a student
essay on the above question:
'The sonnets are also similar in their use of repetition for effect.
Sidney’s repetition of the word 'liked', for example, in the line 'I
saw and liked, I liked but ...' (l.5) makes the line sound like the
recital of a list. This helps one to remember the words and also illustrates
the progressive nature of the relationship. Similarly, Shakespeare’s
repetitive questioning: 'But wherefore say ....?/... And wherefore say....?'
(l.9-10) illustrates how he uses repetition to make his words memorable
and effective.
Unlike Sidney, Shakespeare makes extensive use of the pun. For example,
when he says of his lover, 'she lies' the word 'lies' must be understood
as meaning that she does not tell the truth but also that she lies with
(has sexual relations with) other men. This pun is also used in the
concluding couplet. In the line '... loves best habit is in seeming
trust' (l.11), 'habit' means both 'tendency' (emphasising how lies can
become an accepted part of love) and an item of clothing (suggesting
that love disguises itself and is, therefore, dishonest). The very use
of the pun is significant to the poem's conceit - the pun being a device
where everything is not as it may first appear.'
Q. Why is this effective?
TUTOR'S REPLY
The essayist compares and contrasts
particular features of each poem, but as well as pointing out how the two
poems are similar and different, s/he indicates how these features work within
each poem and contribute to its meaning. For example, the student thinks about
the effect of Shakespeare’s use of the pun within his sonnet, rather than
just observing that he uses the pun and Sidney does not.
Example 2
Essay question: Discuss
the representation of women in the poetry of this period (1550-1750).
This is taken from a student essay
answering the above question:
'... In 'Twickenham Gardern', Donne compares himself to the 'serpent'
but unlike Eve the woman did not give into temptation. Perversely, by
being unlike Eve, the woman has turned his paradise into a wasteland.
The negative effect of the woman’s moral values show she is not his
soulmate because she doesn’t complete him but destroy him. Donne in
his poetry gives equal responsibility to the woman’s role in a relationship
and sees them as able to bring a completeness to his life.
Andrew Marvell’s 'The Garden' has similar imagery to 'Twickenham Garden'
but there is, however, a distinct absence of a female figure, as if
the Eve figure has already been expelled from the paradise or in fact
was never created. The speaker, who is like Adam, dismisses women as
bearing no comparison to the beauty of the garden and nature.'
Q. Why is this effective?
TUTOR'S REPLY
In this essay, a number of texts
are being discussed more or less consecutively, with considerable attention
paid to what each poem does in its own right (i.e. the particular way in which
it represents women). However, in moving from one poem to the next, there
is some comparison between the texts and points of similarity and difference
are brought out.
An example
of a less effective approach to writing about more than one text in a single
essay
Example 1
Essay question: Compare and contrast
two Renaissance sonnets of your choice.
This extract comes from an undergraduate
student's essay in response to the above question:
'The two renaissance sonnets which will be discussed here are sonnet
130 by William Shakespeare and sonnet 9 by Sir Philip Sidney. Typically
both of these sonnets are about the women that the sonneteers loved.
For Shakespeare it is the notorious 'dark lady' and for Sydney it is
a women who he lusts after. Shakespeare shows this in the last two lines
of the sonnet with
And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
Sydney’s love is more obviously shown throughout the sonnet by involving
the god of love, Cupid and by using such pure and decadent metaphors
to describe his love,
Gold is the covering of that stately place.
The two sonnets also have rhyming couplets as a common feature. This
is where there are two successive lines at the end of a verse which
rhyme together and follow a turn after line 12. Also both the rhyming
couplets act as a conclusion to the sonnet and both illustrate their
love for these women.
Comparisons between nature and the women mentioned in the sonnets are
yet another similarity. ...'
Q. How could this be improved?
TUTOR'S REPLY
This essay compares and contrasts
the poems. It commences quite well, indicating how Sidney uses metaphors and
Classical allusions to express his love. However, in commenting on formal
similarities between the poems (rhyming couplets, the turn after line 12)
the essay does not examine at all how these common features work within the
context of each poem and the precise effects they have. The essay would be
improved if the student looked at how each poem works and what it achieves
in its own right, as well as how it compares to the other.
