CSEC ENGLISH

Hello there! This week we look more closely at how to write a comparative essay. And to help with your ENG A skills, we have an interesting assortment of challenging exercises. Enjoy your CXC English page!

COMPARATIVE ESSAY WRITING

In your English B exam, you will be required to write an essay comparing two poems. Here’s the kind of question you can expect:

“‘My Parents’ and ‘Dreaming Black Boy’ are poems in which the speakers yearn to be accepted.” Write an essay in which you focus on this theme in these TWO poems.

For EACH poem, you must describe ONE instance in which the speaker’s yearning to be accepted is evident. You must also discuss how EACH speaker responds to this feeling. Finally, for EACH poem, you must examine ONE device used to portray the speaker’s yearning for acceptance. Total 35 marks

In your English B exam, you will be asked to write an essay comparing TWO of the poems you have studied. The exam question on the short stories also requires you to compare TWO stories. Today, then, let’s look at how to tackle the comparative-type essay.

Your rough notes for the essay might look like this (Every asterisk indicates a mark earned):

My Parents

Boy’s yearning: Wants to be friends with rough boys who play in street*. Wants to climb cliffs* and swim naked* in country streams, and not be afraid of the bullies.*

Boy’s response: Fears their bullying—the physical* hurt. Dreads being mocked*. Looks the other way and pretends to smile*, longs to forgive them*.

Device: Repeated use/repetition* of the pronouns they/their and I/my*. This device emphasizes the fact that the boy cannot be part of the group*; always a solitary outsider*.

Dreaming Black Boy

Boy’s yearning: Wants his teacher to accept him and not treat him differently because he is black*. Wants to be hugged and praised when he scores a goal*. Wants to get a good education so he can go anywhere in the world* and hold his head up*.

Boy’s response: Is sad. Feels rejected as his teacher’s eyes go past him*. Is scared or shy to answer teacher’s questions*. Is conscious that teacher considers him only fit for manual work (woodchopper)*. Dreads the ongoing injustice he may encounter.*

Device: Repetition of ‘I wish’*. This suggests boy’s childish nature*, his helplessness*, his desire to escape from the real world into some magical place* where he has power.

ORGANISATION

You may complete all you have to say on Poem 1, and then move to respond to all three questions on Poem 2 (divided method)

OR

You may deal with the yearning of EACH boy, then the response of EACH boy, and then a device from EACH poem (alternating method).

The problem with the alternating method is that as you jump from one poem to the other, you will need to repeatedly say which poem you are referring to, and that gets a bit tedious. We recommend the divided method for that reason. Be careful, though, that you fully answer all three parts of the question for EACH poem.

INTRODUCTION AND CONCLUSION

Your introduction must mention the names of both poems, the names of both poets, and the theme you are exploring. Something like this:

In the poems Dreaming Black Boy by James Berry and My Parents by Stephen Spender, a young boy expresses his yearning for acceptance in a hostile society.

Your conclusion should be a comment that sums up what you have learnt by comparing the two poems. Something like this:

Though the situations of the two boys are very different—one being from a privileged home and the other from an oppressed race—the reader feels deep compassion for each of them. We are left wanting to make the world a kinder place.

DICTIONARY WORK.

Find out the meaning of these words and phrases. We will test you on them next week.

● To hold in abeyance

● gnarled hands

● to run concurrently

● to run consecutively

● to collaborate in a venture

● to aid and abet someone

● to be an accessory to the crime

● to show due diligence

● to be guilty of dereliction of duty.

PUNCTUATION:

Comma after introductory clause or phrase.

Here are three short sentences:

● The boy ran away.

● Children need loving discipline.

● Some computer games can be addictive.

In each case, we can put an introductory clause or phrase BEFORE, that main sentences. When we do this, we also need to put a comma to separate that introductory material from the main sentence. Like this:

● Terrified by what he had seen, the boy ran away.

● To give them a clear sense of boundaries in their lives, children

need loving discipline.

● Entertaining though they are, some computer games can be

addictive.

Notice that the introductory material contained either a participle (terrified, entertaining) or an infinitive (to give).

YOUR TURN NOW

Following this pattern, make up five sentences of your own, putting an introductory clause or phrase plus a comma BEFORE the main clause of the sentence.