Prompt: Read the two poems carefully. Then write a well-organized essay in which you show how the attitudes towards the coming of spring implied in these two poems differ from each other. Support your statements with specific references to the texts. Spring and All by William Carlos Williams For Jane Meyers by Louise Gluck By the road to the contagious hospital under the surge of the blue Sap rises from the sodden ditch mottled clouds driven from the glues two green ears to the dead northeast—a cold wind. Beyond, the birch twig. Perilous beauty— of broad, muddy fields and already Jane is digging out brown with dried weeds, standing and fallen her colored tennis shoes, one mauve, one yellow, like large crocuses. patches of standing the scattering of tall And by the laundromat the Bartletts In their tidy yard— All along the road the reddish purplish, forked, upstanding, twiggy as though it were not - stuff of bushes and small trees wearying, wearying with dead, brown leaves under them leafless vines— to hear in the bushes the mild harping of the breeze, Lifeless in appearance, sluggish the daffodils flocking and honking— dazed spring approaches— Look how the bluet* falls apart, mud They enter the new world naked, pockets the seed. cold, uncertain of all Months, years, then the dull blade of the wind. save that they enter. All about them It is spring I We are going to die I the cold, familiar wind— And now April raises up her plaque of flowers Now the grass, tomorrow and the heart the stiff curl of wildcarrot leaf expands to admit Its adversary. One by one the objects are defined— It quickens: clarity, outline of leaf *bluet: a wild flower with bluish blossoms But now the stark dignity of entrance—Still, the profound change has come upon them: rooted they grip down and begin to awaken 1980 Poem Art” (Elizabeth Bishop) “One
Prompt: Read the two poems carefully. Then write a well-organized essay in which you show how the attitudes towards the coming of spring implied in these two poems differ from each other. Support your statements with specific references to the texts. Spring and All by William Carlos Williams By the road to the contagious hospital under the surge of the blue mottled clouds driven from the northeast—a cold wind. Beyond, the of broad, muddy fields brown with dried weeds, standing and fallen patches of standing the scattering of tall All along the road the reddish purplish, forked, upstanding, twiggy stuff of bushes and small trees with dead, brown leaves under them leafless vines— Lifeless in appearance, sluggish dazed spring approaches— They enter the new world naked, cold, uncertain of all save that they enter. All about them the cold, familiar wind— Now the grass, tomorrow the stiff curl of wildcarrot leaf One by one the objects are defined— It quickens: clarity, outline of leaf But now the stark dignity of entrance—Still, the profound change has come upon them: rooted they grip down and begin to awaken For Jane Meyers by Louise Gluck Sap rises from the sodden ditch glues two green ears to the dead birch twig. Perilous beauty— and already Jane is digging out her colored tennis shoes, one mauve, one yellow, like large crocuses. And by the laundromat the Bartletts In their tidy yard— as though it were not - wearying, wearying to hear in the bushes the mild harping of the breeze, the daffodils flocking and honking— Look how the bluet* falls apart, mud pockets the seed. Months, years, then the dull blade of the wind. It is spring I We are going to die I And now April raises up her plaque of flowers and the heart expands to admit Its adversary. *bluet: a wild flower with bluish blossoms 1980 Poem “One Art” (Elizabeth Bishop)