AP English Literature
and Composition
Free-Response
Questions
suggested time—40
minutes.
This question counts as
one-third of the total essay-section score.
Read
the following two poems very carefully, noting that the second includes an
allusion to the first. Then write a well-organized essay in which you discuss
their similarities and differences. In your essay, be sure to consider both
theme and style.
I. Bright Star by John Keats
Bright
star! would I were steadfast as thou art --
Not
in lone splendor hung aloft the night,
And
watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like
nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite*
The
moving waters at their priest-like task
Of
pure ablution round earth’s human shores,
Or
gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of
snow upon the mountains and the moors--
No
-- yet still steadfast, still unchangeable,
Pillowed
upon my fair love’s ripening breast,
To
feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake
for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still,
still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And
so live ever -- or else swoon to death.
—John Keats
*hermit
II. Choose Something Like a Star by Robert Frost
O Star (the fairest one in sight),
We grant your loftiness the right
To some obscurity of cloud --
It will not do to say of night,
(5)
Since dark is what brings out your light.
Some mystery becomes the proud.
But to be wholly taciturn
In your reserve is not allowed.
Say something to us we can learn
(10) By heart and when alone repeat.
Say something! And it says, ‘I burn.’
But say with what degree of heat.
Talk Fahrenheit, talk Centigrade.
Use Language we can comprehend.
(15) Tell us what elements you blend.
It gives us strangely little aid,
But does tell something in the end.
And steadfast as Keats’ Eremite,
Not even stooping from its sphere,
(20)
It asks a little of us here.
It asks of us a certain height,
So when at times the mob is swayed
To carry praise or blame too far,
We may choose something like a star
To stay our minds on and be staid.
—Robert Frost*
Sample Free-Response Student Essay #1
Keats “Bright Star” and Frost’s “Choose Something
Like a Star” although similar in their address to a star differ in form, tone
and theme. The latter contains an illusion to the former which brings Keats’
themes into the poem. In order to compare these poems it is necessary to look
carefully at their themes and constructions. “Bright Star” is a sonnet in
traditional iambic pentameter. Its tone is elegiac as it celebrates the woman’s
beauty and his love for her in his plea for steadfastness. The poem opens with
an apostrophe to the star which calls our attention to his plea. The verbs “would”
and “were” indicate his wish to be like the star whom he addresses as “thou.”
The star is “hung” in the night, a pleasant image, and he uses a simile to
compare it with Eremite, a hermit, who presumably sat apart from the world
watching. The eyelids of this star (the star is given anthropomorphic
qualities) are eternally apart -- always watching, “patiently” and
“sleeplessly.” Keats then enumerates what this star watches. It watches water
-- which is also steadfast as indicated by the comparison “priest-like.” The
waters that surround the land Keats says are performing ablutions or cleansings
and blessings on the land. The star also gazes upon the snow. He uses the
metaphor of snow as a “mask” (more personification) as it hides the mountains
and moors. The “m” alliteration emphasizes the falling of the snow. The
repetition of “of” underlines the parallel structure and idea of the two scenes
the star regards. The rhythm of this 2nd quatrain is slow and peaceful like the
scene. Then Keats puts a “No -- “ which interrupts this peaceful rhythm; he
does not want to look at pastoral scenery but at his lover. The “still
steadfast, still unchangeable” emphasizes the fact that this constancy is
similar to that of the star regarding the earth. The poet wishes to be lying on
his lover’s breast which he implies is like a pillow and describes as
“ripening” which emphasizes her fertility. Line 11 has a rhythm of a “fall and
swell” like her breathing. He will be in a state of “unrest”, yet a happy one.
The repetition of “still” underlines his intense desire and the “t”
alliteration the tenderness of her breath. The final line sets up a contrast
and the hyphen divides it. He will live forever this way, or else he will die
in a “swoon” -- a faintness of overwhelming love. Either way he spends eternity
faithful and steadfast to his lover. The rhyme in the final 2 lines adds to his
summing-up quality of the couplet where he expresses his main theme -- to be as
steadfast to her as a “bright star” is to the countryside.
Frost’s
poem is quite different. The form is a bit freer, the poem is written in 25
lines of octosyllables with a conversational tone and a varying rhyme scheme.
Frost too looks to the star to be steadfast, although in his case it is
steadfast in moral or political beliefs, not in love. Similar to Keats’ poem,
Frost begins with an apostrophe, and adds to it “(the fairest one in sight),”
an humorous allusion to the child’s tale of wishing on the fairest star.
Similarly, we derive a sort of wish from this star. He calls the star “your
loftiness,” another humorous play on “your highness”, reflecting its physical
and moral height above us. The poet as “we” (meaning all men) grants the star
some anonymity, some aspects of a hermit isolated and watching the earth as he
gives him “some obscurity of cloud.” Dark brings out the light -- this is a
subtle indication that “we” see the star as it is the stoic steadfastness when
something “dark” and evil is taking place on earth. But Frost does not allow
the star to get away with saying nothing -- his “position” requires his
contributing advice. Frost implores him to say something catchy that we can
cling to -- and the run on line emphasizes the energy of this begging. “Say
something!” (9) disrupts the rhythm and adds even more desperation to his plea.
All the star says is “I burn.” Frost with a tongue-in-cheek tone implores him
to add scientific details -- the kind humans like to deal with. He speaks of
“Farenheit” and “Centigrade” like they are languages -- and capitalizes “Language”
for this purpose -- we understand facts. But it doesn’t really help that much,
he says. In line 18 Frost changes to speaking of the star as “it” and alludes
directly to Keats’ poem. Frost says that the star is like Keats’ Eremite, the
star that steadfastly watched the goings-on on earth. In using this allusion
Frost not only continues the “poetic tradition” but adds all the depth of
meaning of Keats’ poem to his own. The star doesn’t want much of us -- only to
stay above us. He says that “when the mob is swayed” or when social, political,
or moral upheaval takes place and the norm is to be radical, the star likes
being above it all, condescendingly regarding the earth. When this happens, we
should “choose something like a star” and concentrate on it. In the final line
the similarity between “stay” and “staid” emphasizes that we must emulate the
star in being constant and moderate while society may revolve around us in
social or political turmoil. This “staidness” is our key to survival like the
stars’.
Therefore,
one can see that these poems although similar in their title and central image
of the star differ in their themes, form and treatment of the author’s ideas.
- Highest level writing (9)
- Actually, the University selected this as one of the better written that year, so don't let it discourage you. Let it give you something to aspire to.
- Notice how sophisticated and sensitive the interpretation is.
- Notice that there are areas that aren't perfectly supported or might be contended (such a "the “m” alliteration emphasizes the falling of the snow"); however, the interpretation is so rich and well-supported otherwise, that such license is readily given to the writer.
Sample Free-Response Student Essay #2
Although both “Bright Star” by John Keats and
“Choose Something Like a Star” by Robert Frost both address a star with a
spirit of awe, the first uses formal diction to express a wish while the second
uses informal diction and contains a lesson.
“Bright
Star” contains lofty, formal kinds of words such as “thou art” and “splendor
hung aloft” to show reverence toward the star. Keat’s specific word choices
also contribute to the theme of the poem that man wishes happiness would last
forever. Comparing the star to an eye with “eternal lids apart” brings to mind
God, who is connected with eternity and happiness and the sky or heavens. The
star is also compared with a hermit which brings to mind silence, holiness, and
solemnity. The word “ripening” connotes life, and the speaker wishes to enjoy
the best of life “forever.”
Robert
Frost’s poem also address a star in the first fifteen lines, but the diction is
informal. In plain, ordinary kinds of words, the speaker asks the star to “Say
something to us that we can learn/By heart.” The speaker of this poem wants the
star to tell the secret of its steadfastness, instead of just wishing to be
like the star. Then in the last ten lines, this poem adds a lesson. Although
the star seems to give “little aid,” it teaches the speaker “something in the
end.” The speaker feels that just thinking of the noble star will help him to
be steadfast and not to be swayed easily with the “mob.”
- A lower scoring essay (4)
- Notice that the interpretation is largely correct but not very deep. "Contains a lesson" is a fairly cheap way to interpret Frost's poem.
- Notice that there is little development in the essay.
Source: University of Washington Writing
