How can i write an essay about the similarities between the star spangled banner and ode to a nightingale?

Question

I have to write a 750 word essay between these two and im stuck. Because one is about american freedom and stuff and the other is about a man dying of TB.

Answer 1

I don't know exactly what would be best, and in the end you would want to find some connection that makes the most sense to you, but I think an important thing to look at here might be the origin of the star spangled banner. It came from someone witnessing a life and death situation and reflecting on what saved him and ode to a nightingale also involves life and death. That is probably how I would connect them, or I would do similarities in the contexts in which they were written.

Good Luck!

Answer 2

Hello Maggie,

The best why into a comparison with these two poems for me would be to analyze craft elements. By that, I mean looking closely at things like rhyme schemes, syllable count, iambic meters, metaphors, repetition, etc. If you are still needing more to compare, looking more broadly at themes is also a good choice. What is the "Star Spangled Banner" about? How is this poem like an ode? Are there specific images or styles poets use when writing an ode? If you can find about three rich examples from each poem, I'm sure you will have plenty to compare for your paper.

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

If this were my assignment, I would start by making a list of things that the two poems have in common. I might include information about the poems' styles, their themes and the points of view of the two authors.

I am guessing this is a standard five-paragraph essay. If so, my first paragraph would include a topic sentence that names the two poems and their authors and the fact that I am comparing their similarities. Three supporting sentences and "hook" to get my audience interested in the essay. In each supporting paragraph, I would explain one feature that both works have in common and write about each poem. For instance, if I were to discuss the point of view of both authors, I might talk about the mood or attitude of each author. In my concluding paragraph, I would restate my topic sentence and sew up my comparisons. I might leave my readers with a thought-provoking question or a quote.

Answer 4

Hi Maggie!

To begin, I would suggest that you ignore the general context in which we typically think about the Star Spangled Banner. The Star Spangled Banner was never meant to be a song - it was originally published as a poem. After many years, the first stanza of the poem was made into the United States National Anthem.

Next, it might be helpful to do a little research into the authors of each poem. Where and when the poems were written? What are the author's other poems like? What are some similarities and differences in their biographies and styles?

Examining the poems themselves, each describes a battle, either literal or metaphorical. The narrators of each poem have a very distinct reaction to the battles they are witnessing and describe them in different ways. On a very basic level, you can compare and contrast use of figurative language.

Having briefly reread these poems, for example, Key writes in the third stanza:

No refuge could save the hireling and slave,

From the terror of flight and the gloom of the grave;

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave!

What is the effect of rhyming "save" "slave" and "grave" in this particular instance? How does that compare with the rhyming of "wave" and brave"? What is the effect of alliteration in "gloom of the grave"? What is being emphasized by using this alliteration? How does it affect the mood?

Does Keats use similar methods of creating mood in his poems? Or does he use other methods? Perhaps he uses assonance, or metaphor?

If you want to take it further, you could examine the meter of the poems. How many syllables are in each line? How many lines are in a stanza? Which syllables are emphasized? Where does the author change those patterns?

For example, Keat's stanzas are each 10 lines long, with all lines containing 10 syllables apart from the 8th line, which contains 6 syllables. Do the 8th lines bear a particular meaning in the stanza? Does Key pay as much attention to meter?

Hope that can get you started?