FRQ 1 ENGLISH LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION: Analysis of 'The Barren Moors'
Question 1
In William Ellery Channing’s poem 'The Barren Moors', published in 1843, the speaker addresses moors, open expanses of wild, uncultivated land. Read the poem carefully. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze how Channing uses literary elements and techniques to develop a complex portrayal of the speaker’s experience of this natural setting. In your response you should do the following: • Respond to the prompt with a thesis that presents a defensible interpretation. • Select and use evidence to support your line of reasoning. • Explain how the evidence supports your line of reasoning. • Use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating your argument.
On your bare rocks, O barren moors, On your bare rocks I love to lie,— They stand like crags upon the shores, Line Or clouds upon a placid sky.
Across those spaces desolate, 5 The fox pursues his lonely way, Those solitudes can fairly sate (1) The passage of my loneliest day.
Like desert Islands far at sea Where not a ship can ever land, 10 Those dim uncertainties to me, For something veritable stand.
A serious place distinct from all Which busy Life delights to feel, I stand in this deserted hall, 15 And thus the wounds of time conceal.
No friend’s cold eye, or sad delay, Shall vex me now where not a sound Falls on the ear, and every day Is soft as silence most profound. 20
No more upon these distant wolds (2) The agitating world can come, A single pensive thought upholds The arches of this dreamy home.
Within the sky above, one thought 25 Replies to you, O barren moors! Between, I stand, a creature taught To stand between two silent floors.
) (1) fully satisfy (2) hills
William Ellery Channing, 'The Barren Moors', 1843
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