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sSubject/Class Paper was submitted for  [AP English lit and comp]
SSubject/Topic of paper (Please Be As Descriptive As Possible)   
a[AP English Section 2 Question 1 essay: Re: There was a Boy    ]3 Letter
Y w/ the Most of it                                            Abbrev.
 [Year of AP exam 1985                                          ]for
S       Grade Level (For High School Students):      9 [ ] 11 [ ]Major
u                                                   10 [ ] 12 [X]Education
B                                       (for Ont., Canada) 13 [ ]Areas,
m       Year (For University/College Students)       1 [ ]  3 [ ]MARK one:
I                                                    2 [ ]  4 [ ]
s                                                           5 [ ]English
SSchool/University/College/Institution [St. Joseph's Collegiate ][ENG] [X]
iCity & State (Province) of Inst.      [Buffalo, NY             ]History
OName of Teacher/Prof. submitted to    [Mr. Zabawa              ][HST] [ ]
nGrade Received (If Received Yet)                           [85 ]Science
 Date Paper was submitted (mm/dd/yy)   [ 03/05/93               ][SCI] [ ]
FName of Author (Real or Alias)        [The Saint               ]Health &
oHigh School Avg./College GPA of Author                 [95.6   ]Sports
RIf used, Textbook/Novel/Classic Translator/Editor and Version/  [HTH] [ ]
m Edition Info [                                                ] -
 Additional Comments [                                          ]The
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Paper 6:There was a Boy/The Most of It    Due date: 03/05/93

     Wordsworth ad Frost, in their poems "There was a Boy"

and "The Most of It," present markedly different attitudes

towards nature and Man's individuality in relation to it.

Wordsworth's poem decidedly suggests Man's unity with nature

and the existence of a single entity in which nature and Man

are part of the same body. In comparison, Frost's poem is

significantly different because it suggests that Man and

nature are two, clearly separate entities with a restricted

channel of communication between them. Both poets convey

their attitudes through such stylistic elements as diction,

imagery, and structure.

     The diction used in both poems is powerful and appears

to be chosen to attain the particular author's desired

effect, for Wordsworth the effect is of declaring the oneness

of Man, or the boy as a symbol of Man, with nature, whereas

for Frost the effect is of expressing the clear individuality

and separation of Man from nature and Man's regret for it and

desire to communicate with nature. For example, Wordsworth's

'declaration' effect starts from the first line in which he

says "ye knew him well, ye cliffs and islands of Winander!"

By using the term 'ye' to address geographical structures of

appreciable size, Wordsworth establishes the poem as a

declaration. On the other hand Frost establishes his poem as

an expression of individuality by starting with "He thought

he kept the universe alone." This statement implies


two things, firstly, that in "his" mind he was alone, and

secondly, that he really was not alone because he only

"thought" he was. This in turn implies, and the next few

lines further this by saying that the only voice he received

back was "a mocking echo of his own," that the other entity

which was also present with him was in such a way separated

from him that it caused him to think he was alone. This

separate entity, nature, is later in the poem said to reply

but only in a distant and limited number of ways. For

example, the author says "nothing ever came of what he cried

unless it was the embodiment that crashed...on the other

side." This response that nature occasionally gives, as

indicated by the word 'unless,' is apparently of no real

consequence in allaying "his" feeling of loneliness because

it is "on the other side" and "embodiments" crashing "on the

other side" are quite ineffective as a means of communicating

with Man. Another means of communication which the author

deems as ineffective is the "far-distant" splash of water. It

is notable that the effect of this word in creating a means

of communication even further stretched over a distance is

more profound because it is a word consisting of 'far' and

'distant,' both having a meaning of 'separated by a great

length' and this causes a 'doubling' effect in the combined

word and to the reader the separation length appears even

larger. In contrast, the diction of the first poem suggests

the closeness of Man with nature by weaving Man and nature so

much together that the voice of nature "enters unawares" into

the boy's mind and the boy's mind blends even with the image

of the "bosom" of the lake. In summary, the diction of the

first poem suggests that communication between Man and nature

is so flowing that it is harmonious, i.e. the boy hoots and

the owls shout back and the sounds of nature flow "unawares"

into the boy's heart and mind, and this is the cause of unity

between Man and nature. On the other hand, the diction of the

second poem suggests Frost wants the reader to believe that

communication Man and nature is restricted because of the

different languages both speak, i.e. one "cries out" and the

other "crashes" and "splashes," and by the distance between

the two and because of this restriction in communication both

cannot become one, they will always remain distinct and

separate.

     The imagery in both poems is quite different. In the

first poem the images drawn are quite concrete, connected and

flowing, whereas the imagery in "The Most of It" is quite

abstract and appears to carry more connotations

metaphorically than literally. For example, the images in the

first poem such as "fingers interwoven" and "hands pressed

closely palm to palm" suggest blending and immediate

closeness, and even though they are not used in relation to

the relationship between Man and nature explored in the poem,

they are important in establishing the idea of oneness and

blending. It is also notable that almost every image in

Wordsworth's poem is somehow connected to another image, i.e.

"the earliest stars" "move along the edges of the hills" and

all the scenes of nature that enter into the boy's mind are

also being received into the "bosom of the steady lake." The

way in which Wordsworth so beautifully causes the mind of the

boy to become into a "steady lake" and unifies Man and nature

is an example of the flowing imagery which also suggests

unity. In fact the imagery is so flowing that even the boy

who "stands alone" stands alone "beneath the trees, or by the

glimmering lake." On the other hand, the movement of the

imagery in the second poem appears to suggest the

distinctness of Man and nature as opposed to their unity. In

contrast to the first, it is interesting to note that there

is not even one occasion in the second poem where Man meets.

let alone blends with, nature. Instead, most of the poem

consists of abstract images of Man calling out to nature and

receiving no comprehensible reply and nature replying to Man

using methods incomprehensible to Him. For example, the

crashing of waves and the splashing of water are two ways in

which nature replies. The poem suggests that these replies

are of no meaning to Man and furthermore, the abstract images

drawn by the author, e.g. "the embodiment crashed" or "far-

distant water splashed," also suggest the ambiguity that

nature's responses are shrouded in and become, as a result,

incomprehensible to the human mind. Frost also appears to

suggest the lack of meaning that humans feel nature's

responses have by presenting a number of images which are not

deep in meaning, at least not to the human mind, such as

a great buck "powerfully appeared," "landed," "stumbled," and

"forced." These images are images of actions which have

little or no meaning in them and thus are poor as

communications.  Furthermore, the poet himself substantiates

the lack of meaning in the images by concluding the poem with

the statement "and that was all." The second poem then,

through its abstract and 'broken-up' imagery suggests the

distinctness of nature and Man whereas the flow of imagery in

the first poem suggests their unity.

     The structure and syntax of both poems are also

extremely suggestive of their attitudes towards nature and

towards the solitary individual. The first poem is structured

so that it appears as one large body, always connected by

connective punctuation such as semicolons, colons, commas,

and hyphens where there are periods. This structure in itself

suggests unity. Secondly, "There was a Boy" is written in the

past tense, and by the end of the poem one realizes that this

is so because it appears that the boy, symbolic of Man, is

completely absorbed and blended in with nature and is thus no

longer a distinguishable individual but part of the blended

union of boy and nature. In comparison, "The Most of It" has

a structure which separates the man from nature, i.e. each

line of the poem is connected to another by way of a rhyme

scheme but no line with a communication from nature and thus

of the man is connected directly the man and nature remain

separated. It is also notable that this poem is written in

the past tense as well, but it appears that the reason is

different. The poet, by writing the poem in the past tense,

attains the effect of deeming this separation between Man and

nature as final and forever, something which already happened

and as the phrase "that was all" suggests, nothing else

occurred afterwards to change that.

     Finally, it should be said that Wordsworth presents the

view in his poem that Man and nature are in union with one

another whereas Frost suggests that Man and nature can and

will never be in harmonious unity because of the serious lack

of effective communication between the two. The poets suggest

their attitudes by using writing techniques such as diction

and imagery.
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