Structuring a comparative essay
Packing your analysis of two poems into one essay involves planning. There are different ways you could approach writing a comparative essay. These are some points to think about:
- use the introduction to explain which poems you are writing about
- try to balance out the detail you include for each poem
- compare the poems throughout the essay
- comment on content, themes, ideas and attitudes as well as form, structure and language
- sum up your thoughts on ways in which the poems are similar and different in your conclusion
Example question
Compare the two poems about family relationships; Walking Away by Cecil Day Lewis and Eden Rock by Charles Causley. Where do they share similarities and differences?
Which of the two essay structures works better when responding to the example essay question?
Structure A
| Introduction | How both talk about family relationships between parents and children |
| Paragraph 1 | How Walking Away deals with family relationships - themes and form, structure and language |
| Paragraph 2 | How Eden Rock deals with family relationships - themes and form, structure and language |
| Paragraph 3 | Ways in which they are similar |
| Paragraph 4 | Ways in which they are different |
| Conclusion | Sum up comparison |
| Introduction |
|---|
| How both talk about family relationships between parents and children |
| Paragraph 1 |
|---|
| How Walking Away deals with family relationships - themes and form, structure and language |
| Paragraph 2 |
|---|
| How Eden Rock deals with family relationships - themes and form, structure and language |
| Paragraph 3 |
|---|
| Ways in which they are similar |
| Paragraph 4 |
|---|
| Ways in which they are different |
| Conclusion |
|---|
| Sum up comparison |
Structure B
| Introduction | How both talk about family relationships between parents and children |
| Paragraph 1 | How the themes and ideas of Walking Away and Eden Rock are similar and different |
| Paragraph 2 | How the form and structure of Walking Away and Eden Rock compare and how this links to their effect |
| Paragraph 3 | How the language of Walking Away and Eden Rock compare and how this links to their effect |
| Conclusion | Sum up comparison |
| Introduction |
|---|
| How both talk about family relationships between parents and children |
| Paragraph 1 |
|---|
| How the themes and ideas of Walking Away and Eden Rock are similar and different |
| Paragraph 2 |
|---|
| How the form and structure of Walking Away and Eden Rock compare and how this links to their effect |
| Paragraph 3 |
|---|
| How the language of Walking Away and Eden Rock compare and how this links to their effect |
| Conclusion |
|---|
| Sum up comparison |
Feedback
Either of the examples above could produce a good essay as they both explore each poem and compare their similarities and differences. However in structure B, the comparison takes place throughout the whole essay and avoids looking at the poems separately. This is a better model to use and one which can be applied to comparisons of other poems.