Question

Both poets present the grasshopper as a significant figure of nature. Write an essay where you present an argument as to

why the poets choose to sing the praises of the simple grasshopper. Use evidence from both poems to support your
argument. In your response be sure to:
• Introduce your claim.
• Support your claim with logical reasoning and relevant evidence, including facts and details, from the passages.
• Acknowledge and address alternate or opposing claims.
Organize the reasons and evidence logically.
• Identify the passages by title or number when using details or facts directly from the passages.
Develop your ideas clearly and use your own words, except when quoting directly from the passages.
• Use appropriate and varied transitions to connect your ideas and to clarify the relationships among claims, counterclaims,
reasons, and evidence.
Use clear language and vocabulary.
Establish and maintain a formal style.
.
.
.
.
Provide a conclusion that supports the argument presented.
Check your work for correct usage, grammar, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.

Answer 1

‘On the Grasshopper and the Cricket’ is a fourteen lines Petrarchan sonnet with a line scheme of abba abba. It is written in iambic pentameter and can be divided into an octet and a sestet. The first half of the octet deals with the imageries of summer while the second half deals with the grasshopper. The first half of the sestet deals with the winter and the second half deals with the cricket.

The theme of the poem is that no one is ever alone in the world, there is always a living force working in the nature. The poet uses contradictory tones in “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket”; the ‘wrought in silence’ creates a gloomy and drowsy atmosphere which is in stark contrast with the summer.

As said earlier, Keats belonged to the Romantic age and these romantic poets were escapists; they escaped into the world of imagination and fancy from the world of reality, pain and suffering. In this particular poem, we find Keats asking his readers to concentrate on the music of the tiny insects which can bring some relief to the earth during extreme conditions with the sweet music they create.

The message of the poem is that life goes on in spite of the extreme weather conditions and there is always someone to create some music and joy which brings us respite and allows us to continue with our life in spite of extreme situations.