2012 FRQ #1

Post date: Jan 21, 2014 3:32:12 AM

(Suggested time—40 minutes. This question counts as one-third of the total essay section score.)

In the following poem by Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586), the speaker addresses the subject of desire. Read the poem carefully. Then write a well-developed essay in which you analyze how poetic devices help to convey the speaker’s complex attitude toward desire.

                                Thou Blind Man’s Mark

        Thou blind man’s mark , (1) thou fool’s self-chosen snare,

        Fond fancy’s scum, and dregs of scattered thought;

        Band of all evils, cradle of causeless care;

        Thou web of will, whose end is never wrought;

5      Desire, desire! I have too dearly bought,

        With price of mangled mind, thy worthless ware;

        Too long, too long, asleep thou hast me brought,

        Who should my mind to higher things prepare.

        But yet in vain thou hast my ruin sought;

10    In vain thou madest me to vain things aspire;

        In vain thou kindlest all thy smoky fire;

        For virtue hath this better lesson taught—

        Within myself to seek my only hire, (2)

        Desiring naught but how to kill desire.

        1 target

        2 reward