Aim for FiveEnglish Literature

Poetry analysis

Rossetti's "Up-Hill": a journey in questions and answers

  • Unit 8
  • 6 points
  • About 40 minutes

You read one poem and write an essay analyzing how the poet uses literary elements and techniques to develop a complex idea the prompt names. You need a defensible thesis, specific evidence from the poem, and commentary explaining how it supports your reading. On the exam: Free-response question 1 of 3 in Section II (3 essays in 2 hours, 55% of the exam score); about 40 minutes suggested; 6 points: thesis 1, evidence and commentary 4, sophistication 1.

The question and its sources

Suggested time: 40 minutes, including reading and planning. Read the poem, plan, then write your essay in the box. The poem's lines are numbered so you can point to them, for example (lines 3–4). Words you may not know: wayfarers (travelers on foot), yea (yes).

Up-Hill

Does the road wind up-hill all the way?
Yes, to the very end.
Will the day's journey take the whole long day?
From morn to night, my friend.
Line 5
But is there for the night a resting-place?
A roof for when the slow dark hours begin.
May not the darkness hide it from my face?
You cannot miss that inn.
Shall I meet other wayfarers at night?
Line 10
Those who have gone before.
Then must I knock, or call when just in sight?
They will not keep you standing at that door.
Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?
Of labour you shall find the sum.
Line 15
Will there be beds for me and all who seek?
Yea, beds for all who come.

Source: Christina Rossetti, "Up-Hill," from Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862). Public domain.

Suggested time: 40 minutes

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The essay

6 points

In the following poem by Christina Rossetti, first published in 1861, one voice asks questions about a journey and another voice answers them. Read the poem carefully. Then write a well-organized essay that analyzes how Rossetti uses literary elements and techniques to convey a complex view of the journey the poem describes. In your essay: • State a thesis that answers the prompt with a defensible interpretation. • Choose evidence from the poem that supports your line of reasoning. • Explain how that evidence supports your line of reasoning. • Use grammar and punctuation that make your argument clear.

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