Sample Essay

Insight Text Guides take students into the deeper layers of meaning in a range of popular novels, plays, films, short-story collections and nonfiction texts. They are designed to develop detailed knowledge, in-depth understanding and genuine insight into each text. The guides are written by practising English teachers, professional writers, reviewers and academics who are experts in their fields. Each guide presents a clear, comprehensive and accessible analysis. There are over 150 titles in the Insight Text Guides series and new titles are published every year. EACH TITLE FEATURES:

• An overview of the text for quick reference, including notes on the author’s life and work, a plot synopsis, a character map and brief character summaries
• Discussion of the historical, cultural and social contexts relevant to the text
• Close analysis of each chapter/scene/story/poem, with questions
• Detailed analysis of characters, themes and ideas
• Discussion of different responses to and interpretations of the text
• Guidelines on successful essay writing
• Essay topics, a sample analysis of a topic and a sample essay on the text.

The Insight Text Guide William Wordsworth’s Selected Poems refers mainly to the versions of the poems included in Penguin’s Selected Poems (2004). The following poems are analysed in detail:

‘A slumber did my spirit seal’ ‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge’ ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’ (also known as ‘Daffodils’; the Appendix includes the version analysed in this guide) ‘It is a beauteous Evening’ ‘Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey’ (usually known simply as ‘Tintern Abbey’) ‘Lines Written in Early Spring’ ‘Lucy Gray’ ‘Michael’ ‘My heart leaps up’ ‘Nutting’ ‘Ode: Intimations of Immortality’ ‘Resolution and Independence’ ‘Strange fits of passion I have known’ (the Appendix includes the version analysed in the guide) The Prelude ‘The Ruined Cottage’ ‘The Solitary Reaper’ ‘We Are Seven’ ‘Yew-Trees’ ‘Steamboats, Viaducts, and Railways’ (included in the Appendix)