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Comparative Essay
ENGLISH A: LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE – HIGHER LEVEL – PAPER 1
Section A
Carlos Roberts

Analyze, compare and contrast the following two texts. Include comments on the similarities and differences between the texts and the significance of context, purpose, audience, and formal and stylistic features.

Cranes by Jennifer Ackerman, and To a Waterfowl by William Cullen Bryant, both aim to enlighten and educate their readers on the behavior and beauty of waterfowl. Text 1, Cranes, an article from National Geographic from 2004, demonstrates how people can help birds discover their migration patterns, while in contrast; Text 2, To a Waterfowl, a poem written in 1815, illustrates how birds can aid people in the search for inspiration. Ultimately both, Cranes and To a Waterfowl focus on these specific birds with the intention of promoting the appreciation and understanding towards nature. This comparative commentary will aim to identify and investigate the similarities and differences between the two texts, through the analysis of the significance of the context, audience, purpose, and formal and stylistic features.

Cranes, a journalistic article established for National Geographic, explores the habitation of a community of cranes. The article discusses the operations of the new crane reserve, where the endangered species are monitored during their growth in a simulation of a natural environment, where humans in crane costumes examine their development. The article further demonstrates its journalistic characteristics when it quotes crane biologist Richard Urbanek, who explains, “these chicks have been raised in captivity but have never heard a human voice nor seen a human form, except in crane costume.” Fundamentally, the article demonstrates the experimental program to reintroduce a wild migratory population of whooping cranes to the eastern half of North America, and the process involved in reaching their goal. In contrast, To a Waterfowl explores the narrator’s

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