Language And Literature Essay

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, â€Å"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 personal experience and response to an encounter with a waterfowl. The poem demonstrates a narrative, which illustrates a crane’s flight and its struggle to escape the hunter and its demise, which results in the individual establishing an internal reflection, which ultimately reveals the morality that William Bryant wanted to convey. The didactic poem creates a natural scene in order to derive a moral lesson from it, which I believe, very romantically, that no matter how circumstances present themselves in life, you will be directed by the providence of God, or a higher â€Å"Power†. Though fundamentally, Cranes and To a Waterfowl both discuss and explore experiences relating to cranes, they possess different purposes, which essentially results in them possessing different target audiences as well. To a Waterfowl’s main purpose is to communicate the central moral teaching regarding God’s benevolent providence. The waterfowl acts as an allegory to express this theme within the poem. Referring to the poem allegorically, the waterfowl may represent human struggles that we face throughout life, while the bird’s adversary, the hunter, represents the pursuing threats that we constantly face in life. I believe that the poem is targeted towards a more mature audience due to its thematic complexity and seriousness. In contrast to this, Cranes’ purpose is to inform and educate the readers on the â€Å"modern techniques† pioneered by â€Å"Operation Migration†, and their mission to help â€Å"endangered birds learn their traditional migratory routes.† Therefore, I believe that this National Geographic article’s intended audience are individuals who are interested or concerned about the preservation of endangered animals, and in this example, specifically cranes. A significant difference between the two texts exists in their structures. Cranes is presented as an article, and demonstrates many of the format’s characteristics. Visually, it possesses two images, in order to compliment the text and attract the reader’s attention to the article, and is structured in paragraphs. In terms of context and language, the article demonstrates numerous examples of factual information, supported by evidence, rather then expressing opinionated points. For example, referencing â€Å"crane biologist Richard Urbanek†. In contrast to this, To a Waterfowl illustrates numerous examples of standard characteristics of a poem. Bryant divides the poem into eight stanzas, each with the same metrical structure and each with the same rhyme pattern. Although both texts are written in different formants and demonstrate different structures, both texts exemplify the use of descriptive imagery in their use of language in order to enhance the description the writers are trying to illustrate. For example, in the poem, the writer describes the surroundings by saying, ‘weedy lake’, ‘rocking billows’, and ‘crimson sky’, while in the article Cranes, the first paragraph has examples such as ‘emerald green grass’, ‘snow-white plumage’ and ‘elegant black wing tips that spread like fingers when they fly’. Furthermore, in contrast to the article, the poem utilizes allusions towards the Bible, by mentioning heaven, and utilizing biblical language such as â€Å"thou art gone†. Conclusively, both texts, Cranes by Jennifer Ackerman, and To a Waterfowl by William Cullen Bryant demonstrate numerous contrasts in their use of language, purpose, audience and stylistic features, however, both are similar in their aim to communicate the significance of crane migrations, scientifically, and emotionally.