The student began the poem with a description of the stem’s color which is placed in bold relief to the bright sun light. The poem then moves the reader up to the head of the flower along the tapering stem. The use of contrasting words “decreasing, as it rises” and “reaching towards the sky, it wilts down” gives a clear and strong image of the delicate stem trying to support a heavy head.

The student used a variety of poetic devices to create an image of a sunflower such as: personification; visual imagery; and line breaks. The descriptive language used in the poem creates a sensory image of the sunflower and its surroundings. For example:

This work sample illustrates a standard-setting performance for the following part of the standards: b Literature: Produce work in at least one literary genre that follows the conventions of the genre.

“rocky concrete” conveys not only coldness but also implies danger;
“noon sun” communicates not only warmth but also;
in conjunction with “glittering sunlight,” suggests a severe and unrelenting brightness.

The use of these techniques suggest an understanding of and familiarity with poetic language.

There is a repeated error of punctuation (“it’s” instead of “its”). However, this does not detract from the overall quality of the work.