ESSAY 1 PROMPT
“Columbus: Hero or Criminal?” Read the 2 poems below. Compare and contrast the tone and themes of each
poem and respond to the following: Whose point of view does each poem reflect and what is the message they
each convey? Explain the literary elements of the poems help convey the message. Use evidence from the poems
and/or the additional readings to support analysis. Do you agree with one or more than the other? Do you believe
Columbus is a criminal or a hero?

“Columbus”
by Annette Wynne
An Italian boy that like to play
In Genoa about the ships all day,
With curly head and dark, dark eyes,
That gazed at earth in child surprise;
And dreamed of distant stranger skies.
He watched the ships that came crowding in With
cargo of
riches; he loved the din
Of the glad rush out and the spreading sails And
the echo of
far-off windy gales.
He studied the books of the olden day;
He studied but knew far more than they;
He talked to the learned men of the school — So
wise he was
they thought him a fool,
A fool with the dark, dark dreamful eyes,
A child he was — grown wonder-wise.
Youth and dreams are over, past
And out, far out he is sailing fast
Toward the seas he dreamed; — strange lands
arise — The
world is made rich by his great emprise –
And the wisest know he was more than wise.
Columbus Day
by Jimmy Durham
In school I was taught the names
Columbus, Cortez, and Pizarro and
A dozen other filthy murderers.
A bloodline all the way to General Miles,
Daniel Boone and General Eisenhower.
No one mentioned the names
Of even a few of the victims.
But don’t you remember Chaske, whose spine
Was crushed so quickly by Mr. Pizarro’s boot?
What words did he cry into the dust?
What was the familiar name
Of that young girl who danced so gracefully
That everyone in the village sang with her–
Before Cortez’ sword hacked off her arms
As she protested the burning of her sweetheart?
That young man’s name was Many Deeds,
And he had been a leader of a band of fighters
Called the Redstick Hummingbirds, who slowed
The march of Cortez’ army with only a few
Spears and stones which now lay still
In the mountains and remember.
Greenrock Woman was the name
Of that old lady who walked right up
And spat in Columbus’ face. We
Must remember that, and remember
Laughing Otter the Taino who tried to stop
Columbus and was taken away as a slave.
We never saw him again.
In school I learned of heroic discoveries
Made by liars and crooks. The courage
Of millions of sweet and true people
Was not commemorated.
Let us then declare a holiday
For ourselves, and make a parade that begins
With Columbus’ victims and continues
Even to our grandchildren who will be named
In their honor.
Because isn’t it true that even the summer
Grass here in this land whispers those names,
And every creek has accepted the responsibility
Of singing those names? And nothing can stop
The wind from howling those names around
The corners of the school.
Why else would the birds sing
So much sweeter here than in other lands?