The Entry into Jerusalem

Essay Questions

1. How does Longfellow use the story of Bartimeus to construct a broader argument about spiritual blindness in "The Entry into Jerusalem"? Explore how the poem moves from biblical narrative to direct moral address, and consider how this structural shift shapes the reader's experience. (AQA AO1/AO2; IB guiding concept: transformation)

1. To what extent does the framing device of the Syro-Phoenician mother and daughter deepen the poem's themes of inclusion and mercy in "The Entry into Jerusalem"? Consider how the identity of the narrators — as Gentile outsiders — influences the poem's message about who has access to faith and redemption. (AQA AO1/AO2/AO3; AP Lit Q1 poetry analysis)

1. How does Longfellow's use of authentic Greek scriptural phrases function as more than a stylistic choice in "The Entry into Jerusalem"? Analyse how their placement and liturgical resonance contribute to the poem's tone, its thematic concerns with language and communication, and its argument about the relationship between the sacred and the accessible. (AQA AO2; AP Lit Q1 poetry analysis; IB guiding concept: language)

1. "The crowd in 'The Entry into Jerusalem' is as symbolically significant as Bartimeus himself." To what extent do you agree? Examine how Longfellow uses the crowd to explore social conformity, the suppression of authentic need, and the irony of proximity to grace without recognition of it. (AQA AO1/AO2; IB guiding concept: perspective)

1. How does Longfellow balance the competing tones of reverence and urgency across "The Entry into Jerusalem," and what effect does this have on the poem's moral and emotional impact? In your response, consider how the shift from ballad-like storytelling to direct address in the final stanza reframes the reader's relationship to the poem's central challenge. (AQA AO2; AP Lit Q1 poetry analysis)

1. Compare how "The Entry into Jerusalem" and one other poem you have studied use a journey — literal or metaphorical — to explore themes of faith, identity, or redemption. Consider how each poet uses setting, symbol, and narrative progression to provide meaning to the journey. (AQA AO1/AO2/AO3; IB guiding concept: transformation)

1. To what extent does "The Entry into Jerusalem" suggest that mercy and redemption are available to all, regardless of social position or outsider status? Draw on Longfellow's use of the gates of Jericho as symbol, the figure of Bartimeus as social outcast, and the framing narrators as Gentile voices, to construct a sustained argument. (AQA AO1/AO2; AP Lit Q1 poetry analysis; IB guiding concept: identity)

1. *How does the biographical and historical context of Longfellow's Christus: A Mystery illuminate the deeper purposes of "The Entry into Jerusalem"? Consider how writing during a period of religious upheaval in America may have shaped Longfellow's choice to assert, through the ballad form and authentic scripture, that poetry can bridge the emotional with the intellectual and the popular with the sacred. (AQA AO3; IB guiding concept: context)*