The Age of Romanticism
Unit Objectives
Students will learn how art reflects the same ideas of romantic poetry. Students will demonstrate
their learning by creating a writing journal. (CC.11-12.W.4, CC.11-12.W.2.b, CC.11-12.W.3.e,
CC.11-12.W.4, CC.11-12.L.1, CC.11-12.L.3.a)
Students will learn how historical events, such as the industrial revolution, shaped the literature
of the time period by answering challenging discussion questions. (CC.11-12.R.L.7, CC.1112.W.2, CC.11-12.W.4)
Students will learn how the Enlightenment motivated themes and concepts of romantic artists.
(CC.11-12.R.L.2)
Students will learn and recognize major themes and ideas presented in romantic poetry
including innocence, beauty, nature, melancholy, interest in the self and common man, and the
importance of dreams and imagination. (CC.11-12.R.L.7)
Students will analyze and be able to recognize the meaning of words and various literary
convention of romantic poetry including alliteration, simile, metaphor and personification and
discuss how these techniques help establish the poet’s objective of the poem. (CC.11-12.R.L.4,
CC.11-12.R.I.4, CC.11-12.L.3)
Students will be able to recognize the meaning of words by analyzing the context in which it is
used. (CC.11-12.R.L.4, CC.11-12.R.I.4, CC.11-12.L.3, CC.11-12.L.4, CC.11-12.L.4.d, CC.1112.L.5, CC.11-12.L.5.a)
Students will be able to answer complex discussion questions using textual evidence from
poems and supplemental material. (CC.11-12.R.L.1, CC.11-12.R.I.5, CC.11-12.L.4, CC.1112.L.4.d, CC.11-12.L.5, CC.11-12.L.5.a)
Students will be able to defend claims orally in a class discussion. (CC.11-12.SL.1, CC.1112.SL.1.b, CC.11-12.SL.1.d, CC.11-12.SL.2, CC.11-12.SL.4, CC.11-12.SL.5)
Students will be able to compare and contrast multiple pieces of literature and utilize non-fiction
criticism to help support their ideas and claims. (CC.11-12.R.I.6, CC.11-12.W.1.a)
Students will improve their collaboration skills by participating in group discussions and
completing daily group activities. (CC.11-12.SL.1, CC.11-12.SL.1.b, CC.11-12.SL.1.d, CC.1112.SL.2, CC.11-12.SL.4, CC.11-12.SL.5)
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Students will improve their presentation skills by preparing and delivering daily presentations to
their peers (CC.11-12.SL.1, CC.11-12.SL.1.b CC.11-12.SL.1.d, CC.11-12.SL.2, CC.11-12.SL.4,
CC.11-12.SL.5)
Students will be able to “cold read” a romantic poem and compose a five paragraph essay, with
a thesis, identifying major themes and components of romanticism. (CC.11-12.W.2, CC.1112.W.2.a, CC.11-12.W.2.b, CC.11-12.W.3.e, CC.11-12.W.4, CC.11-12.L.1, CC.11-12.L.4,
CC.11-12.L.4.d, CC.11-12.L.5, CC.11-12.L.5.a)
Essential Questions
How does science shape our everyday lives, culture, and environment?
What rights of passage do we go through as individuals?
How was the Romantic Movement reactionary?
What is nature’s role in the way we shape our own human experience?
In what ways does a romantic view of the world evoke sadness or melancholy?
What is the role of imagination in the way romantics shape their worldview?
In what way is the individual celebrated during this period?
How did romantic poets shape the poetic genre for the next generation of poets?
What is my worldview: Romantic or Enlightened?
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Standards
Reading
Reading Literature
CC.11-12.R.L.1 Key Ideas and Details: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the
text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters
uncertain.
CC.11-12.R.L.2 Key Ideas and Details: Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and
analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one
another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
CC.11-12.R.L.4 Craft and Structure: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in
the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on
meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh,
engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
CC.11-12.R.L.7 Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama,
or poem (e.g., recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each
version interprets the source text. (Include at least one play by Shakespeare and one play by an
American dramatist.)
Reading Informational
CC.11-12.R.I.5 Craft and Structure: Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the structure an author
uses in his or her exposition or argument, including whether the structure makes points clear, convincing,
and engaging.
CC.11-12.R.I.4 Craft and Structure: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a
text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze how an author uses and refines
the meaning of a key term or terms over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in
Federalist No. 10).
CC.11-12.R.I.6 Craft and Structure: Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text in which the
rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness,
or beauty of the text.
Writing
CC.11-12.W.1 Text Types and Purposes: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of
substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
CC.11-12.W.1.a Text Types and Purposes: Introduce precise, knowledgeable claim(s), establish the
significance of the claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an
organization that logically sequences claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.
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CC.11-12.W.1.c Text Types and Purposes: Use words, phrases, and clauses as well as varied syntax to
link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships between claim(s) and
reasons, between reasons and evidence, and between claim(s) and counterclaims.
CC.11-12.W.2 Text Types and Purposes: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey
complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection,
organization, and analysis of content.
CC.11-12.W.2.a Text Types and Purposes: Introduce a topic; organize complex ideas, concepts, and
information so that each new element builds on that which precedes it to create a unified whole; include
formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., figures, tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding
comprehension.
CC.11-12.W.2.b Text Types and Purposes: Develop the topic thoroughly by selecting the most
significant and relevant facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and
examples appropriate to the audience’s knowledge of the topic.
CC.11-12.W.3.d Text Types and Purposes: Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory
language to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting, and/or characters.
CC.11-12.W.3.e Text Types and Purposes: Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on what is
experienced, observed, or resolved over the course of the narrative.
CC.11-12.W.4 Production and Distribution of Writing: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the
development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific
expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)
CC.11-12.W.10 Range of Writing: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research,
reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks,
purposes, and audiences.
Speaking & Listening
CC.11-12.SL.1 Comprehension and Collaboration: Initiate and participate effectively in a range of
collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11–
12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
CC.11-12.SL.1.b Comprehension and Collaboration: Work with peers to promote civil, democratic
discussions and decision-making, set clear goals and deadlines, and establish individual roles as
needed.
CC.11-12.SL.1.c Comprehension and Collaboration: Propel conversations by posing and responding to
questions that probe reasoning and evidence; ensure a hearing for a full range of positions on a topic or
issue; clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions; and promote divergent and creative
perspectives.
CC.11-12.SL.1.d Comprehension and Collaboration: Respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives;
synthesize comments, claims, and evidence made on all sides of an issue; resolve contradictions when
possible; and determine what additional information or research is required to deepen the investigation
or complete the task.
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CC.11-12.SL.2 Comprehension and Collaboration: Integrate multiple sources of information presented in
diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) in order to make informed decisions and
solve problems, evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source and noting any discrepancies
among the data.
CC.11-12.SL.4 Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas: Present information, findings, and supporting
evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective, such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning,
alternative or opposing perspectives are addressed, and the organization, development, substance, and
style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and a range or formal and informal tasks.
CC.11-12.SL.5 Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas: Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual,
graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings,
reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.
Language
CC.11-12.L.1 Conventions of Standard English: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard
English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
CC.11-12.L.3 Knowledge of Language: Apply knowledge of language to understand how language
functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more
fully when reading or listening.
CC.11-12.L.3.a Knowledge of Language: Vary syntax for effect, consulting references (e.g., Tufte’s Artful
Sentences) for guidance as needed; apply an understanding of syntax to the study of complex texts
when reading.
CC.11-12.L.4 Vocabulary Acquisition and Use: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and
multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grades 11–12 reading and content, choosing flexibly from
a range of strategies.
CC.11-12.L.4.d Vocabulary Acquisition and Use: Verify the preliminary determination of the meaning of a
word or phrase (e.g., by checking the inferred meaning in context or in a dictionary).
CC.11-12.L.5 Vocabulary Acquisition and Use: Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word
relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
CC.11-12.L.5.a Vocabulary Acquisition and Use: Interpret figures of speech (e.g., hyperbole, paradox) in
context and analyze their role in the text
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Journal Entry
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
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Day 4
Day 5
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Romanticism
A movement in art and literature in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in revolt against
Enlightened thinkers of previous centuries...The German poet Friedrich Schlegel, who is given
credit for first using the term romantic to describe literature, defined it as "literature depicting
emotional matter in an imaginative form." This is as accurate a general definition as can be
accomplished, although Victor Hugo's phrase "liberalism in literature" is also apt. Imagination,
emotion, and freedom are certainly the focal points of romanticism. Any list of particular
characteristics of the literature of romanticism includes subjectivity and an emphasis on
individualism; spontaneity; freedom from rules; solitary life rather than life in society; the
beliefs that imagination is superior to reason and devotion to beauty; love of and worship of
nature; and fascination with the past, especially the myths and mysticism of the middle ages.
English poets: William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe
Shelley, and John Keats
American poets: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allen Poe, Henry David
Thoreau, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman
Trends of Romanticism
• Reactionary to the Enlightenment. You cannot explain the world through reason,
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science, and rationality. Emotions and feelings must do this to create your
understanding.
Madness
Breaking aesthetic, artistic, and perceptive boundaries of time and space
Struggle of artist to discover or create a higher order in a chaotic universe
Society is not normative, but part of the meaningless world.
Visionary imagination, not simply dream, but often nightmarish.
Fragmentation, incompleteness, and ruin (as modalities which are part of the
phenomemology of human awareness; McFarland says, are the diasparactive
triad—breaking into pieces—are at the very center of life; Hegel says, "In
existence there is a permanent incompleteness which cannot be evaded" (städige
Unganzheit—which cannot be evaded).
Individuality
The innocence of childhood
Romantic ego is confessional (from Rousseau and Montaigne), autobiographical,
portraits of the self
Romantic consciousness: self as measure/problem
Nature as subject matter, as model, guide, and teacher. Often depicted as the sublime,
often, even, frightening.
Idealism, particularly among the younger Romantics, fascination with a world beyond
reality, though selfdom conceived of in a conventional religious sense.
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• Imagination as the means of reaching truth through creativity rather than, or at least
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superior to, rational, logical, ratiocination, subject to development—maturation
and decline.
Increased awareness and sensibility to self and nature
Despair, disillusionment, or dejection—the Romantic equivalent of doubt or loss of
faith in formerly held hopes and belief.
Sadness and Melancholy
Implies "romance," as exotic, new, even strange and fresh experience, adventure.
Played with new poetic structures
Unit Roles
Reader- This student will read text within the group or out loud to the class
Presenter- This student will walk up to the front of the class to report the group’s
finding and/or analysis.
Packet Dispenser/Collector- This student will retrieve the group’s packets at the
beginning of each class and put the packets back at the end of class.
Materials Collector- The gopher for the group. The main responsibility of this student
is to get the dry erase board and put the dry erase board and markers back at the end of
the period.
Artist- This student is responsible for creating the white board presentation based on the
group discussion.
Host- This student is responsible for keeping group members on task and ensuring group
activity is completed in time.
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The World is Too Much With Us
By William Wordsworth
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.—Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.
Sublime
The sublime extends the imagination beyond what can be comprehended. Either through an
image of nature that is so overpowering that we are moved beyond fear, or through a magnitude
that is so great we feel the imagination striving, but failing, to encompass it as a totality.
Edmund Burke placed terror at the heart of the sublime, but a terror that was experienced from
the point of view of a spectator. For Kant the French Revolution could be viewed as sublime.
The terror at viewing an unleashed human freedom which disrupts history and breaks with the
order of time is only sublime from the position of detachment and disinterest, giving us an idea
of historical decisions beyond personal calculation.
The sublime is the feeling of that which exceeds cognition, representation and understanding.
When theorists of the sublime looked back at the past to find examples (such as Ossian), there
was often a sense that the sublime was the representation of a spontaneity that had been lost in
an enlightenment world of calculation and disenchantment. In reading the past we feel a world
not yet subjected to the rigors of the intellect. Nature was once viewed as art, not subjected to
judgment or usefulness. There was a childlike or unselfconscious feature of ancient poetry that
allowed those poets to experience the world in its mythic newness, without already formed
concepts and cognitions.
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Analysis/Discussion/Activities
1) According to Wordsworth, what are we “out of tune” with?
2) Wordsworth says we “get” and “spend” but little in nature is “Ours.” What do you think he
means by this?
3) What do you think is meant by “sleeping flowers?”
4) What no longer “moves us”?
5) In lines 9-10, who does the speaker say he would rather be? What sights and sounds would
he experience then? Why would these sights and sounds make him “less forlorn”?
6) What do you think are the “glimpses” that would make the poet less forlorn?
7) In your opinion, how can one experience terror and yet be detached from terror at the same
time? If possible, list a similar experience you have felt in your life.
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8) Do you think the sublime can be seen in serene nature? (with no terror attached)
9) Has science and intellect ruined the beauty of nature in your opinion? Explain.
10) Reflect on your relationship with nature. How has it changed since you were a little child?
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Discussion
The concept and definition of the sublime is a key doctrine of romantic poetry. Read the
philosophical excerpt of the sublime by Arthur Schopenhauer and complete the following
activity in your group.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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Feeling of Beauty – Light is reflected off a flower. (Pleasure from a mere perception of
an object that cannot hurt observer).
Weakest Feeling of Sublime – Light reflected off stones. (Pleasure from beholding
objects that pose no threat, yet themselves are devoid of life).
Weaker Feeling of Sublime – Endless desert with no movement. (Pleasure from seeing
objects that could not sustain the life of the observer).
Sublime – Turbulent Nature. (Pleasure from perceiving objects that threaten to hurt or
destroy observer).
Full Feeling of Sublime – Overpowering turbulent Nature. (Pleasure from beholding
very violent, destructive objects).
Fullest Feeling of Sublime – Immensity of Universe's extent or duration. (Pleasure from
knowledge of observer's nothingness and oneness with Nature).
Activity
Using the white board, draw a line down the middle of the board and on one side list five
elements of nature or experiences in nature that can be considered sublime, and on the other side
list examples of ways in which humans take away, or ruin, the sublimity of your example.
*Challenge: when listing your sublime examples, try ranking them from lesser to greater as
Schopenhauer does.
Select only three examples to present to the class.
Once complete begin filling out the peer rubric and answer the closing thought prompts for the
day.
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Kubla Khan
By Samuel Taylor Coleridge
IN Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills
Where blossom'd many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves;
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!
A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she play'd,
Singing of Mount Abora.
But O, that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Could I revive within me,
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
Her symphony and song,
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
To such a deep delight 'twould win me,
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
That with music loud and long,
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
I would build that dome in air,
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing, And all who heard should see them there,
A mighty fountain momently was forced;
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Weave a circle round him thrice,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail:
And close your eyes with holy dread,
And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
It flung up momently the sacred river.
And drunk the milk of Paradise.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reach'd the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!
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Analysis/Discussion/Activity
1) Using three rich, descriptive words, how would you describe this place?
2) In your opinion, why is this place important to the speaker?
3) In what sense might this poem be said to delve into what we would now call "the
unconscious"?
4) Identify a passage of figurative language: a metaphor, simile, or use of some other figurative
device. Analyze its relationship to the poem as a whole.
5) Contrast the pleasant side of the earthly paradise to its demonic side. ie. “Sunny pleasure
domes with caves of ice.”
6) What do the last 7 lines of the poem suggest would occur to the speaker if he “could build
that dome in air"? How would listeners react if they heard the speaker?
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7) In the second part of Kubla Khan, the Pleasure Dome is described differently than in the first
part. How is it described in the second part and in what way is it different?
8) What point do you think Coleridge is making with his contrasting descriptions of the Pleasure
Dome?
9) The speaker of the poem finally emerges in part three of the poem. What vision did he once
have? What would the speaker do if he could revive his vision?
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Discussion/ Activity
On the next page of your packet, have one student in the group read “The Dream of the
Butterfly” and complete the following activity.
With what you know about the way Kubla Kahn was written, brainstorm with your group how
the poem connects to The Dream of the Butterfly. In other words, what are similar ideas or
concepts present in both poems? On your group’s whiteboard, present your information to the
class. You could draw a visual, use bullet points, write a thesis sentence, anything you want.
Once complete begin filling out the peer rubric and answer the closing thought prompts for the
day.
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The Dream of the Butterfly
It was a cool evening in ancient China. Chuang Tzu's friend went looking for him at the local
inn. He found Chuang Tzu sitting at a table, sipping his drink in a contemplative mood."There
you are!" Chuang Tzu's friend greeted him. "I thought by now you would be telling everybody
another one of your stories. Why so quiet?"
"There is a question on my mind," said Chuang Tzu, "a question about existence."
"I see. Would you like me to leave you alone to your thoughts?"
"No, let me share it with you. Perhaps you can provide me with your perspective."
"My perspective is of little value, but I would be glad to listen." He pulled up a chair.
"I was out for a stroll late in the afternoon," said Chuang Tzu. "I went to one of my favorite
spots under a tree. I sat there, thinking about the meaning of life. It was so warm and pleasant
that I soon relaxed, dozed off, and drifted into a dream. In my dream, I found myself flying up
above the field. I looked behind me and saw that I had wings. They were large and beautiful,
and they fluttered rapidly. I had turned into a butterfly! It was such a feeling of freedom and joy,
to be so carefree and fly around so lightly in any way I wished. Everything in this dream felt
absolutely real in every way. Before long, I forgot that I was ever Chuang Tzu. I was simply the
butterfly and nothing else."
"I've had dreams of flying myself, but never as a butterly," Chuang Tzu's friend said. "This
dream sounds like a wonderful experience."
"It was, but like all things, it had to end sooner or later. Gradually, I woke up and realized that I
was Chuang Tzu after all. This is what puzzles me."
"What is so puzzling about it? You had a nice dream, that's all there is to it."
"What if I am dreaming right now? This conversation I am having with you seems real in every
way, but so did my dream. I thought I was Chuang Tzu who had a dream of being a butterfly.
What if I am a butterfly who, at this very moment, is dreaming of being Chuang Tzu?"
"Well, I can tell you that you are actually Chuang Tzu, not a butterfly."
Chuang Tzu smiled: "You may simply be part of my dream, no more or less real than anything
else. Thus, there is nothing you can do to help me identify the distinction between Chuang Tzu
and the butterfly. This, my friend, is the essential question about the transformation of
existence."
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Frost at Midnight
By Samuel Taylor Coleridge
The Frost performs its secret ministry,
Unhelped by any wind. The owlet's cry
Came loud—and hark, again! loud as before.
The inmates of my cottage, all at rest,
Have left me to that solitude, which suits
Abstruser musings: save that at my side
My cradled infant slumbers peacefully.
'Tis calm indeed! so calm, that it disturbs
And vexes meditation with its strange
And extreme silentness. Sea, hill, and wood,
This populous village! Sea, and hill, and wood,
With all the numberless goings-on of life,
Inaudible as dreams! the thin blue flame
Lies on my low-burnt fire, and quivers not;
Only that film, which fluttered on the grate,
Still flutters there, the sole unquiet thing.
Methinks, its motion in this hush of nature
Gives it dim sympathies with me who live,
Making it a companionable form,
Whose puny flaps and freaks the idling Spirit
By its own moods interprets, every where
Echo or mirror seeking of itself,
And makes a toy of Thought.
But O! how oft,
How oft, at school, with most believing mind,
Presageful, have I gazed upon the bars,
To watch that fluttering stranger ! and as oft
With unclosed lids, already had I dreamt
Of my sweet birth-place, and the old church-tower,
Whose bells, the poor man's only music, rang
From morn to evening, all the hot Fair-day,
So sweetly, that they stirred and haunted me
With a wild pleasure, falling on mine ear
Most like articulate sounds of things to come!
So gazed I, till the soothing things, I dreamt,
Lulled me to sleep, and sleep prolonged my dreams!
And so I brooded all the following morn,
Awed by the stern preceptor's face, mine eye
Fixed with mock study on my swimming book:
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Save if the door half opened, and I snatched
A hasty glance, and still my heart leaped up,
For still I hoped to see the stranger's face,
Townsman, or aunt, or sister more beloved,
My play-mate when we both were clothed alike!
Dear Babe, that sleepest cradled by my side,
Whose gentle breathings, heard in this deep calm,
Fill up the intersperséd vacancies
And momentary pauses of the thought!
My babe so beautiful! it thrills my heart
With tender gladness, thus to look at thee,
And think that thou shalt learn far other lore,
And in far other scenes! For I was reared
In the great city, pent 'mid cloisters dim,
And saw nought lovely but the sky and stars.
But thou, my babe! shalt wander like a breeze
By lakes and sandy shores, beneath the crags
Of ancient mountain, and beneath the clouds,
Which image in their bulk both lakes and shores
And mountain crags: so shalt thou see and hear
The lovely shapes and sounds intelligible
Of that eternal language, which thy God
Utters, who from eternity doth teach
Himself in all, and all things in himself.
Great universal Teacher! he shall mould
Thy spirit, and by giving make it ask.
Therefore all seasons shall be sweet to thee,
Whether the summer clothe the general earth
With greenness, or the redbreast sit and sing
Betwixt the tufts of snow on the bare branch
Of mossy apple-tree, while the nigh thatch
Smokes in the sun-thaw; whether the eave-drops fall
Heard only in the trances of the blast,
Or if the secret ministry of frost
Shall hang them up in silent icicles,
Quietly shining to the quiet Moon
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Analysis
In the fist stanza, who are the “inmates of his cottage”?
Briefly describe the picture Coleridge creates in the first stanza.
Who/ what is the poet’s companion in the second stanza?
Many of you can relate to what the speaker is saying in stanza three. Any ideas? Identify two
quotes to support your idea.
In stanza four, what “thrills” the speaker’s heart with “tender gladness”?
In stanza four, the speaker identifies two future teachers the child will have. Who are they?
(Who or what will “make it ask”?)
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What is the speaker's hope for his child as that child grows up? How should the child's growing
up differ from the speaker's?
Translate the final lines of the poem and comment on how this might align with Coleridge’s
main theme:
“whether the eave-drops fall
Heard only in the trances of the blast,
Or if the secret ministry of frost
Shall hang them up in silent icicles,
Quietly shining to the quiet Moon”
Translation:
With what you know about romantic poetry, how do the concepts, themes or ideals align with
what you already know?
22
Discussion/Activity
Building off the last question and your journal entry, discuss how each of the poems read thus
far in the unit connect to common themes of romantic poetry. Draw a visual representation of
this connection and share it with the rest of the class. Your drawing should somehow
incorporate all of the themes we have discussed up to this point, if possible.
Be sure to finish your group evaluation and answer the closing thoughts prompt.
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The Lamb
The Tyger
By William Blake
By William Blake
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Gave thee life, & bid thee feed
By the stream & o’er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
Softest clothing, wooly, bright;
In what distant deeps or skies
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?
Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee,
Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee:
He is called by thy name,
For he calls himself a Lamb.
He is meek, & he is mild;
He became a little child.
I a child, & thou a lamb,
We are called by his name.
Little Lamb, God bless thee!
Little Lamb, God bless thee!
And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And water’d heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
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Analysis
The Lamb
1) Describe the speaker of this poem.
2) According to the speaker, who made the lamb?
3) What is “innocent” about this poem?
4) What is the tone of the speaker in this poem?
5) What does the lamb symbolize?
The Tyger
6) Describe the speaker of this poem.
7) According to the speaker, who made the Tyger?
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8) In Stanza two: On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand dare seize the fire? Translate
these lines and identify who “he” is.
9) Why do you think there are so many question marks in both of these poems?
10) Why do you think Blake uses the words “hammer” “chain” “furnace” and “anvil” in Stanza
three?
11) Can you identify the allusion in the final stanza: “When the stars threw down their spears,
And water’d heaven with their tears,”? If so, what is Blake’s intent using this allusion. (an implied
or indirect reference especially in literature; also : the use of such references).
12) What is the significance of the one-word change from the first to last stanza of the poem?
13) Reading both of these poems together, what do you think is the Blake’s main theme or
commentary?
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Discussion/Activity
Discussion: What are some things, experiences, objects, or concepts that you looked
differently on as a child than you do now. In what way has your impression of these things
changed? Better??? Worse???
Draw a line down the middle of your white board. On one side, list 5 aspects of childhood
you enjoyed or feel were innocent. On the other side, list how age and experience has
changed your view of this experience. You will be presenting your examples to the class.
Once complete begin filling out the peer rubric and answer the closing thought prompts for
the day.
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Ode on a Grecian Urn
Why thou art desolate, can e'er return.
By John Keats
O Attic shape! fair attitude! with brede
Of marble men and maidens overwrought,
THOU still unravish'd bride of quietness,
With
forest branches and the trodden weed;
Thou foster-child of Silence and slow Time,
Thou, silent form! dost tease us out of thought
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
As
doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
When
old age shall this generation waste,
What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Of deities or mortals, or of both,
Than
ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
What men or gods are these? What maidens loth? 'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.'
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?
Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal—yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!
Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed
Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;
And, happy melodist, unwearièd,
For ever piping songs for ever new;
More happy love! more happy, happy love!
For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd,
For ever panting, and for ever young;
All breathing human passion far above,
That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd,
A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.
Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?
What little town by river or sea-shore,
Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,
Is emptied of its folk, this pious morn?
And, little town, thy streets for evermore
Will silent be; and not a soul, to tell
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Analysis/Discussion/Activity
1) An urn is an ancient Greek pot with images painted on it. Describe the different images on
the pot. (Stanza 1= image; 2nd and 3rd stanza=image; 4th stanza=image. There are three in all.)
2) In stanza 1, what is stated as the urn’s profession?
3) Why might an "unheard melody" be sweeter than a heard melody (see lines 11-12)?
4) In stanza two, explain why the lovers can never leave each other or ever kiss.
5) Despite this truth, why does the speaker say this is actually a good thing?
6) In stanza three, how does the speaker extend this idea (from the last question) to the trees and
the melodist (the lover who is playing music)?
7) In the fourth stanza, why does this last image make the speaker melancholy?
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8) The last lines of this poem are among the most famous in all of literature: Beauty is truth,
truth beauty-that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. Thoughts????
9) What is it about the past that makes people melancholy?
10) What are the things in your life experience (think about your culture here) that make you
feel how the speaker in this poem feels about the urn?
Activity
In your group, on your white board, draw a line down the center. On one side, identify main
themes or ideals Keats is presenting in this poem. On the other side, list at least three examples
of experiences you have had in life that align with the speaker’s feelings. Hint: Brainstorm some
experiences that made you feel melancholy as you went through the experience. Think about
things you have seen or viewed that brought about these feelings. What was it that triggered this
feeling? The best examples will be that of art or anything that can be seen, viewed, or looked
upon, like an urn with pictures on it.
Once complete begin filling out the peer rubric and answer the closing thought prompts for the
day.
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4.
Final Assessment
Ode to a Nightingale
By John Keats
MY heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:
’Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,
But being too happy in thine happiness,—
That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees,
In some melodious plot
Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,
Singest of summer in full-throated ease.
2.
O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been
Cool’d a long age in the deep-delved earth,
Tasting of Flora and the country green,
Dance, and Provencal song, and sunburnt mirth!
O for a beaker full of the warm South,
Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,
With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,
And purple-stained mouth;
That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,
And with thee fade away into the forest dim:
Away! away! for I will fly to thee,
Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,
But on the viewless wings of Poesy,
Though the dull brain perplexes and retards:
Already with thee! tender is the night,
And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne,
Cluster’d around by all her starry Fays;
But here there is no light,
Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown
Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways.
5.
I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,
Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs,
But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet
Wherewith the seasonable month endows
The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild;
White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine;
Fast fading violets cover’d up in leaves;
And mid-May’s eldest child,
The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine,
The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves.
6.
Darkling I listen; and, for many a time
I have been half in love with easeful Death,
3.
Call’d him soft names in many a mused rhyme,
To take into the air my quiet breath;
Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
What thou among the leaves hast never known,
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
The weariness, the fever, and the fret
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
Here, where men sit and hear each other groan;
In such an ecstasy!
Where palsy shakes a few, sad, last gray hairs,
Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain—
Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies; To thy high requiem become a sod.
Where but to think is to be full of sorrow
And leaden-eyed despairs,
7.
Where Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes,
Or new Love pine at them beyond to-morrow. Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!
No hungry generations tread thee down;
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The voice I hear this passing night was heard
Forlorn! the very word is like a bell
In ancient days by emperor and clown:
To toil me back from thee to my sole self!
Perhaps the self-same song that found a path
Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well
Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home,As she is fam’d to do, deceiving elf.
She stood in tears amid the alien corn;
Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades
The same that oft-times hath
Past the near meadows, over the still stream,
Charm’d magic casements, opening on the foam
Up the hill-side; and now ’tis buried deep
Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.
In the next valley-glades:
Was it a vision, or a waking dream?
8.
Fled is that music:—Do I wake or sleep?
Essay Prompt
In a well written, five paragraph essay, containing a structured thesis, explain ways in
which this poem reflects various doctrines of romantic poetry. Please remember to use
direct quotes to support your explanation.
32
Unit Assessments and Point Distribution
Response Questions
50 points
Group Activities
reflections)
50 points (based on self and group
Journal Entries
30 Points
Self Assessment
20 Points
Peer Assessment
20 Points
Summative Assessment (Essay) 100 points
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Rubric for Response Questions
50 points The response indicates that the student has a thorough
understanding of the reading concept embodied in the task. The student
has provided a response that is accurate, complete, and fulfills all the
requirements of the task. Necessary support and/or examples are
included, and the information is clearly text-based. The response also
provides analysis and commentary to the larger concept of the lesson.
40 points The response indicates that the student has an understanding
of the reading concept embodied in the task. The student has provided a
response that is accurate and fulfills all the requirements of the task, but
the required support and/or details are not complete or clearly textbased and only vaguely connect the response to the larger concept of the
lesson.
30 points The response indicates that the student has a partial
understanding of the reading concept embodied in the task. The student
has provided a response that includes information that is essentially
correct and text-based, but the information is too general or too
simplistic. Some of the support and/or examples and requirements of the
task may be incomplete or omitted and does not connect the response to
the larger concept of the lesson.
20 point The response indicates that the student has very limited
understanding of the reading concept embodied in the task. The
response is incomplete, may exhibit many flaws, and may not address
all requirements of the task. The response does not connect to the larger
concept of the lesson.
10 point The response indicates that the student does not demonstrate
an understanding of the reading concept embodied in the task. The
student has provided a response that is inaccurate; the response has an
insufficient amount of information to determine the student’s
understanding of the task; or the student has failed to respond to the
task.
34
Peer Evaluation Rubric
Rate the performance of the people in your group today: 5= Awesome; 1= Zombie like
Poem Title:
Evaluation Criteria
Group
member:
Group
member:
Group
member:
Group
member:
Group
member:
Group
member:
Works collaboratively
Contributes meaningfully to
group discussions.
Prepares work in a quality
manner.
Demonstrates a cooperative
and supportive attitude.
Contributes significantly to
the success of the project.
TOTALS
Today I learned….
Today I struggled with….
35
Peer Evaluation Rubric
Rate the performance of the people in your group today: 5= Awesome; 1= Zombie like
Poem Title:
Evaluation Criteria
Group
member:
Group
member:
Group
member:
Group
member:
Group
member:
Group
member:
Works collaboratively
Contributes meaningfully to
group discussions.
Prepares work in a quality
manner.
Demonstrates a cooperative
and supportive attitude.
Contributes significantly to
the success of the project.
TOTALS
Today I learned….
Today I struggled with….
36
Peer Evaluation Rubric
Rate the performance of the people in your group today: 5= Awesome; 1= Zombie like
Poem Title:
Evaluation Criteria
Group
member:
Group
member:
Group
member:
Group
member:
Group
member:
Group
member:
Works collaboratively
Contributes meaningfully to
group discussions.
Prepares work in a quality
manner.
Demonstrates a cooperative
and supportive attitude.
Contributes significantly to
the success of the project.
TOTALS
Today I learned….
Today I struggled with….
37
Peer Evaluation Rubric
Rate the performance of the people in your group today: 5= Awesome; 1= Zombie like
Poem Title:
Evaluation Criteria
Group
member:
Group
member:
Group
member:
Group
member:
Group
member:
Group
member:
Works collaboratively
Contributes meaningfully to
group discussions.
Prepares work in a quality
manner.
Demonstrates a cooperative
and supportive attitude.
Contributes significantly to
the success of the project.
TOTALS
Today I learned….
Today I struggled with….
38
Peer Evaluation Rubric
Rate the performance of the people in your group today: 5= Awesome; 1= Zombie like
Poem Title:
Evaluation Criteria
Group
member:
Group
member:
Group
member:
Group
member:
Group
member:
Group
member:
Works collaboratively
Contributes meaningfully to
group discussions.
Prepares work in a quality
manner.
Demonstrates a cooperative
and supportive attitude.
Contributes significantly to
the success of the project.
TOTALS
Today I learned….
Today I struggled with….
39
Romanticism Glossary of Terms
Ballad- a form of poetry that tells a story often dervived from tragedy and
often has a repeated refrain. They are more objective forms and were
originally intended to be a song.
Lyric Poetry- a poem that expresses the feelings and personal emotions of
the speaker.
Ode- extended lyric poem characterized by exalted emotion and dignified style
that concerns an address of an object or a person.
Melancholy- Pensive reflection or contemplation.
Vistas- a large and beautiful view of an area of land or water.
Idealism- literary or artistic theory or practice that affirms the preeminent value of
imagination as compared with faithful copying of nature.
Sublime- Inspiring awe; impressive.
Disillusionment- the disappointed feeling you have when you discover that
someone or something is not as good as you had believed.
Consciousness- the state of being awake and aware of one's surroundings.
Negative Capability- the ability to hold two contradictory ideas in your mind at
the same time, without deciding that one of them is true and the other false.
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