Name:_________________________________________________
10 Honors English
American Romantic Poetry
Date:__________________
Clarke
Poetic Elements Personification- giving human or lifelike qualities to intimate objects
 Imagery- the formation of mental images to give a deeper understanding
 Metaphor- a comparison without using like or as
 Simile- a comparison using like or as
 Tone- the overall feeling that a piece of writing implies
 Symbolism- when a word or object stands for another word or object
 Onomatopoeia- a word that literally sounds like the noise it is referring to
 Stanza- an arrangement of lines (usually four)
“Thanatopsis”- William Cullen Bryant
1. As the poem opens, Nature is personified as someone who speaks to use in
various languages. What kind of languages does Nature use to speak to use
in our “gayer hours”? (hint: lines 4-5)
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2. How does Nature respond to our “darker musings”?
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3. In line 8, the poets tone grows more somber. The speaker refers to ’sad
images” that make us “shudder and grow sick at heart.” What are these
images?
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4. What does each image refer to? Examples?
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5. What does the speaker advice us to do when we have these feelings?
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6. In line 31, how does the tone of the poem shift?
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7. What comfort is offered in this section of the poem?
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8. Find at least two metaphors in lines 31-54 of the poem that are used to
describe the earth as a whole.
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9. Beginning with line 51, what is death compared with to make it seem less
threatening?
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10. Identify elements of Romantic literature found in the poem.
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“The Cross of Snow” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
1. What precisely is Longfellow looking at when he refers to the “gentle face” in
line 2?
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2. What is a halo usually associated with? In line 4, what is the literal halo that
the poet sees?
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3. What does the poet tell us about his wife’s character?
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4. Longfellow’s wife actually died in a fire. What is Longfellow suggesting about
his wife’s character when he uses the powerful words “martyrdom of fire” to
describe her death?
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5. How does the poet relate the idea of a “sun-defying” formation of snow to his
own feelings?
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“The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
1. “Footsteps on the sands of time” is a common expression referring to
morality and the passing of time. What do you think is implied about the fate
of the traveler when his footprints are washed away in the second stanza?
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2. What feeling is suggested by the stamping and neighing of the bourses the
next morning?
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3. The waves are personified in stanza 2 as having “soft, white hands.” This is an
example of Longfellow’s poetic style that some readers think is too cute, or
too sentimental, to be effective. Do you think the personification is justified
here? Why or why not?
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4. Do you think this is a poem about one specific traveler? Or could it be seen as
a “drama” about everyone’s life?
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5. What do you think is suggested by the tide’s continuing to rise and fall, despite
the fact that the human traveler is gone?
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“The Chambered Nautilus” – Oliver Wendell Holmes
1. What metaphor describes the nautilus in line 1?
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2. The poet says that the “main” or open sea, over which the nautilus sailed is
“unshadowed” (line 2). What other images in the first stanza help you
picture where the nautilus once sailed?
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3. Did you find this poem more optimistic than “Thanatopsis”?
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4. Of all the nature poems you’ve read this unit, which did you like the best?
Why?
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5. Which poem did you like the least? Why?
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