Victorian and Japanese Poetry
(and reading journals)
Victorian Literature
From the 19th century
Victorianism
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The Victorian era covers
two-thirds of the 19th
century, from 1840-1900.
It is named after Queen
Victoria of England, who
ruled from 1837-1901.
Victorian Literature
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Literature in the Victorian era formed a kind of link
between the earlier Romantics and the later writing
of the 20th century.
Many novels came from this time period. They were
usually about hard work and perseverance paying off
in the end, the good guy winning, and the bad guy
being punished.
Children’s literature was also invented during this
time.
Victorian Literature
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Authors you might know…
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
(Morte d’Arthur)
A.E. Houseman
Charles Dickens
Joseph Conrad
(Have you
seen
Apocalypse
Now? He
wrote the
book.)
Bram Stoker
(he wrote Dracula)
Lewis Carroll
(Alice in Wonderland and
Through the Looking Glass)
(he wrote Sherlock Holmes)
H.G. Wells
(the
father of
science
fiction)
(wrote Ms. Spiceland’s
favorite poem)
The Kraken
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Today we’re reading “The Kraken” by Alfred, Lord
Tennyson (your favorite author!)
• In legends, the Kraken is a
giant monster that lives in
the sea.
•You may know of the
Kraken from Pirates of the
Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
The Kraken
Below the thunders of the upper deep;
Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
About his shadowy sides: above him swell
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
And far away into the sickly light,
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green.
There hath he lain for ages and will lie
Battening upon huge sea-worms in his sleep,
Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
Then once by man and angels to be seen,
In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.
The Kraken
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Now that we’ve read and talked about this poem,
we’re going to do some writing on about it.
Get out a sheet of paper…
Reading Journals
Reading Journals
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First, write the title of the poem at the top of the
sheet.
Now, write the Works Cited entry for the poem.
The format for the Works Cited entry for poems in
our textbook is on the next slide.
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COPY DOWN THE FORMAT! You will need it!
Regular poem:
Author Last Name, First Name. “Title of Poem.”
Literature: Language and Literacy. Upper Saddle
River: Prentice Hall, 2010. Page number.
Poem with a Translator:
Author Last Name, First Name. “Title of Poem.”
Literature: Language and Literacy. Trans. Translator
name. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2010.
Page number.
Reading Journals
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Important Note! If the poem does not have a
title, use the first line as the title.
Next, write three quotes from the poem. I know –
the poem is short! They don’t have to be very long
quotes (5-10 words, up to one line)
Don’t forget to include the parenthetical citation!
Now, write a paragraph that summarizes the poem.
Explain any characters (or monsters) and what’s going
on.
Reading Journals
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Finally, write a paragraph analyzing the poem.You’ll
want to write about how the author uses his writing
to get his point across.
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For example, the Kraken is supposed to be super scary.
Tennyson uses words like “sickly light” (l. 7) and “In
roaring he shall rise” (l. 15) to get that across.
You should use one or two literary terms, such as…
Metaphor
Imagery
Alliteration
Simile
Hyperbole
Allusion
Personification
Synecdoche
Rhyme
Tanka Poems
Traditional Japanese Poetry
Tanka Poems
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You have probably heard of haiku before. They’re
those little Japanese poems that are three lines long
Here’s my favorite:
Haiku are awesome
But sometimes they don’t make sense
Refrigerator
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Haiku have a specific format:
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Three lines long
5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second, 5 in the third.
Traditional Japanese haiku are usually about nature.
Tanka Poems
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Tanka poems are similar to
haiku, but it is a much older
form.
Tanka poems are longer than
haiku. While a haiku goes 5-75, a tanka goes 5-7-5-7-7.
Tanka Poems
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Tanka poems are often translated from Japanese to
English. Sometimes, the syllable counts change in the
translation.
Because they are so short, tanka poems usually focus
on a single, strong image or statement.
Tanka poems also do not have titles.
Tanka Poems
The clustering clouds –
Can it be they wipe away
The lunar shadows?
Every time they clear a bit
The moonlight shines the brighter.
-Minamoto no Toshiyori
Translated by Donald Keene
When I went to visit
The girl I love so much,
That winter night
The river blew so cold
That the plovers were crying.
-Ki no Tsurayuki
Translated by Geoffrey Bownas
One cannot ask loneliness
How or where it starts.
On the cypress-mountain,
Autumn evening.
-Priest Jakuren
Translated by Geoffrey Bownas
Was it that I went to sleep
Thinking of him,
That he came in my dreams?
Had I known it a dream
I should not have wakened.
-Ono Komachi
Translated by Geoffrey Bownas
Tanka Poems
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The tanka poems and “The Kraken” both used strong
imagery and descriptive language.
Other than length, what differences do you see
between the tanka poems and “The Kraken”?
What similarities do you see?
Reading Journals
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Grab a sheet of paper from your notebook and write
“Tanka Poems” at the top!
We’re going to follow the same format for this
journal as we did for “The Kraken.”
Here are the parts you need to have:
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Works Cited entry
Three quotes with parenthetical citations
One paragraph summarizing the poem
One paragraph analyzing the poem (using literary terms)