English 10H, MathewsPoetry

British Poetry

This handout contains background information on the text and on-going assignments to prepare as we study poetry. KEEP THIS HANDOUT.

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British literature is identified by various time periods, some spanning decades, while others lasted hundreds of years. Each time period is made up by different elements which make the literature, including poetry, written during the time unique.

Time Periods

  1. The Anglo-Saxon Period: 449-1066
  2. The Medieval Period (also referred to as The Middle Ages): 1066-1485
  3. The English Renaissance: 1485-1660
  4. The Restoration and Enlightenment: 1660-1800
  5. The Romantic Period:1789-1832
  6. The Victorian Period: 1832-1901
  7. The Modern Era: 1901-1950
  8. Contemporary Period: 1950-present

Throughout this unit, we will be reading and analyzing the poetry of the different time periods, as well as learning about the culture and politics that influenced the literature. However, at the beginning of the school year, we read Beowulf and The Canterbury Tales, so we will not read additional poetry from the Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Periods.

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Reading/Assignment Schedule:

·  Thursday, March 7th---Introduction to Poetry and The Renaissance

o  “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” by Christopher Marlowe

o  “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” by Sir Walter Raleigh

·  Monday, March 11th---The Romantic Period

o  “The Lamb” by William Blake

o  “The Tyger” by William Blake

o  “The Chimney Sweeper” by William Blake (from Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience)

·  Wednesday, March 13th---The Victorian Period

o  “The Lady of Shalott” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

o  “Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold

o  “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning

o  “Sonnet 43” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

·  Friday, March 15th---The Modern Era

o  “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot

·  Tuesday, March 19th---Break from poetry (Honors Assessment: Writing Reflection)

·  Thursday, March 21st---Contemporary Period

o  “The Moment” by Margaret Atwood

o  “Digging” by Seamus Heaney

o  “The Horses” by Ted Hughey

·  Tuesday, April 1st---Project Presentations

Poetry Project

As we advance through this unit, we will only be reading a small portion of the poems included in our textbook, The Language of Literature: British Literature. Your culminating assessment will involve you selecting three additional poems from the textbook to read and analyze on your own.

Read through the poems that have been identified for you on the list below, noting at least three poems that you like. The poems may appeal to you because they sound lovely, look different, have incredible literary merit, or because the meaning just speaks to you. Make note of the three poems on the attached handout.

“The Acorn and the Pumpkin”
“Ah, Are You Digging on My Grave?”
“Barbara Allen”
“Bright Star, Would I Were Steadfast As Thou Art”
“Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802”
“The Convergence of the Twain”
“Crossing the Bar”
“Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”
“Dreamers”
“Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”
“Epigrams” from An Essay on Criticism
“The Fly”
“The Frog Prince”
“Get Up and Bar the Door”
“Haiku”
“The Hollow Man”
“Holy Sonnet 10”
“How Soon Hath Time”
“I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud”
“In Music”
“In My Craft or Sullen Art”
“An Irish Airman Foresees His Death”
“It Is a Beauteous Evening”
“Kubla Khan”
“Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey”
“The Little Boy Found”
“The Little Boy Lost”
“The Lotus-Blossom Cowers”
“The Man He Killed”
“The Moment”
“Musee des Beaux Arts”
“My Lute, Awake!”
“The Naming of Cats”
“1996”
“Not Waving by Drowning”
“Ode on a Grecian Urn” / “Ode to the West Wind”
“On Monsieur’s Departure”
“On My First Son”
“Ozymandias”
“Paid Beauty”
“Porphyria’s Lover”
“Preludes”
“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”
“Sailing to Byzantium”
“The Seafarer”
“The Second Coming”
“She Walks in Beauty”
“The Sick Rose”
“Sir Patrick Spens”
“The Soldier”
“Spring and Fall: To a Young Child”
“Still to Be Neat”
“Telephone Conversation”
“To a Skylark”
“To an Athlete Dying Young”
“To Autumn”
“To His Coy Mistress”
“To Lucasta, Going to the Wars”
“To Marguerite---Continued”
“To My Mother”
“To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time”
“Ulysses”
“The Unknown Citizen”
“A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”
“The Value of Knowledge”
“The Wanderer”
“What I Expected”
“When I Consider How My Light Is Spent”
“When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be”
“When I Was One-and-Twenty”
“When We Two Parted”
“The Life’s Lament”
“The World Is Too Much with Us”

NOTE: You will need to use the Table of Contents and/or the Index of your textbook to look up the page numbers for the poems listed above.

Name ______

Poetry Project Choice Poems

Title of Poem: ______
Author: ______Page number: ______
This poem appeals to me because: ______
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______
______
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Title of Poem: ______
Author: ______Page number: ______
This poem appeals to me because: ______
______
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______
______
Title of Poem: ______
Author: ______Page number: ______
This poem appeals to me because: ______
______
______
______
______

This sheet MUST be turned in on Tuesday, April 2nd at the beginning of class.

After you have selected your three poems and filled out the charts….

  1. Select one of your three chosen poems on which to focus most closely. Read it again. Re-read it again. Then, spend some time reflecting on the poem you selected.
  1. By the end of class on Tuesday, March 19th, you must let Ms. Mathews know which poem who have decided to focus on for the presentation aspect of this project. No two students can present on the same poem, so it will be a first come, first serve sign-up regarding the poems.
  1. On Tuesday, April 2nd, you will creatively present your poem using one of the following formats:
  1. Write a narrative explaining the impact that the poem has on you, or the personal connection the poem has to you and your life (5 paragraphs minimum!)
  1. Memorize and perform a recitation of the poem to the class, complete with intonation and emotional investment.
  1. Illustrate the poem using pen/ink/colored pencils/paint/etc. or as a collage by blending images and text from magazines or the internet (this must go well beyond stick figures!), and include a paragraph explanation on the back
  1. Perform a literary close-reading of the poem, addressing and analyzing imagery, similes, metaphors, sensory language, figurative language, symbolism, unique diction, and/or rhythm (at least 7 of these!)
  1. Create a podcast, in which you record yourself reading the poem aloud (complete with intonation and emotional investment) and download accompanying images that are reflective of the overall tone/mood of the poem
  1. Other ideas are welcome, but must be proposed to and approved by Ms. Mathews by the end of the day on Tuesday, March 19th

Presentations will take place in class on Tuesday, April 2nd. The project will count as 100 points.