Your Address

Dear Mr. Poe,

I’ve explored your story “The Cask of Amontillado.”

To me, the best quality of the story is ______

______.

To me, the most interesting character is ______

______.

I like the way you’ve developed the atmosphere of the story by

______.

Here are a couple of suggestions for revising the story for today’s audiences: ______

______.

Sincerely,

Your friend,

______

A Poem by Poe

“The Bells”, page 599

Name ______Date ______

(full name)

1.  Try Onomatopoeia

Edgar Allan Poe often chose words that sound like the sounds and actions they name. Read the words in each list aloud. Then add more words to the list.

Unhappy, scary Loud, Deep

Moan, groan, growl thunder, thump, rumble, roar,

Howl, wail, whimper blast, bluster

______

______

Quick, Light Breaking

Clip, snip, rap, tap smash, crash, clatter,

Skitter, scoot shatter, slice, slit

______

______

2. Try Personification

In “The Bells,” Poe uses words that make the bells seem human. For example, in stanza four, the bells have “throats.” They are “people” who live in the steeple and they have a “king.” Brainstorm for words and phrases that could make the following things seem human.

*Trees in the wind______

______

A Fire alarm ______

______

*A Storm at sea______.

3.  Stanza 1

Crystalline (krist-tul-un): icy; made of crystals.

Runic (roon-ik): A rune is a letter of an alphabet used during the Middle Ages. Through the ages, “rune” has come to mean a mark that has a mysterious meaning.

Challenge: Use a dictionary or encyclopedia to find the runes that spell “Edgar or Poe,” or your own name.

______

Poetry Paper

Objectives

Correctly identify and use poetic meter

Correctly identify and use rhyme schemes

Correctly identify and use repetition, alliteration, personification and onomatopoeia

Recognize themes of Romanticism and write a poem using those themes

For this assignment, you will be writing a poem in the style of one of the American Romantics (although the English want to claim Edgar Allan Poe, he was born in America and educated in England) poets that we read in class, specifically, Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Bells.”

Assignment

This is an exercise in creativity, but it is an exercise in using the techniques that poets use:

Write one stanza similar to the first stanza of the bells

The content of the poem should focus on some Romantic theme (nature, man, universe, or oversoul)

Follow the meter of Poe’s “The Bells”

We will read and study the poem in class, and you will have a worksheet to compose the poem, the turn in the complete poem with the worksheet stapled under it and the rubric on top. This is a challenging assignment, but you should have fun with it. You can make the poem scary, like Poe’s, or you can make it inspirational, or even humorous. You must use the tools of a poet, but you can fit your own thoughts into the stanza.

Afterwards, you the grading rubric to make sure you have complete the assignment.

Poetry Paper Rubric

Mrs. Vogt’s English 1

Writer’s Name: ______

Reviewer’s Name:______

20 / 15 / 10 / 5 / 0
Structure/Repetition / Poem is composed of one complete stanza and repetition / Poem is composed of one stanza, but not all lines are complete / Poem is composed of one stanza, but of fewer than 35 lines / Poem is missing several lines / Poem is missing significant portions and repetition
Comments:
20 / 15 / 10 / 5 / 0
Content / Addresses common Romantic themes throughout the whole poem / Addresses common Romantic themes throughout most of the poem / Addresses common Romantic themes throughout some of the poem / Addresses common Romantic themes somewhere in the poem / Does not address common Romantic themes
Comments:
20 / 15 / 10 / 5 / 0
Alliteration / Uses four examples of alliteration in the poem / Uses three examples of alliteration in the poem / Uses two examples of alliteration in the poem / Uses one example of alliteration in the poem / Uses no examples of alliteration in the poem
Comments:
20 / 15 / 10 / 5 / 0
Onomato-
poeia / Uses four example of onomatopoeia in the poem / Uses three examples of onomato-
poeia in the poem / Uses two examples of onomatopoeia in the poem / Uses one example of onomato-
poeia in the poem / Uses no examples of alliteration in the poem
Comments:
20 / 15 / 10 / 5 / 0
Rhyme Scheme / Follows Poe’s style exactly throughout the poem / Follows Poe’s style throughout most of the poem / Follows Poe’s style fairly closely in the poem / Come close to Poe’s style but doesn’t match it exactly / Rhyme Scheme, Alliteration, and Onomatopoeia is not like Poe’s
Comments:

Sample Outline

Foreshadowing in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado”

Theses: By presenting clues, Poe prepares reader for the grotesque outcome of the story.

I.  Fortunato’s costume

A.  Fool’s outfit

B.  Bells

II.  Montresor’s family background

A.  Family crest

B.  Family motto

III.  “Mason” scene

A.  The gesticulation

1.  Fortunato’s response

2.  Montresor’s response

B.  The trowed

IV.  The catacombs

A.  Family crypt

B.  Scattered bones