Metaphysical and Romantic Poetry

Now that we have studied the poetry of John Donne, the Cavalier Poets and reviewed the major English Romantic poets, it's your turn to experiment with their styles in your own original writing. For this assignment, you will compose one poem in the Metaphysical or Cavalier style or one poem in the Romantic style. Incorporate the techniques these writers used (refer to introductory notes on the Metaphysical style and use the poems of Donne and Marvell as models for your Metaphysical/Cavalier poem and the chart on the characteristics of Romanticism and the poems of Wordsworth, Byron, Shelly and Keats that we studied for your Romantic poem).

The form of each poem is up to you, but you should definitely use a closed form that was popular during the respective time periods. You may write a Shakespearean or Petrarchan sonnet or model your organization form after one of the Metaphysical or Romantic poems we have studied.

To get started on your original poem, follow the prewriting steps listed below:

  1. Make a list of 5-7 possible topics;
  2. Select one idea from your list, and explore it more by completing a quick-write or a list.
  1. If you are leaning toward writing a poem modeled after the Romantic writers, write down concrete images associated with the topic. Work to come up with strong diction choices to describe the place, problem or subject of the poem.
  2. If you are probably going to write a Metaphysical/Cavalier style poem, write down your topic, your argument and purpose. Then think about how you will structure your poem (for example, If, But, Then organization, like Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress.” Write down lots of specific details , concrete images and unusual metaphors/similes you might include in your poem; repeat this step as needed;
  1. Once you have settled in on your topic, determine the closed form your poem will take. You may write a Petrarchan or Shakespearean sonnet or model your poem after a poem by Donne, Herrick or Marvell that we have studied. Be sure you have an identifiable meter, rhyme scheme and stanzaic structure. A simple way to set up the meter is to use basic syllabic verse (the same number of syllables per line throughout the poem). If you want to challenge yourself, write in iambic pentameter (popular in the 16th-19th centuries; 10 syllables per line with an unstressed/stressed accentuation pattern).
  2. Start drafting your poem. Create a profile for your speaker, and the audience, if pertinent. Decide what meaning you want to develop. Then, work to create strong, concrete sensory images and put to work the stylistic techniques the best poets use (specific and carefully selected diction choices; personification; similes and metaphors; alliteration, assonance, repetition; rhetorical questions; allusions, especially classical for the Romantics; conceits and paradoxes, for the Metaphysical and Cavalier).
  3. Once you have a completed rough draft, work to refine your ideas and use the structure of your poem to enhance the development of meaning.
  4. Think of an apt title.
  5. Type up your poem (poetry is generally single-spaced with extra space or indentation between stanzas; the first word of every line should be capitalized; punctuation is required and should be used to assist in clarity of ideas and development of meaning).

Due dates-Poem idea and prewriting: Thursday, 2/11

Completed rough draft: Wednesday, 2/17

Final draft poem, typed with an apt title: Friday, 2/19

Hedges/AP Eng./2016