European Humanities Mr. Spragins February 2019 Multimedia Essay on Romantic PoetryDue Monday 2/25 at 3:30 p.m. Choose two poems by
one of the English Romantic Poets we will study during the next two weeks: Blake,
Coleridge, Wordsworth, or Keats. Then write an essay in which you discuss how
both poems express the poet’s unique understanding of human nature. Describe
what makes each of the poems “Romantic”. How do the poems reflect the climate
of ideas swirling in Europe during this period of political and philosophical
revolution? 1. Read the poems carefully. Look up any words in the
dictionary that you do not understand. 2. Think about the poet’s purpose in each poem. How are
the poems alike? Decide what common theme the poet expresses in both
poems. 3. What symbols does the poet use to express his
theme? Remember how poets use symbol to inspire the reader to use his own
imagination to discover the poem’s meaning. In this way the reader actually
participates in the creation of the poem’s meaning. 4. Read your favorite sections of the poems out loud.
What musical devices is the poet using? How does
the rhythm, rhyme and choice of words create a unique sound for the poem that
supports its meaning? 5. Think about what makes the poem typical of Romanticism?
How does the poet lead you towards a personal vision of the truth? How is
this view of the world very different from Voltaire’s and the scientific
materialism of the philosophes? 6. As you write your essay, be sure to quote the
poems extensively. Support your points by referring to specific lines in
the poem. Research from the Fenimore Library: To help you devise an
excellent thesis statement for your essay, we will be visiting Fenimore Library resources online to find criticism written on the
specific poems that you have chosen. You should not feel compelled to use the
critics’ main ideas. Rather, you may find such reading stimulating to your
own process of discovering a thesis for your paper. A Multi-Media Essay
Turn your essay into a Multimedia
Essay by using your computer to link the text to graphics and sound which
support your thesis. 1. Choose paintings from the Romantic period which
reflect the theme, content, and poetic music of your poems to include in your
essay itself. 2. Observe how Blake’s illustrations give his poems an
additional level of meaning. For
example, Compare Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner to the
paintings of Casper David Friedrich, and think about
how each artist discovers a path to religious truth in symbols drawn from the
natural world. Or you might want to compare the landscape paintings of
Constable with Wordsworth’s ballads or meditative poetry. How does each
artist discover the eternal in their responses to rustic scenes? 3. Include your own recitation of the poems in your
paper. Also, when you quote the text, actually read it out loud into a
microphone attached to your computer. That way you can link the quotes in
your essay to actual reading out loud. In this way you can emphasize the
particular music of your poem. 4. Finally, include in an appendix your own poems,
written in imitation of the poet you have chosen to study.
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