British Lit Class Notes -- March 13

Greetings!

Happy Pi Day!  Besides eating a nice piece of pie, you could learn a song or rap for the day! 

We began the class with a bit of a “Show and Tell.”  I had brought a bag of some well-known pieces of British literature and talked a bit about them.  All of the students have done some thinking about the independent reading project and a couple took home some books to look over. 

We discussed yesterday the selections from the Romantic poets.  We began by listing some of the broad themes and topics that they encountered as they read the poetry.  The Romantic period of literature covered the late 1700’s into the early 1800’s.  The poetry of that time leaned heavily upon nature, its images, and its lessons for inspiration.  This use of nature had an almost spiritual aspect in that it was not only worshiped, but spoke of a greater, creative power.  Another hallmark of Romantic period literature is a movement away from reason and towards emotions, passions, and intuition.  This literary period is also characterized by the importance of the individual over the greater society and along with the value of the immediate experience.  Thus we have poems written about a poet’s personal interaction with a place (“Tintern Abbey”) or an idea (“Hymn to Intellectual Beauty”) or an over-sized, bas-relief vase (“Ode on a Grecian Urn”).  (These are the poems we took some time to “unpack.”)

The students received a brief article about Victorian poetry, a chart comparing Romantic and Victorian poetry, and a packet of selections by Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, Emily Bronte, Matthew Arnold, Dante Rossetti, Christina Rossetti, Edward Lear, Lewis Carroll, and Gerard Manley Hopkins.  I’ve asked them to read all of the poetry, but to pick one about which they should become an “expert.”  For added insights, they can google the title of the poem and “analysis” and find some commentaries that might be helpful.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read ALL of the poetry in the Victorian Poets packet

-- Choose one poem and become an “expert” on it

-- Make your final decision about the independent reading selection

Have a great week!  Enjoy this incredible weather.

Mrs. Prichard