British Literature Class Notes -- March 20 (Week 9)

Greetings!

We had a wonderful class this week as we finished our discussion of Great Expectations.  It's a wonderful book and they have been such troopers reading this very long, and at times complicated, book.

The students came to class prepared with 3 questions each that were intended to spark discussion about the last chapters of the book.  They've done a wonderful job coming up with good critical thinking questions.

Great Expectations is a great "starter" Dickens book.  The story is engaging, and the characters are interesting.  Unlike some novels by Dickens, the number of characters isn't too overwhelming and difficult to keep track of.  Often when a book has an extensive character list, it also has multiple plots running at the same time.  That can make the novels of Charles Dickens challenging for many readers.

Our next reading will be a selection of Romantic poetry.  I gave to the students handouts about the Romantic period, reading and interpreting poetry, and some pieces of poetry by Blake, Burns, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, and Keats.  I'd like them to do their best to read all of the poetry, but I pointed out the poems that I'd especially like them to read carefully.  Along with the other handouts, I'm including one that I mentioned in class; this one has a set of questions for one specific poem by each of the poets.  

Assignment for April 3 (Week 10)
-- Read the handouts regarding the Romantic period and poetry.
-- Read the poems. 
-- Choose one of the poems below and answer the questions on Romantic Poetry Study Guide.

This week's blogs
Class Notes
Interpreting Poetry
Romantic Poets and Poetry
Romantic Period Literature Characteristics
Responding to Romantic Poetry


Enjoy your Spring Break!
Mrs. Prichard