Romantic and Victorian Poetry

To complete this project you will research both the Romantic and Victorian periods of British poetry, and then provide a collection of representative poetry.

STEP ONE: THE ROMANTIC PERIOD – You can find answers to these questions in a textbook or on the Internet. You will use this research to support what you find in the poetry, so doing a thorough job here will help you in the long-run. I would reccomend using the purple anthology, though you can find this information on the Internet as well.

Post the following on your weblog:
1. List and describe at least two historical events that occurred during or right before the Romantic Period (2 paragraphs).

2. After reading about these events, what do you think life was like for normal people during this time? (1 paragraph)

3. What did the Romantic poets want to express in their work? You should be able to list three or four qualities of Romantic poetry. These will be the things you will need to find examples of later. The purple anthology can help you here. (3-4 sentences for each quality you find)

Show me your responses to these questions before moving on.

STEP TWO: ROMANTIC POETRY:
Read a poem from each of the following poets, and then write a short review of each poem that: 1) Summarizes its content; 2) Analyzes how it is a good example of Romantic poetry; and 3) Uses direct evidence from the poem to support the claims you make in #3. Each of these reviews should be two paragraphs. Check to be sure each response includes the information for which I am asking. This will save you time. You can find many examples on the Internet by searching these poets' names. It would be helpful to create links to the poems you are describing. You can do with the link button above. I can show you how.

William Blake
William Wordsworth
George Gordon, Lord Byron
Percy Bysshe Shelley
John Keats

STEP THREE: THE VICTORIAN PERIOD – You can find answers to these questions in a textbook or on the Internet. You will use this research to support what you find in the poetry, so doing a thorough job here will help you in the long-run. I would reccomend using the purple anthology, though you can find this information on the Internet as well.

1. List and describe at least two historical events that occurred during or right before the Victorian Period. (2 paragraphs)

2. After reading about these events, what do you think life was like for normal people during this time? (1 paragraph)

3. What is the biggest difference between the Victorian Period and the Romantic Period? What caused this change? This is one of the things you will need to prove with examples from the poetry you will read. It is important to created a good response here. The purple anthology can help you. (1-2 paragraphs)

4. What did Victorian poets want to express with their work? You should be able to identify three or four qualities of Victorian poetry. Once again, you will be searching for these qualities in the poems you read, so a thorough job here will help you in the long-run. (3-4 sentences for each quality you find)

Show me your answers to this section before moving on.

STEP FOUR: VICTORIAN POETRY
Read a poem from each of the following poets, and then write a short review of each poem that: 1) Summarizes its content; 2) Analyzes how it is a good example of Romantic poetry; and 3) Uses direct evidence from the poem to support the claims you make in #3 and 4. Each of these reviews should be two paragraphs. Check to be sure each response includes the information for which I am asking. This will save you time. You can find many examples on the Internet by searching these poets' names. It would be helpful to create links to the poems you are describing. You can do with the link button above. I can show you how.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Robert Browning
Matthew Arnold
Thomas Hardy