W4L1 English Romantic Period, Blake & Coleridge

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 6

Good morning V6! 

English class

Mevrouw Plazier/Ms. Plazier 

What do I expect of you?

• Try to speak as much English as possible. 
• Be mindful, respectful & communicate!
• Be on time: more than 5 minutes = too late. 
• Raise your hand if you have a question and be silent during explanations of me/student. 
• Bags are on the ground, phones in your bags. 
• No eating in the classroom (gum included), drinking water is allowed. 

learning goals

I can compare the two "The Chimney Sweeper" poems

I know William Blake and Samuel Taylor Coleridge's  background 

Which book are you going to read for the speaking exam?

Pride and Prejudice

Frankenstein

Romanticism

neoclassical vs Romanticism

Age of reason: logical, common sense, Greek and Roman culture, optimism, self-confidence

turns into

Age of imagination: simplicity, emotion, individual voices, discontent with world around them

Features

- emotional and imaginative

- intuition

- nature (as mysterious force, god-like or supplement for religion)

- exploration of human nature and native past

- exploration of importance of self-expression

- concern for outcasts of society

- focus on individuals/common man

- use of symbolism

- art as expression

- supernatural elements

Bespreek welke features van de vorige slide in dit gedicht aanwezig zijn. Hoe zijn ze te zien?

William Blake

1757-1827

homeschooled

apprentice in engraver shop

against monarchy, sympathised with French Revolution

Imagination > reason

deeply religious, but against oppressive authority church

not successful and received mixed feedback

cyclical nature of life

with God

Child with subconscious remembrance of life with God

corruption by society

Songs of Innocence

&

Songs of experience

The Chimney Sweeper I & II

Discussion questions

1. What does the apostrophe (ll. 2) stand for? Why is it there?

2. What is the ‘coffin’ an image for?

3. Comment on the religious imagery.

4. Comment on the difference in tone between the two poems.

5. How do you see elements of the Romantics reflected throughout the two poems? Mention at least 3. 

important names in poetry

first generation: William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey

second generation: John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron

Samuel Taylor Coleridge 

(1772 – 1834)

Samuel Taylor Coleridge 

- Lyrical poet, critic & philosopher

- youngest son of a vicar 

- 1798: The Lyrical Ballads with Wordsworth (Lyrical Ballads set a new style by using everyday language and presenting an original way of looking at nature.)

- became addicted to opium

- After 1817: theological and politico-sociological works

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

-  form of the popular ballad/narrative poem

-  four-line stanza (although the poem also contains stanzas of six or even nine lines). 

- The metre is loose: odd lines are generally tetrametre, while even lines are generally trimetre. 

- The rhymes generally alternate in an ABAB or ABABAB scheme, though again there are many exceptions.  

www.poetryfoundation.org

while reading/listening

What is the plot of this poem?

Which aspects of the Romantic period can you recognize in this work?