An Inter-Disciplinary Mini-Unit

Level: High School

Purpose: To discover and apply the characteristics of the English Romantic poets.

Overview: These lessons will focus on the Romantic characteristics of the English Romantic Poets while tying those characteristics to the hippies of the 1960`s. Lessons include discovering the characteristics by looking closely at and analyzing paintings of the Romantic period. Also, the Romantic characteristics will be discussed in terms of the lives and works of the poets.

Lesson One: Students will look closely at several paintings from England`s Romantic period. Inductively they will arrive at the seven characteristics of the Romantic writers: the beauty of the untamed, natural world; the attractiveness of the pastoral life; freedom; imagination; emotion; lack of authority; rights of the individual. (Language Arts, Fine Arts)

Lesson Two: Students will research the lives of the following 19th century English Romantic poets and 1960`s musicians to compare their lives and lifestyles: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, John Keats, William Wordsworth, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Jim Morrison, Bob Dylan. (Language Arts, Fine Arts)

Lesson Three: Students will analyze four Romantic poems for evidence of the Romantic characteristics: "She Walks in Beauty Like the Night," "Ozymandias," "Kubla Khan," "Ode to the West Wind." (Language Arts, Fine Arts)

Lesson Four: Students will use the Romantic characteristics and to compose and peer review their own Romantic poems. (Language Arts, Fine Arts)

Lesson One

Objective:

Students will look closely at several paintings from England`s Romantic period. Inductively they will arrive at the seven characteristics of the Romantic writers: the beauty of the untamed, natural world; the attractiveness of the pastoral life; freedom; imagination; emotion; lack of authority; rights of the individual.

Materials:

copies of the following paintings (or others from the same time period)

The Bard by John Martin

Landscape with Rainbow by Caspar David Friedrich

The Parting of Hero and Leander by J.M.W. Turner

Liensford Lake, Norway by Francis Danby

Abbey Under the Oak Tree by Caspar David Friedrich

Hadleigh Castle by John Constable

** all paintings are found in Adventures in English Literature published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich

Procedure:

1. Examine the painting, The Bard as a class. Ask the students questions to lead them to the 7 Romantic characteristics as seen in the painting.

beauty of the untamed, natural world - beauty in the rocks and the clouds

attractiveness of the pastoral life - bard lives off of the land

freedom - the bard is free to go wherever he wants, he is not confined by a path like the soldiers

imagination - the bard has a harp and is a poet, standing for vision and imagination

emotion - consider the stance of the bard

lack of authority - the bard answers to no one, the horses near the water are rearing up against their rider’s authority

rights of the individual - the bard is an individual

2. Divide the class into groups of 4 or 5. In each group, students will examine a different painting and will apply the 7 characteristics to the painting.

3. Have each group present their information to the class.

Lesson Two

 Objective:

Students will research the lives of the following 19th century English Romantic poets and 1960`s musicians to compare their lives and lifestyles: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, John Keats, William Wordsworth, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Jim Morrison, Bob Dylan.

Materials:

biography worksheet

Educational Structures site

Procedure:

1. Assign each student either a musician or a poet. Have these students research a short biography on this person.

2. Have the students who are researching the same person share their information and then present this information to the class.

3. Based on this information, have the students complete predictions on the Romantics vs. 1960’s Biography worksheet considering the similarities among the artists.

4. As a class discuss the correct answers and enter them in the blank on the right hand side.

Answer Key:

1. Janis Joplin

2. Bob Dylan

3. Lord Byron

4. Jim Morrison

5. Percy Shelley

6. William Wordsworth

7. John Keats

8. John Lennon

9. Samuel Taylor Coleridge

10. Jimi Hendrix

Directions: Match the artist to the given biography. Place your prediction on the left blank and the correct answer on the right blank. All artists are spoken about in the past tense and as males even though Bob Dylan is alive and Janis Joplin is a woman.

1. This person gave up his talent to enter school. He left school after a broken engagement. He often worked with another talent in the same field. This person enjoyed themes of love, drugs, and protest. He was found dead of a drug overdose at the age of twenty-seven.

2. This person ran away from home at the age of ten. He attended college for less than one year. His career took off due to his radical themes of protest and drugs, as well as his unique style. This person became a recluse for eighteen months to recover from his sudden success. Late in his career he lost his radical edge and found a new topic in religion.

3. This person was raised by his mother. He completed college and received a graduate degree. He was politically active and held a strong interest in Eastern cultures. He was very interested in the opposite sex and was known for having many relationships. This person spent much time reflecting on his past sins and his work reflected this type of hero. He died at the age of thirty-six while fighting for a political cause.

4. This person was born to a military father. He substantially abused drugs and alcohol. This person took up residence in Paris to write poetry. Four months later he died of a suspected drug overdose. This person’s family disowned him, so he was buried alone in Paris.

5. This person was born to an upper class family. His father was a member of the government. After six months of college, he was expelled for printing his radical, political ideas. This person married twice. He was eventually branded an outcast at home and finished his life abroad. At age thirty, this person died suddenly and tragically. His contemporaries were quoted as calling him the *greatest talent* of the era.

6. This person lived in the country. By the age of thirteen both of his parents were dead. He spent his free time traveling through the country when not in school. He was politically active as a revolutionary. This person was friends with another talent of this era. This friendship turned cool and eventually ended. For a short time, this person worked for the government. This showed his change to conservative thinking. The major theme of this artist is nature.

7. This person had lost both parents by the age of fourteen. For the rest of his life, he took responsibility for the remaining family members. This person studied medicine before giving it up for his art. His greatness stretched from his personality to his work. His work often appeals to the senses through language. He died after a long illness at the age of twenty-five.

8. At the age of eighteen, this person’s mother died in a tragic accident. Some of his work was playful in nature. He had a strong interest in Eastern religions. This person was involved with drugs occasionally and had at least one affair which broke up his marriage. At the age of forty, this person died suddenly and tragically. Some of his works are the most famous and most popular of the period.

9. This person was child of a clergyman. He attended college but dropped out, due to boredom and financial problems. This person has radical views of politics and religion. He was friends with another talent of the era, but arguments soon ended the friendship. This person began taking drugs fro medical reasons and was soon addicted. As a result, this person’s work suffered.

10. This person was left-handed and devoted more attention to his talent than to his schoolwork. He enlisted in the army to avoid being drafted. This person’s work was marked by allusions to drugs. This person’s career was successful, but after five years, it was over. His career was headed downward when he died of a drug overdose at the age of twenty-eight. After this person’s death, his career took off.

Lesson Three

Objective:

Students will analyze four Romantic poems for evidence of the Romantic characteristics: "She Walks in Beauty Like the Night" by Lord Byron, "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley, "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "Ode to the West Wind" by Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Materials:

list of Romantic characteristics

copies of the listed poems

Procedure:

1. Have students read each poem and then apply the Romantic characteristics to each using the poetry worksheet.

Lesson Four

Objective:

Students will use the Romantic characteristics and to compose and peer review their own Romantic poems.

Materials:

notes on 7 Romantic characteristics

Procedure:

1. Using the 7 Romantic characteristics, have students create their own Romantic poem.

2. When completed, have them trade and mark someone else’s poem. Students should peer review for the 7 characteristics.

  The students should be able to explain the 7 characteristics of the Romantic period in class discussion.

Romantic Musical Time Warp

  The students should be able to explain the commonalities between the lives of the Romantic poets and the lives of musicians from the 1960’s.

Romantic Poetry

  The students should be able to analyze Romantic poems in terms of the 7 Romantic characteristics in a worksheet.

 You Are a Romantic Poet

  The students should be able to create their own Romantic poem and should be able to review another student’s work.