British Literature – The Romantic Poets



“Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey” Assignments

British Literature Instructor: M. Baltsas

© Copyright Academic Year 2008-2009, by M. Baltsas. All Rights Reserved.

Part I: Understanding the Romantic Period – Background 50 points

Assignment: Read pages 707-708 and answer the following questions on your own paper, using complete sentences

1. What movement did the Romantic poets rebel against?

2. What Revolution was taking place during the Romantic period

3. Write down the 8 characteristics that were part of the Romantic poetry movement

4. What was the source of inspiration for Romantic poets?

5. Write down 5 themes that are common in Romantic poems

6. What is part of Wordsworth’s definition of poetry?

7. Write down the 6 poets who shaped the Romantic movement.

8. How were the Romantic poets different from their Neoclassical predecessors?

9. Write a 5-8 sentence explanation of how nature can stimulate spiritual thought

10. What is considered an elevated state of nature? (Think of the actual word, nature)

Part II: Comprehension questions/ Form, Tone, Style, Diction in “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey” pages 726-731

Assignment: Answer the following questions on your own paper, using complete sentences

Stanza 1 25 points

1. What are two examples of the speaker wishing to escape civilization and

commune with nature? These examples can be found by contemplating on the

growth of industrial and urban centers.

2. What type of punctuation is used in the first stanza.

3. What type of language does Wordsworth use in the opening stanza

4. Why do you think Wordsworth capitalizes the word “Hermit?”

5. What two indications are there that Wordsworth enjoys being in nature alone?

Stanza 2 35 points

1. What does the speaker mean by “These beauteous forms” in line 23?

2. How and in what circumstances have “these beauteous forms” affected him since

his last visit.

3. What are the “gifts” that the speaker mentions in the second stanza?

4. Explain how the illustration of the column that is pictured on page 728 is associated with the poem.

5. What are the “unremembered acts” that the speaker refers to in this stanza?

6. What does the word sublime mean and how is it related to the context of the poem?

7. What kind of state does Wordsworth describe in lines 43-49?

Stanza 3 20 points

1. What effect do you think that the memory of “these beauteous forms” has on the speaker? (Refer to lines 22-57)

2. What effect did the sounding cataract have on the speaker?

3. What is repeated towards the end of this stanza?

4. What does Sylvan Wye refer to?

Stanza 4 35 points

1. What does the speaker suggest by saying “there is life and food in future years”

in lines 64-5?

2. What does the speaker find significant in his sister’s reaction to the scene in the

fourth stanza?

3. What does the speaker compare himself to?

4. What type of punctuation is prevalent in this stanza?

5. What does the punctuation suggest about the tone?

6. What four elements in nature gave the speaker “an appetite; a feeling and a love”

7. At the end of the poem, what nouns does Wordsworth use to describe the “motion and spirit” he mentions in line 100?

Stanza 5 30 points

1. What is ironic about the number of stanzas in this poem in relation to the

beginning (first two lines ) of this poem?

2. Who is Wordsworth addressing in the last stanza of the poem?

3. Why do you think that Nature is capitalized?

4. What hope does the speaker have for his sister?

5. In lines 133-137, which senses do the images appeal to?

6. In lines 143-145, what future occasion does the speaker refer to?

Part III: Literary Devices 25 points

1. Identify an example of alliteration in the first stanza

2. Identify an example of imagery in the first stanza

3. Identify an example of personification in the first stanza

3. Identify an example of imagery in the second stanza

4. Identify two examples of alliteration in the second stanza

5. Identify two examples of alliteration in the third stanza

6. Identify an example of personification in the third stanza

6. Find three examples of imagery in the fourth stanza

7. Find three examples of personification in the fourth stanza

8. Find an examples of assonance in the fifth stanza

9. Find an examples of consonance in the fifth stanza

10. Find an examples of personification in the fifth stanza

Part IV: Literary Criticism of William Wordsworth

Refer to the attached Literary Criticism of William Wordsworth to answer the following questions.

A. Information about the Author 25 points

"The Poetics of Place and Time in Wordsworth's 'Tintern Abbey,” by Sang, Zachary. Accessed on 5 April 2008. Written Nov. 1999

Assignment: Refer to the WORKS CITED entry above to answer the questions

1. Who is the author?

2. What is the date of the criticism?

3. When was the criticism accessed?

4. Where can this criticism be found

5. Using the example provided write the WORKS CITED entry for this source

Information about the sources that author used.

B. Information about the Sources the Author used 25 points

1. How many sources appear in the Works cited section if the criticism

2. Who is the author of the source titled "The Task of the Translator."Illuminations.”

3. On what pages can the information from "The Task of the Translator."Illuminations” be found?

4. Who is the author of the source titled " "Insight and Oversight: Reading `Tintern Abbey.'"Wordsworth's Great Period Poems

5. Write down the title of the source that does not contain an author

6. On what pages can William Wordsworth. "Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey be found?

7. When was William Wordsworth. "Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey written?

C. Literary Criticism 50 points

1. Summarize the first paragraph. Indicate who, what, when, where, how, and why

2. Annotate (underline and define) the following: lacuna, Promethean, trajectory, dissolution, hermeneutic, deconstruct, substantive, conspicuous, substantive, effaced, palimpsest, aestheticisation, sublation, transcendent

3. What source does the critic make reference to in first page of this criticism? (Indicate the author’s name)

4. What subject does the critic focus on in the last paragraph of this criticism?

5. Summarize the third paragraph. Indicate who, what, when, where, how, and why

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download