Individual Learning Packet. Teaching Unit. The Raven. and Other Favorite Poems. written by John Peruggia and Lisa M. Miller

Transcription

1 Individual Learning Packet Teaching Unit The Raven and Other Favorite Poems by Edgar Allan Poe written by John Peruggia and Lisa M. Miller Copyright 2004 by Prestwick House Inc., P.O. Box 658, Clayton, DE Permission to copy this unit for classroom use is extended to purchaser for his or her personal use. This material, in whole or part, may not be copied for resale. ISBN Reorder No

2 TEACHING UNIT Notes This Poetry Teaching Unit is designed to be worked through in the order the poems are presented. Occasionally, a study question on one poem may refer to another poem encountered earlier in the Unit. This approach encourages students to build on what they have learned and make connections, as they will when progressing through a novel s chapters. Teachers wishing to bypass certain poems or to teach them in a different order will find that the Unit can be easily adapted to their needs. The vast bulk of the study questions focus on the poem directly at hand; the majority of the test questions focus on the poems deemed most likely to be taught if others are passed over. To adapt the Unit, teachers can simply scan the study and test questions crossing out any undesired ones before reproducing the pages for students. Please also note that, in order to complete the essay portion of the provided test, students will need access to either their books or photocopies of the poems to be discussed. All references come from the 1991 Dover Thrift Edition of The Raven and Other Favorite Poems, edited by Stanley Appelbaum. 2 NOTES

3 TEACHING UNIT Background Notes Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, MA, on January 19, Poe s parents, both touring actors, died before he was three years old. Subsequently, he was taken into the home of John Allan, a wealthy Virginia merchant. Poe studied for five years in England ( ), and enrolled at the University of Virginia, albeit attending for only a year. In 1827, Poe selfpublished his first book, Tamerlane and Other Poems, an anthology of verse written in the manner of the famed Romantic writer, Lord Byron. Following a brief attempt at military service (Poe studied at West Point for six-months), he moved to Baltimore, MD, with his widowed aunt, Maria Clemm, and her daughter, Virginia. Poe supported himself and his family by publishing his fiction. In 1835, Poe, his aunt, and his cousin moved to Richmond, VA, where he became editor of the Southern Literary Messenger. It was at this time that Poe married Virginia, who was not yet 14 years old. Poe continued to prosper as a writer, critic, and journalist. His success, however, came to a tragic halt in January, 1847, when Virginia died. Poe s poetry shows the intense emotional toll that Virginia s death took on him. Two years later, on October 7, 1849, Poe was found unconscious on a Baltimore street. In a brief obituary, the Baltimore Clipper reported that Poe had died of congestion of the brain, although the exact cause of his death has never been conclusively proven. The poems in this anthology can be taught in a number of ways. If one treats the poems in order of presentation, an adequate study can be made of the chronological progression of Poe s poetry throughout his life. Such an approach will allow students to trace the influence of events in his life, as well as to examine the variations of style that occur within the boundaries Poe set. The poems can also be treated by their subject matter. Units can easily be developed based on the ideas and feelings of love, loss, death, prayer, anger, and hope. Treated as such, the poems in the book will allow students to grasp the continuity of Poe s poems. The themes and messages presented can be seen clearly. Additionally, close readings of poems in units may allow for lively discussions on his treatment of a variety of topics. 3 BACKGROUND NOTES

4 TEACHING UNIT Objectives By the end of this Unit, the student will be able to: 1. understand and explain the relationship of a poem s form to its content. 2. compare and contrast two or more poems through an examination of both form and content. 3. compare and contrast two or more poems treatment of the same subject. 4. distinguish between the poetic forms of sonnets, ballads, and elegies, and point out examples of each in the text. 5. comment on the themes, concerns, and trends in Poe s poetry. 6. define all of the vocabulary words listed in the study guide. 7. identify the following figures of sound and point out examples of each in The Raven and Other Favorite Poems: alliteration, assonance, consonance, and half rhyme. 8. identify the following forms and elemental units of poetry and point out examples of each in The Raven and Other Favorite Poems: sonnet, stanza, couplet, quatrain, catalog verse, sestet, dialogue poem, lyric poem, elegy poem, and free verse. 9. identify the following figures of speech and point out examples of each in the text: metaphor, simile, irony, allusion, imagery, personification, narrator, chiasmus, parallelism, theme, and tone. 10. understand the value of poetry as a form of self-expression. 11. infer details not explicitly stated in the text. 12. understand the difference between the poet and the speaker of the poem. 13. understand the effects of repetition, diction, and syntax in a poem. 14. identify a poem s rhyme scheme and be able to write it out. 11 OBJECTIVES

5 TEACHING UNIT Questions for Essay and Discussion 1. Discuss the use of repetition and onomatopoeia in The Raven and The Bells. 2. Compare and contrast The Coliseum and The Haunted Palace in terms of their tones and views of the world. 3. Consider Poe s The City in the Sea and The Valley of Unrest in terms of their development of a common theme. 4. Discuss the ways Poe mourns the loss of youth in his poems. 5. Discuss the ways both The Conqueror Worm and Eldorado attempt to define the successful man. 6. Discuss Poe s use of the poem as an inspirational device, particularly through his To and Dreams. Is poetry an effective form of inspirational writing in today s society? 7. Imagine that you are the one being spoken to in A Dream within a Dream. How would you respond to Poe s concluding question? 8. Discuss the ways in which alliteration and internal rhyme saturate Poe s The Raven and the effect they have on the poem s tone. 9. Discuss the way that Poe uses the image of Helen of Troy in his two Helen poems. 10. Compare the ways The Raven and Romance use animals to convey their themes. 11. Discuss the stream-of-conscious form of The Happiest Day, the Happiest Hour in terms of its use of interruptions. 12. Discuss the use of natural imagery by Poe in his sonnets. 13. Compare the ways Poe discusses man s mortality in Sonnet Silence and Alone. 14. Discuss the speaker s emotional response to his journey in Ulalume. 15. Choose your favorite poem from the anthology and discuss why it appeals to you both formally and thematically. Use specific examples from the poem to explain how it works for you. 12 QUESTIONS FOR ESSAY AND DISCUSSION

6 STUDENT COPY The Raven To Vocabulary kindling arousing 1. What is a possible interpretation of the word love in the poem s fourth and sixteenth lines? Explain. 2. The image of an eye of kindling light is recreated in what other metaphor of the poem? 3. Why has the poet italicized, thereby emphasizing, the word would in the poem s final stanza? How does the stanza differ from the opening stanza which it echoes? 4. Why does the speaker use the word Who in the poem s final stanza rather than restating I as in the first? 1 STUDY GUIDE

7 STUDENT COPY Sonnet To Science Vocabulary alterest most changed Hamadryad nymphs of the trees in Roman and Greek mythology Naiads nymphs of lakes, rivers, and fountains 1. The poem is a sonnet, as described by its title. What type is it, based on its rhyme and metrical schemes? 2. The speaker s discussions of Diana, the Hamadryad, the Naiad, and the Elfin are examples of what literary technique? 3. Explain the irony employed by the poet s feminization of science in the first line: true daughter of Old Time. 10 STUDY GUIDE

8 STUDENT COPY The Coliseum Vocabulary despotic oppressive; tyrannical entablatures upper sections of the coliseum mimic to copy or imitate closely pallid dull; pale plinths bases for columns and stones pomp a dignified display reliquary something that stores sacred relics 1. What literary device is employed in line 9? 2. Poe s mention of Gethsemane is an example of what literary term? 3. What does the poem suggest about the power to withstand time? 4. What is the state of the Coliseum in the poem? 5. What message does Echoes extend to the speaker of the poem? 6. The last three lines of the poem are an example of what two literary terms? 23 STUDY GUIDE

9 STUDENT COPY To Helen Vocabulary elysian delightful enkindle incite; arouse meridian highest point parterre a carefully arranged flower garden precipitate to cause to happen quietude tranquility; peace repining yearning; complaining scintillant flashing, sparkling, or shining 1. What kind of poem is this? What is the tone of the poem? 2. What Fell on the upturn d faces? 3. Explain the pun on Venuses in the last line. 4. Locate one simile in this poem. 38 STUDY GUIDE