1a. What kind of situations and language does Wordsworth propose to use in the poems in Lyrical Ballads?
2a. What, according to Wordsworth, is poetry?
3a. What does Wordsworth try to imitate in his poetry? What device does he reject?
4a. Identify the process Wordsworth describes for the writing of good poetry and the qualities of a good poem.
5a. The French Revolution began in 1789 when common folk stormed the Bastille prison to protest their treatment by the monarchy and demand equality. Having read the Preface to Lyrical Ballads, what would you judge the impact of the French Revolution to have been on Wordsworth's ideals and his conception of poetry?
1b. Why does Wordsworth feel strongly about the type of situation and language used in poetry? How does he feel about other kinds of topics and language used in poetry?
2b. Based on his notions of poetry, what can you infer about Wordsworth as a poet?
3b. Why would natural speech be the best way to express oneself in poetic form?
4b. What case does the speaker make for taking steps to remedy the social problem that brings about the curse mentioned in stanza 4?
5b. What might Wordsworth consider to be essential and universal elements of human nature?
Definition. Wordsworth defines poetry as "a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings." Do you consider this a complete or accurate definition? Why, or why not?
Work with a group to try to arrive at a definition of poetry that you consider accurate and useful.
Theme. Review the cluster chart you made in Literary Tools. What are some important themes in Wordsworth's Preface? What kinds of poems would not fit the criteria for poetry set forth by Wordsworth?
1a. According to the speaker, how do we "lay waste our powers"?
2a. According to the speaker, what have we "given . . . away"?
3a. What are the myths from "a creed outworn" to which the speaker refers?
4a. Review the selection from Preface to Lyrical Ballads on page 691. In it, Wordsworth rejects a kind of personification. And yet, in "The World Is Too Much with Us" he uses personification. What sort of personification does Wordsworth reject? What sort of personification does he apparently accept?
5a. Evaluate the emotion expressed in this poem. How does the poet feel about man's relationship to nature? Do you agree? Why, or why not?
1b. What might be wrong with focusing too much on "getting and spending"?
2b. Why does this action represent "a sordid boon"?
3b. What might have been felt or experienced by believers of these myths that is not felt or experienced by us today?
4b. What Romantic view of the proper relationship between humans and nature is expressed in this poem? In other words, what makes this poem Romantic? How is the poem's use of personification consistent with the Romantic view?
5b. To what time and place in history might this speaker like to return? Why might he want to do this ?
Allusion. What are the allusions in this poem?
Sonnet. What rhyme scheme does this poem follow? Rewrite the last word of each line and mark the rhyme scheme as shown below. soon a powers b
How is this sonnet unlike the typical Petrarchan sonnet described in Unit 4 of this text?
1a. What period of the speaker's life is described in lines 66–83?
2a. What feelings does the speaker describe having over the loss of this youthful relationship to nature?
3a. What does the speaker value most in his sister?
4a. In lines 66–83, the speaker describes his relationship to nature in his youth. In lines 88–111, he describes his relationship to nature as a man, in the present. Compare the two different descriptions and analyze the change in his relationship to nature.
5a. Consider the speaker's feeling that a more contemplative relationship to nature, one that involves both emotion and reason, is preferable to the relationship of his youth, in which he reacted to nature as if to an instinct, with the passion and joyous abandon of a deer. Why do you think he feels this way? Do you share those feelings? Explain.
1b. What metaphor from nature does he use to describe himself in his earliest visit to Tintern Abbey? What does this imply about his relationship to nature at that time?
2b. What things offer recompense to the speaker for having lost the "aching joys" of his youthful relationship with nature?
3b. Why does the speaker view nature as a protector of the human spirit?
4b. How does the speaker feel about this change? How do you interpret this "presence" in nature that the speaker describes?
5b. The speaker compares his young sister and her relationship to nature to his own relationship when he was young. What does this comparison tell you about his feelings toward his sister and his hopes for her as she lives out her life?
Free Verse and Blank Verse. Review the definitions for free verse and blank verse in the Handbook of Literary Terms. To which category does this selection belong? Explain your answer. Refer to specific aspects of the poem.
Ode. To whom is this ode addressed and how are they related?
1. Taking Wordsworth's view expressed in the poem "The World Is Too Much with Us," write an apology to nature on behalf of humanity for having abandoned it.
2. Take an imaginary journey to a world in which people are completely in touch with nature. Write a few entries in a travel journal about this new land. Describe the place and your impressions of it. How do the people live? What is important to them? You may wish to make comparisons to your own homeland as well.
3. Write a free verse poem of at least two stanzas on a childhood memory and what it now means to you. You may choose a place you recall, a family event, a person or a special possession. What did it mean to you at the time and what is its significance to you now? If its significance has changed, why do you think this is so?
Verb Tense. Rewrite and complete each sentence below by writing the verb form described in parentheses.
1. Since I was here last, five years . (present perfect of pass)
2. Those landscapes me many moments of tranquil recollection over the years. (past perfect of give)
3. When we are quiet and thoughtful, we into the life of things. (present of see)
4. As you mature, you more fully the value of quiet time and of friends. (future of appreciate)
5. The memory of that landscape is more powerful to me because you it and it with me. (past of see and share)
Researching the French Revolution. Using the library and world history texts, research the French Revolution in order to better understand the revolutionary ideas that so inspired the Romantics. What events led to the revolt? Who were the leaders, and what were their ideals? How did the rest of the world react? What was the ultimate outcome of the revolution?
Research Findings:
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