Romantic Poets
If you think Romance poets (1800-1840) wrote about love, think again. Romance poets were known for writing about the supernatural and some, like Edgar Allan Poe, pictured above, liked to write about creepy things!
1. Read about Poe and Romanticism:
Poe liked to use alliteration in his poems. This means he used the same sounds in several words in a poem such as “Whither wilt thou wander wayfarer” (Translation: Where are you going?)
Poe also used assonance, which means the same vowel ( a, e, i, o, u ) sound is repeated.
Hear the mellow wedding bells. The same sound is heard in mellow, wedding and bells.
2. Listen to one of his most famous poems and write down three examples of alliteration and three examples of assonance.
3. Find the lyrics (words) to your favorite song. Find examples if alliteration and assonance in the song.
4. Share this information with members of your small discussion group.
Here are two more Romantic writers:
Transcendentalists
Transcendentalist poets (1820-1860s) wrote about nature and how it made them feel. Transcendentalists thought it was important to figure out the answer to life’s questions. Emily Dickinson was a transcendentalist poet. She loved to write about nature.
1. Read more about Emily Dickinson and Transcendentalism.
2. Watch the video and read along with one of Emily Dickinson’s poems
3. Poets use tone is to describe the mood they are setting in the poem. Sometimes the mood is scary, other times it is carefree or even sad. What is the tone of the poem Hope? Write down your thoughts in a paragraph. Why do you think it has that tone?
4. Find the words to your favorite song. What is the tone of the song? Give examples of words in the song that express the tone.
Here are some other writers to research: