The RavenWeek 10 (Nov.4 -Nov.8)
The second marking period ends on Nov. 14, 2002, and the work you must have to pass the marking periods are:
For Period 1 & 2:
For Period 3:
Day 1: Monday (Nov. 4)
Objective: The student will
Helen, thy beauty is to me
Like those Nicean barks of yore,
That gently, o'er a perfumed sea,
The weary, wayworn wanderer bore
To his own native shore.
On desperate seas long wont to roam,
Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face,
Thy Naiad airs have brought me home
To the glory that was Greece
And the grandeur that was Rome.
Lo! in yon brilliant window-niche
How statue-like I see thee stand,
The agate lamp within thy hand!
Ah, Psyche, from the regions which
Are Holy Land!
Appendix:
Nicean: Many interpretations. Most agree on its musical quality and classical associations.
Resourceful URLS:
HW-Follow up activities:
Do research on the references used in the poem. What does each mythological character look like in the myth? Synthesize the information you found about these characters and draw a picture or an illustration of the character, "Helen" in the poem.
Day 2: (Tuesday Nov. 5)No class for students
Day 3 : Wed.(Nov.6)
Overview: The lesson is designed to help students understand how devices of sound, such as repetition, alliteration, consonance, internal rhyme, refrain and onomatopoeia, govern the mood within a poem. In this lesson, students will also be introduced to the Romantic ideas- self-absorbed, tormented speaker reflects the Romantic focus on the self; the exotic past. They will demonstrate their understanding of the devices of sound in the poem by listing three examples of each device and describe how each device is used to create the mood.
Materials: Poems " The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe
The RavenOnce upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. "'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door- Only this, and nothing more." Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December, And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. Eagerly I wished the morrow;- vainly I had sought to borrow From my books surcease of sorrow- sorrow for the lost Lenore- For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore- Nameless here for evermore. And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain Thrilled me- filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before; So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating, "'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door- Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;- This it is, and nothing more." Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer, "Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore; But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping, And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door, That I scarce was sure I heard you"- here I opened wide the door;- Darkness there, and nothing more. Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before; But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token, And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore!" This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!"- Merely this, and nothing more. Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning, Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before. "Surely," said I, "surely that is something at my window lattice: Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore- Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;- 'Tis the wind and nothing more." Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter, In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore; Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he; But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door- Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door- Perched, and sat, and nothing more. Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling, By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore. "Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, "art sure no craven, Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the Nightly shore- Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!" Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore." Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly, Though its answer little meaning- little relevancy bore; For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being Ever yet was blest with seeing bird above his chamber door- Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door, With such name as "Nevermore." But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour. Nothing further then he uttered- not a feather then he fluttered- Till I scarcely more than muttered, "other friends have flown before- On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before." Then the bird said, "Nevermore." Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken, "Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store, Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore- Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore Of 'Never- nevermore'." But the Raven still beguiling all my fancy into smiling, Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust and door; Then upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore- What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt and ominous bird of yore Meant in croaking "Nevermore." This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core; This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamplight gloated o'er, But whose velvet violet lining with the lamplight gloating o'er, She shall press, ah, nevermore! Then methought the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer Swung by Seraphim whose footfalls tinkled on the tufted floor. "Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee- by these angels he hath sent thee Respite- respite and nepenthe, from thy memories of Lenore! Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!" Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore." "Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!- prophet still, if bird or devil!- Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore, Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted- On this home by horror haunted- tell me truly, I implore- Is there- is there balm in Gilead?- tell me- tell me, I implore!" Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore." "Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil- prophet still, if bird or devil! By that Heaven that bends above us- by that God we both adore- Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn, It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore- Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore." Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore." "Be that word our sign in parting, bird or fiend," I shrieked, upstarting- "Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore! Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken! Leave my loneliness unbroken!- quit the bust above my door! Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!" Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore." And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door; And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming, And the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor; And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor Shall be lifted- nevermore! Procedures and Activities:
Start the class by discussing the title of the poem "Raven"-its symbolic meaning. What mood could be created in the poem by this image? Read the last line of each stanza and discuss why "nevermore" is repetitiously used(refrain)? What poetic effect is created through this repetition?(single effect-hypnotic, eerie gloom) Read the first sentence of the poem and point out how each element of it contributes to the single effect(midnight dreary", "weak and weary", and "pondered"-the internal rhyme and alliteration of w sounds contribute to the hypnotic effect.
While reading-- circle the words which have the same beginning consonant( nearly napping, ghastly grim, followed fast)-alliteration . underline the lines in which rhyme occurs within a line( Nothing farther then he uttered, not a feather then he fluttered)-internal rhyme.
When finish reading, discuss and answer the following questions:
What is the only word the raven speaks? In stanza 9, to what does the speaker think the word relates?
How does he explain the word when the raven first repeat it(line62-66)?
The first stanza presents a speaker who is physically exhausted and under obvious emotional strain. He reads to distract himself from sorrow., but the "quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore" implies a taste for the occult or the fantastic. How do these details relate to his later assumption that the raven is an agent of the supernatural? The second stanza establishes the speaker's grief for the lost Lenore, and the third stanza sharply increases the emotional tension. Why, in lines 15-18, does he need to reassure himself by repeating that the tapping is only some late-night visitor and "nothing more"? What else does he seem to expect? At first, the raven makes the speaker smile (line43). But his first speech to the raven associates the bird with Pluto, the ruler of infernal regions (line45-48). What does this tell us about what is truly in his mind? Lines 49-78 take speaker through a number of reactions: surprise that the bird speaks; the melancholy assumption that this companion will fly from him as "other friends" have done; a sensible explanation of how the bird may have learned its single word; and even playful amusement. Still, it becomes clear that, beneath his apparent assurance, the speaker is moving toward hysteria. What loss of control is indicated in line 74? Why is it appropriate that the stanza should end with the speaker now using the word nevermore? About what does the speaker begin to think that when he wheels his chair in front of the raven (lines 69-72)? From line 79 on the speaker seems to lose whatever emotional control he had. How is the disorder of his senses indicated in lines 79-80? Where is the raven now? What will never be lifted from the raven's shadow? Since the raven repeats only the single word, the significance of " Nevermore" as an answer depends entirely on the question asked. I the dialogue of lines 81-95, how does the speaker use the bird to confirm his own worst fears? What does the speaker interpret "nevermore" in line 84 and in line 96 to mean? What do you know about the raven's answer that the speaker does not realize? What does the raven come to represent for the speaker? What does "Plutonian shore"(line98) suggest about the speaker's final evaluation of the raven? Of himself? After the frenzy with which he proclaims that the raven's word is a "lie" and tries to drive the bird from him, the speaker seems strangely calm in the last stanza, as if he had recovered his reason. How does the repetition of the phrase "still is sitting"(line103) indicate that this is not so? How does the poet make this repeated phrase sound even more ominous? Which other lines in the final stanza suggest that the speaker may never return to his sense?] Evaluate the speaker's emotional state at the beginning of the poem, in the last but one stanza, and in the last stanza. What does the future probably hold for the speaker?
HW. Follow-up Activities:
In a famous essay, "The Philosophy of Composition," Poe gives an account of how he wrote "The Raven". First he decided what the effect of the poem was to be, then he chose a subject and poetic devices, and finally, he worked out the form of his stanzas and the details of the narrative. Locate the essay in a collection of Poe's works, read it and then write an imaginary account of the composition of "To Hellen". In the imaginary account, (1)present Poe's theory of poetry, (2)then describe the intended effect of the poem, (3)and finally, tell how you (as Poe) went about creating the effect.
Appendix:
Poe said that when he set out to write a poem with a melancholy
effect, the word "nevermore" was the first word that came into his mind,
both for its sound and for its meaning. The subject of the poem, he decided,
had to be the death of a beautiful woman, " " unquestionably , the most poetical topic in the world." His first thought was to have nevermore repeated by a parrot, but he saw greater possibilities in a raven, "the bird of ill omen," an emblem of " Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance."
Resources:
Links to Poe's Poetry: http://www.rit.edu/~exb1874/mine/poe/poe_ind.html
Poe's biography: http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/Dell/3627/
Read about Poe's life, his wife, and his friends: http://www.nadn.navy.mil/EnglishDept/poeperplex/poe1.htm
Day 4: Thursday (Nov. 7)
Read Act One of The Crucible and follow the lesson on Act I
Day 5 : Friday (Nov. 8)