Unit Five: Exploring Expressive Writing - (1.11, 1.2)

Students Will: Identify and apply a variety of appropriate reading strategies to make sense of a variety of print texts, to understand the human experience, and to develop ideas in written/oral responses. They will also write informative pieces that demonstrate independent thinking about the content and structure observed in poetry reading.

Task: You are beginning a study of poetry from various period in literature. You will learn about poets and their poetry from the Renaissance, Romantic, and Contemporary periods. As you read poetry from authors representative of each of the periods, you should be careful to read and take notes over several of the poems you read. You will comparing some poems later on as well as writing about the lives of selected poets. As you read and study these poems, look for major themes and ideas represented in the writings. You should also look for such elements as: tone, grammatical patterns, ideas discussed, symbols, metaphors or other literary elements.

Go to the identified website(s) and read several selections from each poet.

Renaissance - Robert Herrick, John Donne, Ben Jonson, and William Alexander

http://www.presgroup.com/poets/ At this site you should read at least three poems written by the following authors and take notes over the poems you read. You are free to read as many poems as you'd like. The more poems you read, the more familiar you will become with each author's style and will be able to understand connections and ideas in the works. Authors for your study are: Robert Herrick, John Donne, Ben Jonson, and William Alexander. Again, you are free to read any other additional works by poets at this site.

http://www.bartleby.com/145/index.html At this site you should read and take notes over at least three poems written by William Wordsworth. You are also free to read as many additional poems as you'd like.

http://www.bartleby.com/139/index.html At this site you should read and take notes over at least three poems written by Percy Bysshe Shelley. You are also free to read as many additional poems as you'd like.

http://www.bartleby.com/126/index.html At this site you should read and take notes over at least three poems written by John Keats. You are also free to read as many additional poems as you'd like.

http://www.emule.com/poetry/works.cgi?author=3 At this site you should read and take notes over at least three poems written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. You are also free to read as many additional poems as you'd like.

http://www.bartleby.com/index.html At this site you should read and take notes over at least three poems by the following authors: Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Walt Whitman, Carl Sandburg, and Edna St. Vincent Millay. You are also free to read as many additional poems as you'd like.

**You are free to do any additional web searches for other poets that you might know that wrote during these periods. If you have a favorite poet you may research that poet as well and take notes over those poems. Where several poets are listed at the sites listed above, you may browse them and read their works as well. You are not limited to the poets listed for the assignments, but make certain the poets are from the literary period studied in this unit.