Compare and contrast the relationship(s) between childhood and adulthood in the work of Blake and Wordsworth. Consider (at least) Songs of Innocence and Experience and “Ode: Intimations of Immortality.”

1. Compare and contrast the relationship(s) between childhood and adulthood in the work of Blake and Wordsworth. Consider (at least) Songs of Innocence and Experience and “Ode: Intimations of Immortality.”

2. Discuss the main points of Romantic poetic theory, looking especially at the Preface to Lyrical Ballads and Biographia Literaria.

3. Choose a Romantic writer and discuss his/her work as social criticism. What social problems are addressed?  How are they addressed?  What criticisms are made? Be sure to cite specific passages in particular poems.

4. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is usefully considered as a spiritual saga—a journey toward wisdom through transgression, punishment, and redemption. Discuss the Mariner’s saga, describing what he goes through, why, and what he comes to understand about himself and the cosmos at large.

5. Explicate^[1] one of the following poems: “Tam o’Shanter: A Tale” (183), “Frost at Midnight” (482), “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty” (788), “Written after Swimming from Sestos to Abydos” (612).

^[1] An explication is a close reading type of poetry analysis.  You should identify relevant and significant elements of versification, such as rhyme scheme, meter, stanzaic organization, figurative language, narrative voice, etc.  However, your primary attention should be on interpretation of meaning; this should be done by examining the poem line by line to see what the poem says and how it says it.  You must go beyond “What the poem means to me” in an explication.  Also beware of reading something into a poem; i.e., projecting personal feelings or impressions.  Be sure to refer often to lines and words to support your interpretations.