Questions:
Poems by Keats, Coleridge, Heine, and others
These areas are emphasized:
Poems by Samuel Coleridge - "Frost at Midnight", "Kubla Khan", "Rime of the Ancient Mariner", and "This Lime-Tree Bower, My Prison" and Poems by John Keats "Ode to a Nightingale", "Ode on a Grecian Urn", "La Belle Dame Sans Merci", and "The Terror of Death"
Respond to discussion questions: short answer is needed only
DQ
1. In "Kubla Khan", the poet speaks of "Ancestral voices prophesying war". Who are these ancestors? Why do they forecast war?
2. The last two lines of "Ode on a Grecian Urn" may be the most famous in English poetry. Is there any validity to this statement?
Poems by Heinrich Heine - "The Asra", and "The Slave Ship" and From "The Origin of the Species" by Charles Darwin - The Introduction and Chapter 14
DQ
It's necessary to understand that Heine believes what humans long for is some relation to other longing humans. What makes us human is our sense of what makes others human.
1. In "The Asra" and "The Slave Ship", what kinds of pleasure are available to the slaves or bondsmen? Does the pleasure make it possible for them to transcend the social or political superiority of their masters?
2. Are you surprised at the end of "The Slave Ship"? What do you think of the Captain's prayer?
DQ
Read: Poems by Alfred Lord Tennyson - "The Lady of Shallot", "Blow Bugle Blow", "Home They Brought Her Warrior Dead", "Ulysses", and "Crossing the Bar" and Poems by Robert Browning - "Home Thoughts from Abroad", "Parting at Morning", " "The Lost Leader", and "The Patriot: An Old Story"
1. Why did the Lady of Shallot die? Think about the knight in Keats "La Belle Dame Sans Merci".
2. Is "Home They Brought Her Warrior Dead" an anti-war poem? Why or why not?