Tennyson

Knowing what you know about the Romantic poets, can you determine how much of Tennyson's style is influenced by the poets that came before him?   How would you characterize Tennyson's poetry?  Do you think he stresses form? imagery? both?  Does his narrative poetry ("The Lady of Shalott," e.g.) seem similar to or a departure from the narrative poetry of Keats, Wordsworth, and Coleridge?

I know we haven't had the chance to talk about his poetry yet, but we can start the conversation here.

Austen and Women

All  of Jane Austen's novels deal with the marriage plot--or the main action of each novel revolves around marriage.  In Pride and Prejudice this theme is introduced immediately.  As we said in class, the Bennet girls must marry because they have no rights to their father's estate.  But why marriage?

Why is marriage so important to all the female characters?  Why does Charlotte Lucas marry Mr. Collins, clearly, according to Elizabeth and most readers, I might suggest, an undesirable match for many reasons?  Look carefully at what she says--and how Elizabeth responds.

Romantic Poets

As I mentioned by way of introduction as we began our study of the Romantic poets, scholars singled out six poets (Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, and Keats), of which we have read five, and "constructed a unified Romanticism based on their works."  Based only on the limited works we have studied, what would you argue "unites" these poets and poetry?  In class we have discussed the repeated theme or motif of childhood v. adulthood,  innocence v. experience, so in addition to that, what similarities do you see?