Coleridge & Shelley

1) The power of the imagination is often exalted in Romantic poetry. In your opinion, does “Kubla Khan” celebrate the imagination or caution against its indulgence? To whom might Coleridge be writing and for what purpose(s)?

Our English text book states that the power of imagination is often exalted in Romantic poetry and in my opinion “Kubla Khan” definitely fits this statement. Although Coleridge references real people and places in his poem, he does go off into the extraordinary. In Coleridge’s poem he fabricates a dome in the sky, which is described to have an unimaginative beauty with rivers, trees, flowers, winding paths and even an Ethiopian maiden. I believe Coleridge writes this poem for people who want to escape their ordinary lives. This poem describes a fantasy land that does not have any problems and when some one reads this poem for that moment they can escape to this land and be in peace.


2) Even in the brief space of a sonnet, Shelley suggests a number of narrative frames. How many speakers do you hear in "Ozymandias"? What does each of these voices seem to say to you (or to others) as listeners?

In Shelley’s “Ozymandis” sonnet I found that she used four narrative frames, being the traveler, narrator, sculptor and Ozymandis himself. The very first line of this sonnet belongs to the narrator, which starts this poem off by saying that he meant a traveler from an “ancient land.” This then bring us into the second speaker which is the traveler. The traveler gives details about a sculpture that once stood on this land. He or she explains that this piece of art work is in pieces but still you can see the great details that were put into this statue. After the traveler explains the details of the ruins it then goes to talk about the sculptor which is the third speaker in this poem. The sculptor gave the details on the face of this statue due to his feelings towards Ozymandis, whom the statue was for. Underneath of the statue was a saying by Ozymandis himself, which makes him the fourth speaker in this sonnet. Ozymandis states that he is the king and for everyone to admirer his land that he rules, which shows that he is very arrogant and that is how the sculptor perceived him.

Blake's Poetry

1) Yes, I do agree with the editors of the textbook that Blake's poetry had the power to enact social change by appealing to the imagination of the reader. The editors of the textbook claim that the Romantic poets hoped to bring about social and political change through their poetry which I believe Blake does. Blake describes the harsh conditions and psychological turmoil that child workers of the late 1700's endured. Blake lets the readers know that most of the children in the 1700's where sold into these harsh working conditions by their own parents. These children walked around with a smile on their faces showing no pain but deep down inside they were emotionally and physically drained and unhappy. Blake wants his readers to put themselves in these children’s shoes because he feels that a change is desperately needed.

2) After reading the Parliament transcript I had registered a clearer image of what Blake was trying to portray about child labor. The transcript described the harsh conditions and punishment the children endured which made Blake’s words come to life. I believed the editors included the Parliament transcript as a primary source document because they were showing the reader the meaning behind Blake’s poems.

Gulliver's Travel

a) Questions:

1. Why didn't Swift put a translation to the Lilliputians words in his book?
2. Why did he talk about "the primitive way of breaking eggs?" And what was its purpose in the story?
3. What do the Lilliputians represent and why are they so small?
4. Why do they hold Gulliver hostage? What threat do they believe he poses to them?
5. At the end of the story are they using Gulliver's size to their advantage? Is that the main reason why they let him go with out killing him?

Important Excerpts:

pg. 654: “But I should have mentioned, that before the principal person began his oration, he cried out three times, Langro dehul san”

I choose this excerpt because I believe the phrase that the Lilliputian spoke was related to Gulliver’s future. I think the phrase that was spoken was a sign of relief that Gulliver was there. The relief being that they final have power on there side against the island of Blefuscu. The Lilliputians could use Gulliver’s size to their advantage and final end the dispute with Blefuscu. I believe this phrase foreshadows Gulliver’s future by him being the key to end their on going conflict.

pg. 655: This excerpt that I chosen is where Gulliver ask the Lilliputians to feed him. The Lilliputians then give him an abundant amount of food and drink satisfying Gulliver’s hunger to the fullest. I believe that the massive amount of food that is given to Gulliver is a bride. They want to set terms good with Gulliver because they have future plans for him. This excerpt is important because it has to deal with Gulliver’s future at Lilliput and possibly could deal with his future after he leaves the island of Lilliput.


Predictions: After reading Gulliver's Travel I believe some students might have trouble understanding why the Lilliputians are so small compared to Gulliver. For students to understand this a little bit better I would probably suggest them to research a little about Swift's work and the purposes of some of his writing. Then with that information hopefully the student can then put together Swift's reasoning’s of making the Lilliputians so small. Another aspect in this story that I believe will give trouble to students is why Gulliver didn’t just break through the ropes that were tying him down. Gulliver obliviously had the size to his advantage and could of easily gotten away. To understand Gulliver's reasoning’s, I believe the student should find the full excerpt of Part 1 of Gulliver's travel. The reason why i suggest this is because our text only gives a excerpt of this book not the full book mostly likely leaving out information that could lead to why Gulliver did not rebel.


b) After working in our teaching groups I believe it made us think more into the story. I say this because one needs to know the back round and a sufficient amount of information to teach a class. This teaching group gave me a new perspective now on our English lessons. This is because I know now the thought process behind putting a lesson together. With forming our question and its possible answers I was able to evaluate parts of the story in a different ways that I never would have done.

c) On Monday when we present our teaching groups the one thing I would like to change is to put more information supporting our question. I feel that with a little more information it will help us out when we go to explain our lesson to the other groups. For our lesson plan my group and I have decided we would start with out predictions first. We have based most of our predictions around our question so it would then ease into our question and its supporting information. With this approach my group members and I hope that our lesson plan will end in a success.