Journal Innocence versus Experience What do you value more, innocence or experience?

Journal Age of Reason and Romantic Era Personified Using your notes, think about the ideas of the Age of Reason—what writers and philosophers esteemed during this age. If you could give these ideas and values human form, what would this person be like? In other words, think about the traits (physical and personality) that would embody the Age of Reason. Similarly, do a character study for the Romantic Era—what would a person who embodied all the ideals of this movement be like? Which person do you identify with more? If you run out of things to say, simply describe with as much detail as possible what you know about the Romantic Movement.

Journal The Lamb vs. the Tyger Summarize the differences between the lamb and the tyger. How are they each characterized? What is the speaker’s attitude toward each respectively? What kind of God is portrayed through each poem respectively?

Returning Have you ever gone back to a place where you’d spent considerable time or that was significant to you in some way in the past and found the experience very different? Explain. Was your memory faithful to the place? Did you find that the place had changed, or that you had changed?

Blake versus Wordsworth How does Wordsworth’s treatment of innocence and experience compare with that of Blake’s?

Self-Analysis: Part 1 What is your favorite color? Think of four adjectives to describe it. What is your favorite animal? Again, think of four adjectives to describe it.

Part 2 The color is supposed to represent how you see yourself. Do you think this description is accurate? The animal is supposed to represent how others see you. Again, do you think this description is accurate. Explain.

Inspired by Nature Describe a time when you were inspired by nature. Try to put yourself in the shoes of a Romantic poet: use a lot of descriptive and sensory detail, be sure to explain the emotions evoked, and what this particular experience meant to you.

Music free-write Listen to each piece of music in turn. Free-write the images that are evoked and describe the mood that is created by each work of music. Try to (1) write in the spirit of Romantic poetry (2) be sensitive to what the artist was trying to express and (3) don’t think too much or examine too closely what you want to write—simply employ a stream-of-consciousness technique.