Explicit Parallel Read: Romanticism & Annabel Lee - Literal Qs

Explicit Parallel Read: Literal Qs

What literal details show how Romantic and Gothic Romantic writers viewed emotion, nature, and human experience and how does Poe’s “Annabel Lee” reflect those details?

Learning Intentions

We’re going to focus only on what the text says directly. No guesses or opinions. You’ll use evidence from both the informational passage and the poem to identify literal details about:

1. what Romantic writers rejected and valued
2. what Gothic Romanticism focused on
3. what literally happens in "Annabel Lee"

We’ll stop to mark text evidence, cite it, and write short margin notes showing what it tells us literally.

The Rise of Romanticism

Let’s find where the text tells us what Romantic artists rejected and valued instead.

According to ¶3, what did Romantic artists reject and what did they celebrate instead?

Margin Note

Annotation

"Romantic artists generally rejected this industrialism. Instead, they celebrated emotions, imagination, and the individual."

#FeelingOverFactory Romantics chose imagination and emotion over machines.

Transcendental Belief

Find what Transcendentalists believed about truth and understanding.

Where did they believe true knowledge comes from in ¶5–6?

Margin Note

Annotation

#NatureKnows Truth comes from nature and the inner self.

“That part of the self is very connected to nature and is capable of providing knowledge.”

Defining Gothic Romanticism

Now, let’s look at the darker side of Romanticism. Find the sentence that defines Gothic Romanticism.

What does the text say Gothic Romanticism explored in ¶7?

Margin Note

Annotation

“Gothic Romantic writing took an interest in themes such as madness, death, evil, and the destructive aspects of nature.”

#DarkFeelings Gothic Romantics studied madness, death, evil, and destructive nature.

Style and Form

Romantic writers even changed how writing looked and sounded. What does the text literally say they did differently?

What did Romantic poets experiment with in their writing style in ¶10?

Margin Note

Annotation

“Poets such as Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman broke with more traditional, strict structures for poems and created free verse.”

#FreeVerse Romantics didn’t follow strict rhyme or meter.

Setting and Action in "Annabel Lee"

Now, in Poe’s poem, identify what literally happens to Annabel Lee.

What does the poem say happens to Annabel Lee in lines 15-20?

Margin Note

Annotation

"A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling / My beautiful Annabel Lee; / So that her highborn kinsmen came / And bore her away from me."

#CauseAndEffect A cold wind makes her ill and her family takes her away.

Setting in "Annabel Lee"

Find the phrase that tells where the story takes place.

What does the setting phrase reveal literally in lines 1-2?

Margin Note

Annotation

#Setting The story happens long ago by the sea.

“It was many and many a year ago, / In a kingdom by the sea.”

What the Speaker Does at the End

Read the final stanza to see what the speaker literally does each night.”

What does the setting phrase reveal literally in lines 38-41?

Margin Note

Annotation

"And so, all the night-tide, I lie, I lie down by the side/ Of my darling-my darling- my life and my bride,/ In her sepulchre there by the sea-/ In her tomb by the sounding sea"

#SleepsByTheSea He lies beside her tomb at night.

Learning Intention Check

I can explain what Romantic writers rejected and valued. I can explain what Gothic Romanticism focused on. I can explain what literally happens in "Annabel Lee".

Answer the Quick Check Qs in Canvas.