Lesson Overview 

Before the Poems

Quiz / Test

Because this lesson will take the entire period, and you may need the time usually given over for quizzing, I have supplied two very different quizzes.  The first one is just a "I WAS HERE" quiz - the question is silly, and could be answered whether they read or not - but it helps the teacher note who was in class (yes, I know there is attendance).  The second type of quiz is a regular content quiz on all the poems and on the Byron biographical material.

Power Point Presentation

The last two years that I taught this lesson - I was moved by Remote Learning to create a Power Point for this lesson.  It's not necessary - but it may help with focus.  That presentation can be found below - both in Power Point and PDF formats.  I have written down for each slide some notes on how I handled the background an poems.  You can easily (and you should) turn the notes off when showing either the Power Point or the PDF.  Questions to ask the students are in BOLD FACE, while the potential student answers are in parenthesis.  Further points on the lines, biography, or the poem in its entirety are in italics.

Biographical Material

Usually, I just ask - "What can you tell me about Lord Byron?" (and of course - the students all shouted out about Byron's relationship with his half-sister.  During remote - and when we switched to horrible Block Scheduling, we read the through the book's intro to Byron (found on the Power Point) and talked about it a little.  

The Poems

I have included below, both a PDF of my notes for discussion, written directly on the student poem handout, and a Power Point (also in pdf form) with the notes  embedded on the Power Point – my take is in italics, the questions are in bold face, and possible (good) answers are in parenthesis.  

As always – for all of the poems – you can either have a student read the entire poem (asking for volunteers) or if you are short on time – just the lines that are up on the screen (if you're doing the Power Point). If a student reads the entire poem first, then the teacher can read these poems when they ask the questions.  What follows is just a short sentence or two on each of the poems covered.

She Walks in Beauty

Wow!  Great poem to start with.  Powerful - filled with imagery and the students love figuring it out (remember - always Literal before Figurative).  My students over the years also loved this poem because of how it treats darkness - rather than always associating what is bright and light with Beauty.

So We'll Go no More a Roving

After the nature obsessed Wordsworth and Colerdige - it's fun to delve into a little relationship drama.  This poem is also fun to conflate with the one that follows.  Creating a story of a lover whose heart is broken - and the "emo" feelings that go with it.

When We Two Parted

And here is the second part of that "story".  This poem describes the feelings of the persona - and how while his lover is outwardly shamed - he still feels it - it's just hidden from the world.

The Destruction of Sennacherib

A supernatural story of piety and destruction.  Again - the kids love it - we just read it as a story, and then link it all the way back to Anglo-Saxon times, and the incredible Celtic Poem, "Eagle of Pengwern". 

On This Day I Complete my Thirty-Sixth Year

A change of pace - and important, not as much for its aesthetic value, as for how it demonstrates how poets (namely Bryon) change over the course of their life and career.  A poem about fighting for Greek Independence - that perhaps forgets the younger Byron's disdain for empty heroism.  It also demonstrates the truism that we always think that we are very old - at the age we happen to be.

Darkness

A poem about the end of the world - again, filled with beautiful imagery but most important as it will show up later in the year (not too much later) when we read Tom Stoppard's play - Arcadia.

My Soul is Dark

More emo from Lord Byron - and very closely linked to the opening of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.