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Lesson 3

We will investigate Frankenstein through the lens of the romantic literary movement while continuing to explore what it means to be human.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I participate collaboratively, offering ideas or judgments that are purposeful in moving the team toward goals, asking relevant and insightful questions, tolerating a range of positions and ambiguity in decision making in a jigsaw discussion activity?

  • Can I make connections to personal experiences, ideas in Frankenstein and various romantic poems, and society?

  • Can I analyze relationships among thematic development, characterization, point of view, significance of setting, and plot in Frankenstein and various romantic poems?

  • Can I analyze the effects of sound, form, figurative language, graphics, and dramatic structure in 19th-century British and American romantic poetry?

Texts

Core

  • Tradebook
    • Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, Signet Classics, 1831
  • Unit Reader
    • “Mutability,” Percy Bysshe Shelley, Poetry Foundation, 1816
    • “The Romantics,” Stephanie Forward, British Library, 2014
    • “To Science,” Edgar Allen Poe, Poetry Foundation, 1829
    • “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer,” Walt Whitman, Poetry Foundation, 1865

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read – Discuss

We will work in groups to review our answers to the guiding questions from chapters 9–10 of Frankenstein.

Step 1

Join your group to review your homework reading. Use the following questions to guide your discussion and be sure to cite evidence from the text to support your responses:

  1. How do Shelley’s setting descriptions in these two chapters impact our understanding of Victor’s character? How do they develop tension within the story?

  2. How would you describe Victor’s creation, both physically and emotionally? How does this description compare to his representation in today’s culture (i.e., what do you think of when you hear the name “Frankenstein”)?

  3. Why might Shelley include an allusion to Milton’s poem Paradise Lost? What comparisons might she be trying to draw and why?

As you discuss your answers, consider adding additional notes to your Frankenstein Big Ideas Note-Taking Tool.

Step 2

Take a few moments to record additional notes in your Frankenstein Big Ideas Note-Taking Tool.

Activity 2: Read – Write – Discuss

We will read an article entitled, “The Romantics” and answer guiding questions in our Learning Logs.

Step 1

Read and annotate the article "The Romantics." Use the following questions to guide your reading:

  1. What stands out about how the author has structured the text and its components?

  2. What are the author’s key points?

  3. How do the ideas and information in the text relate to what you already think or know?

  4. How might you summarize what you have read in this text?

  5. How might the romantics define humanity?

Step 2

After reading the article, discuss the guiding questions in a small group.

Record the terms gothic, romanticism, and sublime in your Vocabulary Journal.

Activity 3: Read – Discuss

We will read and analyze three poems in jigsaw groups.

Step 1

In this jigsaw, you will first work with your expert group (e.g., Expert Group A, Expert Group B, or Expert Group C). As you read and analyze your assigned poem, you become an expert in that section.

Next, you will form home groups made up of experts from each expert group. In your home group, you will share your analysis of the assigned poem from your expert group in a jigsaw discussion.

Get into your expert groups as assigned by your teacher.

Step 2

Review the following titles of poems:

  • Expert Group A: "Mutability" by Percy Shelley

  • Expert Group B: "To Science" by Edgar Allen Poe

  • Expert Group C: "When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer" by Walt Whitman

Read and discuss the poem your expert group has been assigned and record responses to the following questions in your Learning Log:

  1. Which words and phrases stand out as powerful or important?

  2. How do the poet’s word choices develop tone, mood, or meaning?

  3. What images stand out in the poem? What feelings do they evoke?

  4. What comparative devices (metaphors, similes, allusions, or analogies) has the poet used? Why?

  5. How would you describe the form of the poem? Does the form impact the meaning of the poem? How?

  6. Read the poem aloud a few times. How does the poem sound? Is there a rhythm to the poem? Does the poem’s form impact how it sounds?

  7. Is there a symbolic level of meaning? If so, how has the poet developed the text’s symbolism?

  8. What is the plot in the poem? Is there any conflict unfolding? If so, what is it?

  9. Based on what you learned in the article "The Romantics," why do you think this poem is considered a piece of romantic writing?

Step 3

Join your home group.

In your home group, discuss your responses to the guiding questions for the poem you analyzed.

In your Learning Log, take notes for the poem you did not analyze as an expert.

Activity 4: Read – Write

We will analyze whether Frankenstein is a romantic novel.

Step 1

In small groups, discuss the following question:

  1. According to what you learned from reading "The Romantics," is Frankenstein a romantic novel? Why or why not?

As you discuss your answers, consider adding notes to your Frankenstein Big Ideas Note-Taking Tool.

Step 2

Take a few moments to record additional notes in your Frankenstein Big Ideas Note-Taking Tool.

Activity 5: Read – Write

For homework, we will read chapters 11–12 of Frankenstein and answer guiding questions in our Learning Logs.

For homework, we will read and annotate Chapters 11-12 of Frankenstein. Respond to the following questions in your Learning Log:

  1. What is the impact of the shift in point of view from Victor to the creature? Why is it interesting that the story is still being told by Walton?

  2. What observations does the creature make about humans and society throughout these chapters? What impact do these observations have on him? Explain your thinking.

  3. What is the significance of Frankenstein’s creature referring to language as a "godlike science"? In what ways does the creature’s desire to learn language inform our understanding of the need for human connection?

  4. The creature is hopeful he will be accepted into society. Do you predict the cottagers will welcome him? What might be the result of your response?

Record new or interesting words you encounter in your Vocabulary Journal. Also, record at least one sentence that stands out to you as interesting or that represents a strong example of a particular concept you have learned in your Mentor Sentence Journal.

Add character entries for the creature and the cottagers in your Learning Log.