M5-1

P/S Worksheet

Evaluative question Primary Source Title Lyrical Ballads

Secondary Source title “A Brief Guide to Romanticism”

Who was the author? (Not the editor or the translator)

Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wadsworth

Poets.org – the Academy of American Poets

Who is the audience? Be Specific. This is never ALL people.

The author’s audience was the middle and upper classes as implied in the “Advertisement”.

Students or lovers of poetry trying to understand the late 18th century movement.

What type of document is it? (*More than a primary or secondary source. i.e. autobiography, letter, law, etc.)

Book of poetry Article summarizing the Romantic movement.

What is the subject or author’s thesis?

Poetry is the subject – particularly refined ballads similar to that of the ancient world.

The subject is poetry of the Romantic movement.

What was the author’s motive for writing the source?

The author’s motive was to prove poetry was more than rhyming and bawdy words. Coleridge was attempting an experiment.

This was an article attempting to summarize Romantic poetry and make it more accessible to people today.

Does the author have an obvious bias? (*Note that all authors have biases, but not all are obvious.) What is the bias?

Coleridge has an obvious bias against popular poetry of the period. He was trying to redefine it.

The bias is simply that poetry of the Romantic era is valuable and should be classified as art.

Where was the document written? How does this influence what is written?

The poems were written in England, particularly in the countryside which feature heavily in the poems. The setting in the countryside of many of the poems reflects the poets’ repudiation of the chaos of industrialism.

It is not clear where the article was written, but it was written by the American Academy of Poets, so most likely in the US. This may influence the interpretation of Romantic poetry by placing more emphasis on their importance as a cultural heritage.

When was the document written?

First published in 1798 and then republished in 1802.

The article was written in 2004.

What was the effect of the source on history?

The impact of the poetry on history was great as this stands as a masterpiece of the Romantic era. Both Coleridge and Wadsworth are considered greats.

The article claims that Romantic poetry is art and it has been classified as such in academic studies.

What was the historical context of the document? What was going on at the time that might have influenced the author’s opinions? How did the source affect your view of the topic or event, if a secondary source?

This was the height of the Romantic era. Romanticism was an attempt to address the chaos created by the fast paced Industrial Revolution.

The article claims that Romantic poetry incorporated political ideas such as freedom and revolution into its themes. This also created a stereotype that a poet is someone who feels more emotionally than others. Prior to reading this, I understood Romanticism on an intellectual level but not on an emotional one.

Why was the document written? (*You may have to infer this by reading between the lines or doing further research.)

Coleridge was attempting to spread the idea that poetry was more than rhyming and instead should appeal to those with refinement. See the “Advertisement” at the beginning of the book.

The summary of Romanticism was written to emphasize and prove the importance of Romantic poetry to the modern world.

Is the document credible? Why or why not? (*See how to determine reliability or credibility in Module 3’s Research Assignment.)

The document is credible in that poetry is a reflection of the inner self. There is no reason to believe that Coleridge or Wadsworth were lying about the beauty of nature, though they may have exaggerated the bucolic atmosphere to contrast the gray, crowded, noise of the industrial city.

Yes, in that it was written by an “academy” of poets about poetry, however, biases on behalf of the authors must be taken into account when evaluating credibility.