Project: Responding to Literature For this project, you will have an option of how you prefer to respond to literature. You may respond creatively, by writing or working artistically, or you may choose a more academic response.

Here is your goal for this assignment:

Respond creatively to literature.

Choose one of the following projects to complete the unit.

John Keats
Keats and other writers of this time period wrote many poems in the ode form. Write your own ode using a modern subject (or a timeless subject). For more information or tips in writing an ode, study the following:

The type of ode written by Keats featured three stanzas.
A rhythm and rhyme scheme are established in the first stanza, then repeated.
The ode addresses some entity directly, using the word Thou as a term of direct address.
The subject of the ode may be a natural object or living thing; a season, an emotion, or other abstract concept; or a work of art or other human creation.
The tone is somewhat dignified or exalted and the vocabulary used is less casual than other lyrical poems.
The purpose may be to celebrate an event, person, or entity or to provide for private reflection.
Oscar Wilde
Use a shoe box to create a set for the play “The Importance of Being Earnest.” Use the set directions given at the beginning of the play to design your set. You may want to use doll furniture for your set or design some of your own. Scraps of fabric can be used as curtains or tablecloths. Present your project to your teacher, explaining why you chose to design the set the way you did.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Explain the themes in “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and the moral lesson that Coleridge was trying to teach. Mention the Mariner’s sin, curse, and method of restoration. Discuss Coleridge’s understanding of sin and his answers to the problem of guilt in reference to Psalm 51. Does he understand sin to be an act of rebellion against a holy God? How is the burden of guilt removed?

Women in Victorian Literature
Write an essay describing the role of women in Victorian England as shown in literature. Choose two or three authors who wrote in this time period. Describe how they either embraced or disregarded the social mores for Victorian women in their writing and lives.