In language education, several recent curricular developments from expressive writing to interactional reading share a common core of assumptions rooted in British Romanticism. This article compares central tenets of the New Literacy and Romanticism, focusing on the former's reconceptualization of the teacher, the student, and the language arts…

Poetry of the romantic age is often uninviting to students, leaving them puzzled because they do not sense the connections between the poetry and themselves. Yet, much romantic poetry can be enjoyed and comprehended if approached in terms of some personal, reflective, and connective readings. Wordsworth and Whitman are often avoided because they…

This unit of study for junior-high level high-ability language arts students explores five themes in 19th century American history through literature of the times: romanticism, transcendentalism, abolitionism, industrialism, and feminism. Each of the five "isms" has its own "literature box" that contains appropriate documents…

Presents a four-day lesson plan for secondary U.S. literature or Bible-and-literature classes, using the Garden of Eden story and Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Rappaccini's Daughter." Identifies objectives, materials, procedure, and evaluation measures. Develops students' ability to discover analogies and irony in literary texts. Lists teacher…