For the past couple of years, the juniors’ Honors English curriculum has included a lesson on Romanticism, a literary movement focusing on the emphasis of emotion and imagination. Dubbed “fathers” of Romanticism by numerous scholars, English poet William Blake and Spanish painter Francisco Goya created the idea of focusing the reader’s attention primarily on literature’s emotional and imaginative aspects.
Honors English 3 students channeled their learning in an especially expressive manner – the creation of colorful four-foot-long posters that are now on display in the English hallways on NASH’s second floor.
According to junior Honors English teacher Mrs. Long, prior to creating the posters, the students spent a lot of time studying some of the most famous Romantic authors in American literature, Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
“This project allows students to take one quote of significance from either of these writers and interpret it artistically in their own way,” said Long. “I think that the students appreciate the project because it is something different than just the typical reading and writing they are used to here, and I like that it gives them the opportunity to connect with these old writers and apply their teaching to how they view it today.”
Mrs. Long also enjoys seeing the students’ creativity collide into a beautiful project.
“My favorite part of the project is seeing how the groups learn to work together and add to the project with their own skills and gifts,” said Long. “Not everyone is an artist, but some might have a vision for how the design should be illustrated, or can write up their explanation for what the poster is supposed to be representing, because they are really good with their words.”
Similarly, another junior Honors English teacher Mrs. Walters loves this project for her students. She claims to enjoy the different kinds of learning styles required for this kind of project.
“Romanticism and Transcendentalism have difficult philosophies to grasp, but being able to picture the concepts visually helps the class truly understand the meaning behind the words of Emerson and Thoreau,” said Walters.
Walters enjoys watching her students interact with each other in a whole different way. She also enjoys the presentations the students give to show their peers what they have created.
“They also have to present what they’ve created to the class, which allows the rest of the class to visualize concepts other than the ones they’ve painted,” she added. “The moment that they understand the quotes and what they mean is clear. Overall, it’s my favorite week of the year, minus the mess!”
The students’ goal is to choose a quote from a certain poem and turn it into a visual presentation. For example, one of Mrs. Long’s students, Julia Fortunato, chose the quote, “Nature always wears the colors of the spirit.”
“We represented this with two people on either side of a tree in a rainstorm, one of which was dancing in the rain and the other sitting down sulking,” said Fortunato. “The quote was supposed to mean that the attitude or ‘spirit’ of a person determines how something such as a rainstorm is viewed.”
Additionally, one of Mrs. Walters’s students, Andrew Peigh, particularly enjoyed the freedom of creative expression involved in the interpretation of the text.
“The posters are a way to express your inner-consciousness through the use of an inspirational author,” said Peigh.
Similar to Peigh, Dean Cammarata also enjoyed the creative liberty.
“It was a really fun project that allowed us to take Transcendentalist writing and make a mural,” said Cammarata. “It was really cool to literally paint the picture the author painted in my own head.”
