Presentation Option: “Poetry Reading”

The student reads a short, contemporary poem from the Norton Anthology, then interprets the poem’s romantic (or non-romantic) qualities and invites comments from other students.

Good poems give rise to many potential insights, but the overriding purpose of this presentation is to relate the poem to the course content of American Romanticism. Therefore the reader’s introduction and interpretation to the poem should emphasize how the content and/or style of the poem conforms to or resists a Romantic interpretation. Discussion may inevitably raise issues apart from Romanticism, but it is the presenter’s duty to return the discussion and summary to Romantic themes.

Procedures for student presentation, option 2 (poetry):

1.     Announce author, title, and location of poem in anthology.

2. Limit reading and analysis to five to ten minutes (some may come before reading, some after reading), except for continuing discussion.

3. To introduce the poem, suggest objectives relevantto which it relates; otherwise, read the poem as soon as possible.

4. Limit any biographical information on poet to material directly relevant to subject of American Romanticism.  By no means should you simply review the life of the poet. Rather, touch on a couple of relevant highlights or ignore this aspect altogether, and get to the poem as directly as possible.

5.  Read aloud the poem or passages from the poem.  You should look up and practice pronunciations of any unusual or foreign words before you read aloud. It’s not good form to interrupt the poem and ask the instructor if you’re pronouncing a word correctly—ask before class!

6. After reading the poem, review its Romantic elements or patterns and also the aspects that negate or resist Romanticism.

7. Conclude with a question about the poem to invite discussion.

8. If the poem was presented in an earlier semester, the presenter should review at least one insight from the presentation or discussion at some point in the introduction, analysis, discussion, or conclusion,

9. Recorder takes notes of discussion.

10. Email instructor summary of presentation & discussion. For posting to the webpage, the presenter emails to the instructor a 2-3 paragraph summary of the presentation plus 2-3 paragraphs reviewing the highlights of the discussion, prepared with the help of the recorder. The presenter is welcome to consult with the recorder and with other discussion participants as much as is helpful in preparing the summary.

Email / webpage summary: Within 48 hours after class, the presenter should submit a prose summary of the presentation and discussion to the instructor via email. This submission will subsequently be posted to the course webpage.

Models of poetry presentation summaries: Click on the “Model Assignments” tab on the course webpage or go directly to

Main mistake or misconception to avoid: This may be your big moment leading the class, but you must avoid the temptation to use it as a do-or-die opportunity to deliver a lecture or demonstrate your mastery of the poem or of the course’s larger subject matter. Your purpose is above all to start and lead a discussion. As a veteran teacher, I can swear that you never finish saying all you could say, and no one ever wishes that you could!

Having instructed this course several times, I’ve consistently found that in the best presentations the presenter speaks well but briefly, rarely more than 2-3 minutes at a time, and interspersing insights into the comments before and after the reading and into the discussion.