Title: Mysteries of the journey in search for yourself

Lesson plan elaborated by: Magdalena Trysińska

Topic: Mysteries of the journey in search for yourself

Target group

2nd‑grade students of high school

Core curriculum

I. Literary and cultural education.

1. Reading literary works. Student:

1) understands the basis for periodizing literature, situates literary works in particular periods: antiquity, the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, enlightenment, romanticism, positivism, Young Poland, the interwar period, literature of war and occupation, literature of 1945‑1989 national and emigre literature, literature after 1989;

2) recognises literary conventions and defines their features in works (fantastic, symbolic, mimetic, realistic, naturalistic, grotesque);

3) distinguishes epic, lyrical, dramatic and syncretic genres, including: genres learned in primary school and epos, ode, ancient tragedy, psalm, chronicle, satire, idyll, ballad, romantic drama, poetic novel, as well as variations of the novel and drama; lists their basic species traits;

4) recognises in the literary text the means of artistic expression learned in primary school and the means of meaning: oxymoron, periphrase, euphonia, hyperbole; lexical, including phraseologies; syntactic: antithesis, parallelism, enumeration, epiphora, ellipse; versioning, including the launcher; defines their functions;

9) recognises the subject and issues of the texts learned and its relation to the programs of the literary era, social, historical, existential and aesthetic phenomena; reflects on it;

10) recognises in the work the ways of creating: the presented world (plot, heroes, actions, themes, motives), narrative, lyrical situation; interprets and evaluates them;

11) understands the notion of a literary motif and topos, recognises the basic motifs and topos, and perceives the vitality of biblical and ancient motifs in literary works; defines their role in creating universal meanings;

13) compares literary works or their fragments, sees continuations and references in the compared works, defines common and different features;

14) presents a proposal for interpretation of the work, indicates in the text places that may constitute arguments in support of its interpretation proposal;

15) uses the necessary contexts in the interpretation of literary works, especially the historical, literary, historical, political, cultural, philosophical, biographical, mythological, biblical and existential context;

16) recognises universal and national values present in literary works; determines their role and relationship with the work's issues and the importance to build their own value system.

2. Receipt of cultural texts. Student:

1) processes and hierarchizes information from texts, such as journalistic, popular science and scientific;

2) analyzes the structure of the text: it reads its meaning, main thought, way of leading the argument and argumentation;

3) recognises the specificity of journalistic texts (article, column, reportage), rhetoric (speech, laudation, homily), popular science and scientific (dissertation); it distinguishes between message and commentary among press texts; recognises linguistic means and their functions used in texts; reads information and explicit and hidden messages; distinguishes between correct and avoidant responses.

General aim of education

The student analyzes and interprets selected sonnets by A. Mickiewicz in the context of the motifs of journey and pilgrim in literature

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Learning outcomes

Student:

• defines what egotism and orientalism are;

• recognises the motif of a pilgrim in romantic literature;

• indicates the motifs of wandering in literature and culture;

• reads the message of selected Crimean sonnets by A. Mickiewicz;

• recognises stylistic means in the poem and points them;

• determines the character speaking in a row;

• determines the mood of the poem.

Methods/techniques

• activating

  • discussion.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned;

  • leading text method.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

1. Students refer to the abstract content. They shall be able to summarize it in they own words and solve the exercices.

Introduction

1. The teacher determines the purpose of the class, which is to learn the theme of travel in the literature of Romanticism. He/she gives students the criteria for success.

Realization

1. The students listen to the recording of the lecture by prof. Bednarek about the motif of travel in literature (a lesson in the e‑textbook). Then they complete the note in the abstract.

2. The teacher launches the recording with the recitation of the Adam Mickiewicz sonnet „Droga nad przepaścią w Czufut‑Kale” (a lesson in the e‑textbook). Then the students read the poem individually. After reading the text they talk about the sonnet, following the instructions in the abstract.

3. Students read the text of Marta Piwińska's „Złe wychowanie”. Then, referring to the text, they explain why romantic trips to the East had primarily a cognitive function; what was the specificity of the East in a romantic sense; the meaning of the words: „Know yourself, leaving yourself”.

4. The teacher starts the recording with the recitation of the next sonnet of A. Mickiewicz „Pielgrzym” (a lesson in the e‑textbook). Then the students read the poem and follow the instructions.

5. Students are wondering what function the love memoirs play in the text.

6. The teacher plays the recording of the abstract.
   He stops it after one or two sentences, asking the chosen student to tell in his own words what he just heard.

Summary

1. The teacher asks a willing student to summarize the lesson from his point of view. He asks other students if they would like to add anything to their colleague's statements.

2. Students write in their notebooks the keywords to the lessons they consider the most important.

Homework

1. Listen to the abstract recording at home. Pay attention to pronunciation, accent and intonation. Learn to pronounce the words learned during the lesson.

2. Collect materials (e.g. letters, diaries, photos) about different journeys of your family or friends. Focus on the journeys to the East. Make a poster in form of a timeline with photos, notes, important and interesting information, as well as quotations from Romantic literature.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Mysteries of the journey in search for yourself

Romanticism depicted man as a travelling, lost and wandering, but at the same time seeking individual. Romantics tried not only to reach the destination of their journey but, above all, they tried to find the sense of life and their own identity. A wandering man became an eternal wanderer and pilgrim. During the later stages of their journey, they experienced a spiritual initiation. During Romanticism, people travelled around their own country – they used to go on „national pilgrimages” and immerse themselves in their own history and tradition, and describe the land, the climate and the landscapes. They wandered around Europe as well and they even – because of their fascination with the Orient – travelled to the countries in the East.

Journeys were described in different ways. Some were realistic accounts of real journeys, and some were just literary descriptions of imaginary excursions. Diaries, chronicles and letters were some of the more personal forms of expressions. The author could focus on the description of a concrete route, some events that occurred during the journey, portraits of people and landscapes or on presenting themselves as the narrator and participant of the events. Most often, the journey was presented in the context of sociocultural, socio‑political, geographical, ethnographical, scientific or historical knowledge of the author.

Romanticism is strongly connected with two concepts: egotism and orientalism. Egotism resulted from people's interest in culture, lifestyle and nature of countries outside of Europe. Orientalism is a kind of egotism that involves fascination with the culture of the East. One of the first works of European literature which was set in the Middle Eastern reality was The Giaour (1813) by Lord Byron. In Polish literature, Adam Mickiewicz showed the best of his fascination with the Orient in The Crimean Sonnets (1826).

Pilgrim belongs to the basic repertoire of key words connected with the Romantic literature. The literary model was created by Lord Byron in his Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1822). The protagonist is a melancholic man, in conflict with the world, who experiences taedium vitae (literally 'weariness of life') and wanders ineffectively across the world, seeking the sense of life.

Polish Romantic literature used only a few traits of the wandering hero... Literary connotations with Polish pilgrimages underlined different problems than presented in Lord Byron's works. Apart from the lonely hero, unsatisfied with his life, the themes that were also highlighted were the Polish emigrants, the nostalgia for the lost homeland, pictures of feelings and emotions of the wanderer, however, often only after his contact with the sublime nature. The hero could then experience the beauty of nature, along with its fearsome face. Such an image of a „pilgrim”, a „wanderer” appears for example in The Crimean Sonnets by Adam Mickiewicz.