Title: Romantic individualism

Lesson plan elaborated by: Magdalena Trysińska

Topic:

Romantic individualism.

Target group:

2nd‑grade students of a 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;

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; he 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;

13) compares literary works or their fragments, notices 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 of the place that may constitute arguments in support of its interpretation proposal.

2. Receipt of cultural texts. Student:

5) characterises the main philosophical trends and determines their influence on the culture of the era.

General aim of education

Students learn sway and byronism as examples of a romantic individualistic attitude; they characterize and evaluate the behavior of romantic heroes

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Learning outcomes

Student:

• reflects on the issues of the texts and the relationship with the program of the Romantic era, social, historical, existential and aesthetic phenomena;

• uses in the interpretation of the work the philosophical and aesthetic contexts;

• recognises in the song the way of creating the depicted world and the type of romantic hero;

• compares the type of romantic hero with the characters of the previous epochs;

• characterises the attitudes: wertherism and byronism.

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;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

1. Students read literary texts in the abstract.

Introduction

1. The students, selected by the teacher, refer to the lesson they read at home before the classes.

2. The teacher determines the purpose of the class, which is to meet two romantic heroes. It gives students the criteria for success.

Realization

1. The teacher asks students to remind themselves what Enlightenment rationalism and empiricism consisted of. For this purpose, pupils perform the task of the 1st, from the textbook.

2. The teacher displays the 2nd task of the textbook on the board. Students jointly match the definitions to the given concepts. They discuss semantic differences. It is worth asking students to provide individualists, rebels and madmen known from the literature.

3. The teacher displays the task of the third manual from the board. He tells students that Romanticism has created a new type of literary hero. He is a romantic hero who is the opposite of the Enlightenment rationalist. Students together consider the features of a new type of hero. From the set of features, they draw out the ones that characterize the Enlightenment hero known to them.

4. The teacher asks pupils to read the information in the manual on romantic individualism.

5. The next part of the lesson is devoted to two attitudes: srterism and byronism. It is worth to apply a job in two groups. Group 1 deals with verticalism, group 2. - byronism. The students in their groups, based on the information in the textbook, prepare information on Goethe and his work, Werterism and Werther, and Byron and his work, byronism and Giaur. Next, the group leaders present the acquired information on sinterment and byronism.

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 students what they have learned today, whether the lesson was interesting for them. He asks them to evaluate their own work during the lesson. For this purpose, he can use a questionnaire or a decision tree prepared earlier or carry out an oral evaluation.

2. The teacher chooses one student by random method and asks him or her to explain in own words the meaning of a given word or concept learned during the lesson.

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. Look at the image of Caspar David Friedrich „Cretaceous Rocks on Rügen”. Create a romantic story based on it. For this purpose, assign the content of the statements to each of the heroes (eg in the form of dialogue) or unspoken thoughts.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Romantic individualism

Romantic individualism was a kind of a rebellion which arose in opposition to the tradition roles assigned to an individual in a society where human nature was associated with what is general, social, mass, publicly available, and common. A man's essence began to be seen in his own being.

The romantic philosophy of human existence implied that a man is anchored in the universe and one with nature, underlining the irrational power of the human subconsciousness and soul. This form of individualism promoted the constant conflict between the man and the reality around him, the attitude of rebellion and opposition to the established social norms. On the other hand, it also implied creative work.

The new literary trend began to be characterised by a constant antinomy of nature and culture. Nature was associated with something authentic, pure, untouched by civilisation, primordial and naive. Culture, on the other hand, was criticised as an artificial construct, lacking authenticity, and inhibiting the development of a free individual human being.

Literature began to raise the visibility of such terms as greatness, intuition and emotions, as well as the recognition of the artist that follows such ideas. An artist – a creator – an individualist, belonging to the highest circle of initiation, would explore the secrets not only of humanity, but also nature, history and art. His genius would understand the errors in the order of the world created by God: this is why he could rebel even against God himself. The fullest expression of individualism was Adam Mickiewicz's Great Improvisation delivered by Konrad in the third part of Dziady. In European literature, the theme of a hero - an individualist rebelling against the world could be found i.a. in the works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller or George Byron.

The name of the concept and approach to life is concerned with the epistolary novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774). The main protagonist of the novel is a young person experiencing „Weltschmerz” – a pain of existence. His life is full of sorrow, loneliness, bitterness and, most of all, passivity. Werther is unhappily in love, and perfect love is the sense of life, but still, he cannot be together with his beloved Lotte. The situation results in the young man's rebellion against the established rules and conventions of the society. However, he is not able to deal with his existential perplexities and life situation. Werther commits suicide by shooting himself with a pistol.

The name of the concept and an approach to life characterised by rebellion against the commonly established norms and conventions is concerned with the person of an English Lord George Byron (1788–1824).

Byronism in the romantic culture meant an attitude of rebellion against conventional morality, as well as a rebellion against the fatalism of human existence. It was associated with the violence of human emotions, but also with the hero's ability to experience real feelings. The features of a Byronic hero are concerned with pessimism, pride, melancholy, sublimity and conceit, internal emotional emptiness and despair, contempt for the world and desire for revenge. A Byronic hero is Giaour – the main character in George Byron's verse novel.