Character and setting poetry

2nd Lesson in Poetry Unit

1. Character and Setting: Who, What,
Where, and When in Poetry

2. Characters in Poetry
•Speaker or persona
-most significant character in the poem
•Point of view
–A poetic speaker may be inside or outside the
poem
•Outside speakers use third person and are objective
about the poem’s actions
•Inside speakers use first or second person and are
involved with the actions in the poem

3. Characters in Poetry
•The Listener
–The second type of character in poetry
–A person not the reader whom the speaker is
addressing directly and is therefore inside the poem
•Could be in the form of dialogue
•Dramatic Monologue involves a listener in which the
speaker talks directly to an on the spot listener who
reactions may directly affect the course of the poem
•Or the listener may be passive, merely hearing the speaker’s
words
–Like a letter the speaker is the writer and the listener is the
addressee

4. Third Type of Character
•Major or Minor participants
–Not all are human

5. •Song to Celia [“Drink to me only with
thine eyes”]
•BY BEN JONSON
•Drink to me only with thine eyes,
• And I will pledge with mine;
•Or leave a kiss but in the cup,
• And I’ll not look for wine.
•The thirst that from the soul doth rise
• Doth ask a drink divine;
•But might I of Jove’s nectar sup,
• I would not change for thine.
•
I sent thee late a rosy wreath,
• Not so much honouring thee
•As giving it a hope, that there
• It could not withered be.
•But thou thereon didst only breathe,
• And sent’st it back to me;
•Since when it grows, and smells, I
swear,
• Not of itself, but thee.
•1. Who is the speaker? What do you
learn about him, his knowledge, his
wit, and his concern for the listener?
•2. What has the speaker sent to the
listener? What did she do, and why is
he still writing to her?
•3. Who is the speaker? Is the speaker
inside or outside? Who is the
listener?

6. •The setting of a poem is a major mean of
measuring character. Poetic protagonists, like
those in stories, are necessarily influenced by
their possessions, the places they inhabit, the
conditions of their lives, and the times in
which they live.
•Poems abound with references to events and
situations and also to objects such as beaches,
forests, battlefields, graveyards . . .
Setting

7. •London
•BY WILLIAM BLAKEI
• wander thro' each charter'd street,
•Near where the charter'd Thames 
does flow. 
•And mark in every face I meet
•Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
•
In every cry of every Man,
•In every Infants cry of fear,
•In every voice: in every ban,
•The mind-forg'd manacles I hear 
•
How the Chimney-sweepers cry
•Every blackning Church appalls, 
•And the hapless Soldiers sigh
•Runs in blood down Palace walls 
•
But most thro' midnight streets I hear
•How the youthful Harlots curse
•Blasts the new-born Infants tear 
•And blights with plagues the 
Marriage hearse 
•1. What does London represent to 
the speaker? How do the persons 
who live there contribute to the 
poem’s ideas about the state of 
humanity?
•2. What sounds does the speaker 
mention as a part of the London 
setting? Characterize these sounds in 
relation to the poem’s main idea?

8. •Thomas Gray’s “Elegy 
Written in a Country 
Churchyard” 
•1. What is the time of day of the speaker’s 
meditation? What is happening in nature 
as the poem opens? Who is the speaker 
addressing?
•2. Who are the people buried in the 
church graveyard? What point does Gray 
make about the contributions they might 
have made if they had not died?
•3. How does Gray’s use of sights and 
sounds used to describe the setting 
complement the poem’s mood?
•4. Who is thee? What happens to him? 
Why is he included in the poem? 

9. •Shel Silverstein’s 
“Rosalie’s Good Eats 
Café” 
•Analyze the characters 
and how they are 
unified through the 
setting.
•Compare to “Elegy 
Written in a Country 
Churchyard”

10. •Shel Silverstein’s
“Rosalie’s Good Eats
Café”
•Analyze the characters
and how they are
unified through the
setting.
•Compare to “Elegy
Written in a Country
Churchyard”