Poe's Poetry Lesson Plan

In “Sonnet – To Science” what values does Poe seem to associate with science vs. the natural world? Based on what you know about Poe’s writings and his contemporaries, what do you think makes the natural world so important to him? Please use text evidence from today’s poems to support your answers.

Some student responses may reference Poe’s belief that science reinforces dull rationality and factual truth, while dispelling the mythical, imaginative, and creative elements of the world. By referencing figures from Greek mythology, the narrator of the poem is drawing connections between the ancient mythical qualities believed to be associated with the natural world and the...