English 375 —British Romanticism 1770-1830

Professor
J. Jennifer Jones

COURSE SYLLABUS

Unit 1: The Nature of Revolution

September 8

• Course Overview & Introductions
• Discussion of Close Reading and Oral Participation
• William Wordsworth, “A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal” (handout) / p. 365

September 13: The Revolution Controversy — 1789

• Lecture: The French Revolution
• Helen Maria Williams, from Letters Written in France: pp. 57-66

September 15

• Edmund Burke, from Reflections on the Revolution in France: pp. 67-76
• Mary Wollstonecraft, from A Vindication of the Rights of Men: pp. 76-84
• Thomas Paine, from The Rights of Man: pp. 85-91
• William Godwin, from An Inquiry Concerning Political Justice: pp. 91-96

September 20: Detecting Revolutions: The Case of Caleb Williams

• W. Godwin, Caleb Williams, Volume I: 3-109

September 22

• W. Godwin, Caleb Williams, Volume II: 111-213

September 27

• W. Godwin, Caleb Williams, Volume III: 215-337; Appendix I (Original Manuscript Ending): 339-346

September 29

• W. Godwin, Caleb Williams
• Quiz #1 and Discussion

October 4: Poetic Revolutions: “ . . . a time of promise, a renewal of the world . . .”

I. The Nature of Equality

• W. Wordsworth, “Simon Lee”: pp. 338-340; “We Are Seven”: pp. 341-342; “Expostulation and Reply”: p. 350; “The Tables Turned”: pp. 350-351; “Old Man Travelling”: pp. 351-352; “Nutting”: pp. 368-369.

October 6: CANCELLED

October 11

• W. Wordsworth, “Tintern Abbey”: pp. 352-356; “There was a Boy”: pp. 362-363

October 13

• W. Wordsworth, “Tintern Abbey”: pp. 352-356; “There was a Boy”: pp. 362-363

October 18

II. The Nature of Fraternity

• Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Fears in Solitude. Written in 1798, During the Alarm of an Invasion (handout); “This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison”: pp. 524-526
• Essay #1 DUE

October 20

• Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Fears in Solitude. Written in 1798, During the Alarm of an Invasion (handout); “This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison”: pp. 524-526

October 25

IV. Poetic Forms of Freedom

• William Wordsworth, “Crossing the Alps”: pp. 417-420
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Kubla Khan: A Vision in a Dream”: pp. 545-547

October 27

• William Wordsworth, “Crossing the Alps”: pp. 417-420
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Kubla Khan: A Vision in a Dream”: pp. 545-547
• Quiz #2 and Discussion

Unit 2: The Nature of Poetic Idealism

November 1: Radical Turns

• W. Wordsworth, “Bliss was it in that dawn,” extract from The Prelude, Book 10.689.727 (1805): pp. 435-436
• W. Wordsworth, “Genius of Burke!” from The Prelude, Book VII (1850): pp. 438-439
• Percy Bysshe Shelley, “To Wordsworth”: p. 754
• P. B. Shelley, “England in 1819”: p. 761
  

November 3

• P. B. Shelley, Mont Blanc: Lines Written in the Vale of Chamouni: pp. 754-758
  

November 8

• P. B. Shelley, Mont Blanc: Lines Written in the Vale of Chamouni: pp. 754-758

November 10

• P. B. Shelley, “Ode to the West Wind”: pp. 771-773; “To a Sky-Lark”: pp. 773-776

November 15: Comedy, Irony, and the Poetics of Nihilism

• Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto I: pp. 672-717
• Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto II: pp. 717-732

November 17

• Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto I: pp. 672-717
• Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto II: pp. 717-732

November 22 (revised schedule)

• P. B. Shelley, “Ode to the West Wind”: pp. 771-773; “To a Sky-Lark”: pp. 773-776
  
• Take-home Quiz #3 DUE November 29

November 24: CANCELLED

November 29: The Limits of Poetic Vision (revised schedule)

• Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto I: pp. 672-717 (for class discussion)
• Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto II: pp. 717-732 (for class discussion)
  
• Keats, The Eve of St. Agnes: pp. 865-875 (extra credit only)

December 1 (revised schedule)

• Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto I: pp. 672-717 (for class discussion)
• Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto II: pp. 717-732 (for class discussion)
  
• Keats, The Eve of St. Agnes: pp. 865-875 (extra credit only)

December 6

• Keats, “Ode on a Grecian Urn”: pp. 882-883
  
• Final Essay DUE

December 8

• Keats, Ode to a Grecian Urn”: pp. 882-883
  
• Final Quiz Handout