Studies in Romantic Literature (353-0-20)
Topic
Romanticism & Revolution
Instructors
Vivasvan Soni
Meeting Info
University Hall 218: Mon, Wed 11:00AM - 12:20PM
Overview of class
The event of the French Revolution is one of the formative experiences for Romantic poetry. The poets often imagine themselves to be responding to the revolution, either sympathetically or critically. At the level of literary form, the many innovative poetic projects of the period are often conceived in revolutionary terms, even when they have a complex relation to political revolution. Much romantic poetry hopes to achieve a far-reaching transformation of the psyche, in the way that the French revolution had transformed the political world. In this class, we will study a wide array of writers from the romantic period, through the lens of revolution. What is revolutionary about Romantic poetry, and how is it shaped by the historical experience of revolution? In what way are romantic writers responding to the advent of modernity? What is the relationship between literature and politics, both at the level of form and content? Does it make sense to think of Romanticism as the first of the modern literary avant-gardes? Authors we will read include Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Burke, Wollstonecraft, Godwin, Rousseau, Hazlitt, Paine and Schiller.
Evaluation Method
Class participation (20%), midterm paper 6-8pp (20%), final paper 7-9pp (20%), midterm and final exam (20% each).
Class Materials (Required)
Burke, Enquiry; Burke, Reflections on the Revolution; Rousseau, Second Discourse; Wollstonecraft, Vindication; Blake, Songs of Innocence and Experience; Blake, Marriage of Heaven and Hell; Blake, America and Europe; Wordsworth and Coleridge, Lyrical Ballads; Wordsworth, Prelude; Shelley, Prometheus Unbound; Shelley, Mask of Anarchy; Shelley, Ode to the West Wind; Shelley, Triumph of Life; Shelley, Hellas; Shelley, Defence of Poetry; Mary Shelley, Frankenstein.
Class Attributes
Advanced Expression
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area