English 220: British Romantic Literature

Spring, 2004

______________________________________________________

Professor Olmsted

Rice 108

Phone: 775-8582

e-mail: John.Olmsted@oberlin.edu

Office hours: TuTh 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.

Text:

The Norton Anthology of English Literature, The Romantic Period, Vol. 2A. Seventh Edition.

The course has two aims:

-to provide an introduction to the poetry, prose, painting and architecture created in Great Britain between 1789 and 1832 and

-to introduce class participants to research skills and to library and online sources which may be used to find out more about British Romantic Literature

Class Schedule:

Week of

"One impulse from a vernal wood:" The Romantics and 'Nature'

February 9 Norton, 1-23

At the Allen Art Museum compare Hogarth’s

Portrait of Theodore Jacobsen (1742), Reynolds’

The Strawberry Girl (1773), West’s General

Thaddeus Kasciusko (1797), and Lawrence’s

Portrait of Eleanor, Lady Wigram (1815-1816).

Compare Wright of Derby’s Dovedale by

Moonlight (1784-1785) to Turner’s The Prince

Of Orange…. (1815-1816)

February 16 Wordsworth, 219-228, 251-270

Dorothy Wordsworth, 383-397

Blake, 35-39, 43-59

"The Bones of the Dead:" Politics and Imagination

February 23 Norton, 117-137

Blake, 72-91

Wordsworth, 238-251, 303-305, 343-383

PAPER DUE February 26

March 1 Coleridge, 439-441, 467-483, 488-492

Keats, 823-826, 834-844, 849-854, 886-903

March 8 Shelley, 727-729, 789-802

DeQuincey, 547-551

PAPER DUE March 11

"A bright deformity on high:" Romantic Transgression

March 15 Coleridge, 422-438

Byron, 555-621

March 22 Research Skills Project

Meeting March 23 in Mudd 443 with

Jessica Grim, Reference Librarian

March 29 SPRING BREAK

April 5 DeQuincey, 529-543

Shelley, 769-786

"Alas, the love of women:" Women and the Romantics

April 12 Barbauld, 27-29

Wollstonecraft, 163-192

Coleridge, 441-456

PAPER AND RESEARCH PROJECT DUE April 15

April 19 Keats, 845-847, 856-872

Byron, 621-689, 695-696

Mary Shelley, 903-1034 (Frankenstein)

April 26 Shelley, Frankenstein

May 3 Romantic Painting

May 10 Romantic Architecture

FINAL PAPER DUE MAY 13

Participants in this class are required to attend all classes, come to class on time, take an active part in discussion, and hand in assigned work when it is due. Late papers will be penalized.

Three papers, each 5 to 6 pages in length, a research skills project and a 10 to 12 page final paper will be required.

The papers will respond to and assess the readings in that unit; the research skills project and the final paper will require that you seek out primary and secondary materials from college libraries, the college art museum, and from the World Wide Web. All papers should be delivered in printed form only.

Sources for Research in the Library Collection

The best place to start any search is the Oberlin College Library Web Site http://www.oberlin.edu/library/ where you can find out more about general internet research tools.

The “Selected Bibliographies” in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume 2A, The Romantic Period, pages A23 to A33, provide accurate and up-to-date citations of books and journal articles which treat British Romanticism. The bibliography begins with suggested general readings on English history and literature, then provides an introduction to the most important printed reference works for the study of English literature. Next, general introductions to literary criticism and theory are cited, followed by specific bibliographies of the Romantic period and studies which trace the political, social and intellectual background. Following this you will find entries on each of the major figures we will study together listing the best scholarly editions and a selection of the most important books and articles on each writer’s work.

Also included in appendices to The Romantic Period (pages A51 to A77) are articles on British money, a time line, and a useful introduction to poetic forms and literary terminology.