English 220: British Romantic Literature

Spring, 2006

______________________________________________________

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 6 Norton, 1-23

At the Allen Art Museum compare HogarthÕs

Portrait of Theodore Jacobsen (1742), Batoni, Portrait of John Wodehouse (1764), ReynoldsÕ

The Strawberry Girl (1773), WestÕs General

Thaddeus Kosciusko (1797), and Hoppner, Mrs. Frances Henrietta Jerningham (1800).

Compare Wright of DerbyÕs Dovedale by

Moonlight (1784-1785) to TurnerÕs View of Venice (1841). Gaze in bemused alarm at David, Cupid and Psyche (1817).

February 13 Wordsworth, 219-228, 251-258

Dorothy Wordsworth, 383-397

Blake, 35-39, 43-59

"The Bones of the Dead:" Politics and Imagination

February 20 Norton, 117-137

Blake, 72-91

Wordsworth, 238-251, 303-305, 369-383

PAPER DUE February 23

February 27 Coleridge, 439-441, 467-483, 488-492

Keats, 823-826, 834-844, 849-851, 886-903

March 6 Shelley, 727-729, 789-802

DeQuincey, 547-551

"A bright deformity on high:" Romantic Transgression

March 13 Coleridge, 422-438

Byron, 555-587

March 20 Research Skills Project

Meeting March 21 in Mudd 443 with

Jessica Grim, Reference Librarian

Mid-term exam, March 23

March 27 SPRING BREAK

April 3 DeQuincey, 529-543

Shelley, 769-786

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

April 10 Barbauld, 27-29

Wollstonecraft, 163-192

Coleridge, 441-456

PAPER AND RESEARCH PROJECT DUE April 13

April 17 Keats, 845-847, 856-872

Byron, 621-689, 695-696

Mary Shelley, 903-1034 (Frankenstein)

April 24 Shelley, Frankenstein

May 1 Romantic Painting

At the Allen Art Museum after April 4, 2006, see Gainsborough, George Pitt, First Lord Rivers, Wilson, Cader Idris, Constable, Branch Hill Pond, Hampstead, Reynolds, The Ladies Amabe & Mary Jemima Yorke

May 8 Romantic Architecture

FINAL PAPER DUE MAY 11

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.

Two papers, each 5 to 6 pages in length, a mid-term exam, 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 ÒSelected BibliographiesÓ 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 writerÕs 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.