Year: Second
Part of the year: Half Year 1
Module Leader: TBC
Assessments:
Keywords:
Romanticism; literary criticism; literary history; close reading; Gothic; politics; women’s writing; poetry; fiction; nature; imagination; life-writing; the sublime; labouring class writing
Description:
This module offers the opportunity to study one of the most exciting and dramatic periods and topics in English literature. We shall study poetry and prose of the period 1780-1830 in Britain, an era in which Britons witnessed overseas (and were embroiled in) the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, whilst simultaneously living through at home the Industrial Revolution and growing political unrest and pressures for reform. In many ways, this is the period that sees the birth of modernity in many different forms and at many different levels. In the module, we explore how far revolutionary change of all kinds is reflected in the experimental themes and forms of Romantic-era writing, and how these forms developed. Subjects for discussion will include: the strong contemporary interest in sensibility, sentiment, and the Gothic; the idea of the transforming imagination; the celebration of primitive simplicity; changing ideas of nature and landscape in painting and poetry; the quest for identity and new understandings of the function of the artist; the increasing presence in British culture of women writers, and the controversies this gave rise to.
Prerequisites: N/A
Useful Information:
1780-1830; Romanticism; Romantic-era literature, politics and history; fiction; poetry
Laurence Sterne, A Sentimental Journey [novel]; available in multiple modern editions
Anne Radcliffe, The Romance of the Forest [novel]’ available in multiple modern editions
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein [novel]; availablein multiple modern editions
Duncan Wu (ed.), Romanticism: An Anthology 4th Edition [Anthology of Romantic-era poetry and prose (both fictional and non-fictional) by Wordsworth, Blake, Smith, Coleridge, Wollstonecraft, Shelly, Byron, Keats and others]. Blackwells, 2012.
Teaching methods/structure:
Lectures with interactive elements; seminars; workshops; online activities; independent reading and thinking
Please view the module specification for the learning outcomes for this module.
Contact details for further queries (module leader):
Until July 31st 2016, contact Carl Thompson
Email: carl.thompson@ntu.ac.uk