2021 British Romanticism
Emneansvarlig: Peter Fjågesund
Kan bli endret!
The course attempts to give the students a broad introduction to the Romantic Period in Britain, i.e. the decades immediately before and after 1800. This period was dramatic and crucial in both political and cultural terms, and the course will also pay attention to the ways in which art and society even today are influenced by the Romantic heritage. In order to capture the many aspects of the period, the course will be thematically structured, and a variety of different texts will be used: fiction, poetry, letters, travel literature and political writing. Some of the topics that will be discussed are: the role of art and the artist, the view of nature, the Romantic imagination, the cult of the individual and the theme of solitude, the political climate, religion, and the role of women. Pictorial art from the period will also be used to supplement the texts.
Primary texts (‘pensum’)
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice (1813)
Blake, William. ‘London’ (1789)
-----. ‘The Tyger’ (1789)
Burke, Edmund. Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790, excerpts)
Byron, George Gordon (Lord). ‘Prometheus’ (1816)
Cobbet, William. Rural Rides (1830, excerpts)
Coleridge, Samuel T. ‘Kubla Khan’ (1797)
De Quincey, Thomas. Confessions of an English Opium Eater (1822, excerpts)
Godwin, William. Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793, excerpts)
Keats, John. ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ (1820)
Lamb, Charles. ‘Witches and Other Night-Fears’ (1821)
Paine, Thomas. The Rights of Man (1791-92, excerpts)
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein (1818)
Shelley, Percy B. ‘The Necessity of Atheism’ (1811-13)
-----. ‘A Defence of Poetry’ (1821)
-----. ‘Ode to the West wind’ (1820)
-----. ‘England in 1819’ (1819)
-----. ‘Alastor’ (1816)
Southey, Robert. ‘Natural Religion’ (1796)
Wesley, John. ‘Preface to Sermons on Several Occasions’ (1771)
-----. ‘The Almost Christian’ (1741)
Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792, excerpts)
Wordsworth, William. ‘Preface to Lyrical Ballads (1802)’
-----. ‘There Is an Active Principle’ (1798)
-----. ‘Expostulation and Reply’ (1798)
-----. ‘Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood’ (1807)
-----. ‘Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey’ (1798)
-----. ‘The Convict’ (1798)
-----. Excerpts from The Prelude (1850)
Excerpts from British travel accounts from Norway (30-40 pp)
Secondary texts (‘pensum’)
The following chapters from Companion are ‘pensum’:
Wu, Duncan (ed.). A Companion to Romanticism, Blavkwell 1998, chapters 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 21, 22, 23, 26, 33, 34, 36, 38, 39, 46, 47, 48.
Course Books
Wu, Duncan (ed.). Romanticism, An Anthology Blackwell, 1998, (2nd ed.) (called Romanticism hereafter)
------. A Companion to Romanticism (called Companion hereafter)
A collection of texts (Compendium)
Background and secondary reading (‘recommended reading’)
Most of the general background material will be found in the two course books. In addition this schedule contains references, under each week’s topic, to recommended secondary reading, including a number of relevant websites. Students are also recommended to read the introductions to each poet/author that are found in Romanticism.
Note
Changes in the shorter texts on the Reading List may occur. These will be announced in class and in writing (notice board or Class Fronter) in good time. Should you be absent, make sure to acquire the necessary information either from fellow students or from the teacher.
