English 841 Spring 2006 Joseph Viscomi
Tues: 6-8:30 office GL 504
Gaskin Library, 5th floor Greenlaw office hrs. T 12-2 & by appt.
jsviscom@email.unc.edu 962-8764
Texts: Revolutions in Romantic Art and Literature
Electronic course pak with extra readings and selected criticism at:
http://sites.unc.edu/viscomi/romrev
Blake, William. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (copy H). Ed. G. Keynes, Oxford U. Press, 1975.
Stoppard, Tom. Arcadia. London: Faber and Faber, 1993.
Richey, William, and Daniel Robinson, eds. The Lyrical Ballads and Related Writings. NY: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002.
The William Blake Archive: http://blakearchive.org
Resources:
ART RESERVE: Books and Art Catalogues on Reserve in Art Library, Hanes Art Center, under catalogue number [see separate sheet]
GASKIN LIBRARY RESERVE: Many of the books and readings at the Art Library are also in Gaskin, as are books on romanticism with articles on graphic arts, lyrical poets, landscape painting. There are also many articles in folders, some assigned reading and many to assist you in your research.
Romantic Circles, Scholarly Resources: http://www.rc.umd.edu/reference/
For Advanced Research:
Index for 18th-Century Periodicals and Journals on MicroFilm in Davis Library: Z692.S5.U56.1981
Bibliography of 18th-Century Aesthetics, ed. John Draper. Davis PE 25 A5 HEFT 71
in Gaskin, article folder.
see also bibliography on the sublime in Peter de BollaÕs Discourse of the Sublime
in Gaskin, article folder (also online)
The
English Romantic Poets; A Review of Research and Criticism, ed. Frank Jordan, 4th edition. MLA,
l985. [Davis Reference Shelf, PR590.E5.1985, ROW 29]. This is an annotated
bibliography of books and important articles on the Romantic poets and their
works. Critical works on the Romantics from before and after 1985 to the
present can be found through the index of periodical literature, the annual
bibliography published by Garland Press (from 1979) and journals in the field,
e.g., Blake/An Illustrated Quarterly, The Wordsworth Circle, and
Keats-Shelley Journal, which is now online for the years 1994-2005 at: http://www.rc.umd.edu/reference/ksjbib/.
See also http://www.lib.unc.edu/ for UNCÕs Article Databases (e.g., MLA International
Bibliography [1963-2005]), Eighteenth-Century Collections Online, and
Literature Online), E-Journal Finder, and Print
Journals (Catalog Search); Voice of the Shuttle, http://www.english.upenn.edu/~mgamer/Romantic/;
Romantic Circles, Scholarly Resources: http://www.rc.umd.edu/reference/; Romantic Literary
Resources, http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Lit/romantic.html;
and Google Scholar at http://www.scholar.google.com/. For articles online, see the Scholarly Journal Archive at http://www.jstor.org/. Also helpful is the Introduction to Library
Research, http://www.lib.unc.edu/instruct/tutorial/.
Blake's The Book of Thel, The Songs of Innocence and of Experience, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, America, a Prophecy, Europe, a Prophecy, The Book of Urizen are illuminated books that are reproduced in excellent facsimiles, copies of which are in the Department of Rare Books, Wilson Library; for excellent digital reproductions of various exemplary copies of these and other of BlakeÕs illuminated books, as well as engravings, paintings, and helpful bibliographies, go to The Blake Archive at http://blakearchive.org [WBA]
NB. ÒcpÓ refers to the page numbers of the pages in the articles or sections in the course pack;
ÒppÓ refers to page numbers in books and articles on Reserve.
Ò*Ómeans you should print this out and bring to class
1/17 Introduction to Course: Drawing as Paradigm, Print as Reproduction:
concepts of taste, originality, models, education, spontaneity, translation, and deception
Reynolds on sketches, from Discourse VIII (handout)
1/24 Technical and aesthetic origin of Blake's illuminated printing:
*Drawing Manuals: Selection of comments on prints and drawings
Blake Archive/About Blake: Blake biography and illustrated essay on illuminated printing
*Blake: Critical comments on illuminated printing
*Blake: Prospectus for illuminated books
*Blake: letters: 1818 to Turner, 1827 to Cumberland
Gilpin: On Sketching Landscapes, from Three Essays
Gilpin: Essay on Prints, cp i-xii, 1-52, 165-174
*Landseer: Lecture III
Selected Criticism:
Fitzwilliam, The Print in England, Art & Genius: Printmaking in early 19th c. England pp 6-11
Viscomi, ÒWilliam Blake, Illuminated Books, and the Concept of DifferenceÓ
Eaves, ÒBlake and the Artistic MachineÓ
*Benjamin, ÒThe Work in the Age of Mechanical ReproductionÓ
William Blake Archive:
Explore the illuminated books and Book of Job, Dante, and The Grave engravings
1/31 William Blake: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (copy H)
Select Criticism (from William BlakeÕs Illuminated Books, vol. 3, in Gaskin):
Eaves, Essick, Viscomi, ÒIntroduction to BlakeÕs Illuminated BooksÓ
Eaves, Essick, Viscomi, ÒIntroduction to The Marriage of Heaven and HellÓ
William Blake Archive:
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, copies C, D, F, G, I
2/7 William Blake: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (copy H)
*Hazlitt: On Imitation; On Originality
*Blake: letters: 1799 to Trusler (2) and to Cumberland
*Coleridge: On Poesy and Art (on imitation and copy)
Select Criticism:
Eaves, ÒRomantic Expressive TheoryÓ
Viscomi, ÒThe Evolution of The Marriage of Heaven and HellÓ parts I, II, III
2/14 Technical and aesthetic context for illuminated printing revisited: BlakeÕs art theories
Reynolds: Contents and Introduction, ReynoldÕs Intro, and
*Reynolds: Discourses III, IV, VI, VII
*Blake: Annotations to Reynolds (c. 1808)
*Blake: from the Descriptive Catalogue (1809) cp 547-48, cat. # VIII and IX
*Blake: Public Address (c. 1809)
*Blake: Laocoon (c. 1827)
*Hazlitt: on Reynolds; Genius and Originality; Imitation of Nature,;the Ideal
*Hazlitt: Why the Arts are not Progressive
GASKIN LIBRARY:
Intro and Commentary on Laocoon in Milton a Poem (vol. 5 of Blake Trust series)
Read, ÒThe Context of BlakeÕs Public AddressÓ (folder)
Eaves, ÒInquiry into the Real and Imaginary Obstructions ÉÓ (folder)
Eaves, ÒThe Sister Arts in British RomanticismÓ (folder)
Hipple, The Beautiful, the Sublime, and the Picturesque, ch. on Reynolds (folder; online)
Barrell, ÒThe Republic of Taste,Ó in BarrellÕs The Politics of Art Theory from Reynolds to Hazlitt (folder; online)
Eaves, review of Barrell (folder;
online)
2/21 The Sublime, the Beautiful, and the Picturesque
Burke: Introduction
*Burke: Essay on Taste + chap. 1-3 from A Philosophical Enquiry
*Gilpin: Three Essays
*Blake: letters, 1800 to Cumberland, 1802 to Butts
GASKIN LIBRARY
Bicknell, Beauty, Horror and Immensity , preface to catalogue (folder and catalogue)
Part I of BollaÕs The Discourse of the Sublime (folder; online)
Hipple, on Burke (folder; online)
Kroeber , ÒRomantic Historicism: the Temporal SublimeÓ (folder, book)
RARE BOOKS, WILSON LIBRARY, EXHIBITION ON ROMANTICISM
Take home exam for Part I due.
2/28 The Picturesque and Anti-Picturesque in practice
slide lecture on the development of watercolor painting, 1760-90
*Gilpin: Two Essays
*Cozens: The New Method, + illus.
*Drawing Manuals: Craig, Aiken, and reviews attacking the Picturesque
*Hazlitt: On the Picturesque and Ideal
ART RESERVE
Bicknell, WordsworthÕs Guide to the Lakes,
(introduction, itinerary, chronology; look at the pictures)
Wilton, Pars' Journey Through the Alps
Wilcox, British Watercolors
GASKIN LIBRARY
Wilcox, Line of Beauty
Wilton, British Watercolor s, 1750-1850
(examine Smith, Sandby, Towne, Pars, J.R. Cozens, A. Cozens)
Parris, Landscape in Britain, browse through
Rosenblum, Romantic Art in Britain,
browse through
Wordsworth, et. al, Wordsworth & the Age of English Romanticism, parts 4-5
ORAL REPORTS:
3/2 Special session: workshop in wash drawing
Cozens: The New Method; art supplies: large sheets of drawing paper and transparent papers,
black ink and large watercolor brushes, pencils
3/7 Watercolor Painting
slide lecture on Girtin, Cotman, Turner, Constable
*Turner, Constable: background readings
*Hazlitt: On the Pleasure of Painting
ART RESERVE
Wilcox, British Watercolors
Butlin, TurnerÕs Watercolors
Gadney, ConstableÕs Oil Sketches *Parris, *Rosenblum: browse
GASKIN LIBRARY
Wilton, British Watercolors, 1750-1850 (entries on Girtin, Cotman, Turner, Constable);
Reynolds, ConstableÕs England
Parris, Landscape in Britain
Rosenthal, Constable: The
Painter and His Landscapes
Rosenblum, Romantic Art in
Britain
Shanes, Turner: The Great Watercolors
*Kroeber, ÒThe Clarity of the
Mysterious and the Obscurity of the Familiar: Friedrich
and TurnerÓ (folder; online)
*Meisel, ÒThe Material Sublime: Martin, Byron, Turner, and the TheaterÓ (folder; online)
Wordsworth and the Age of English Romanticism, part 6
ORAL REPORTS:
3/14 Spring
Break
3/21 ColeridgeÕs lyrical poetry
*Coleridge: Pantisocracy, Frost at Midnight, Kubla Khan, Reflections,
*Coleridge: Nightingale, Lime Tree Bower, Aeolian Harp
*Coleridge: ÒOn the Principles of Genial CriticismÓ
GASKIN LIBRARY:
Simpson, ÒRomanticism, Criticism, and TheoryÓ (folder; online)
Keach, ÒRomanticism and LanguageÓ (folder, online)
Woodring, ÒWhat Coleridge Thought of PicturesÓ (folder, online)
*Abrams, ÒStructure and Style in the Greater Romantic LyricÓ (folder, online)
*Magnuson, ÒPolitics of ÔFrost at MidnightÕÓ (folder, online)
ORAL REPORTS:
Take home exam for Part II due
3/28 WordsworthÕs lyrical poetry
Wordsworth and Coleridge, Advertisement to the Lyrical Ballads (Richey ed.)
Wordsworth: poems from the Lyrical Ballads (Richey ed.)
*Gilpin: Observations on the River Wye (also in Richey ed.)
GASKIN LIBRARY
Swingle, ÒWordsworthÕs ÔPicture of the MindÕÓ (folder, online)
Kroeber, ÒBeyond the Imaginable: Wordsworth and TurnerÓ (folder, online)
Johnston ÒThe Triumphs of Failure:
WordsworthÕs Lyrical Ballads of 1798Ó (folder; online)
ORAL REPORTS:
4/4 WordsworthÕs lyrical poetry
Wordsworth: poems from the Lyrical Ballads (Richey ed.)
GASKIN LIBRARY
Levinson,
Johnston, ÒThe Politics of ÔTintern AbbeyÕÓ (folder, online)
Abrams, ÒOn Political Readings of Lyrical BalladsÓ (folder, online)
ORAL REPORTS:
4/11 WordsworthÕs prose and aesthetics
Wordsworth: Preface to Lyrical Ballads, 2nd edition, and Appendix (Richey ed.)
*Wordsworth: "On the Sublime and BeautifulÓ
ORAL REPORTS:
4/18 WordsworthÕs Prelude
*Wordsworth: Prospectus to the Recluse
*Wordsworth: Prelude, parallel text: books 11/12
GASKIN LIBRARY
Johnston, ÒThe Romantic Idea-Elegy: the Nature of Politics and the Politics of NatureÓ
(folder. online)
Simpson, ÒCriticism, Politics, and Style in WordsworthÕs PoetryÓ (folder, online)
ORAL REPORTS:
4/25 WordsworthÕs Prelude
*Wordsworth: Prelude, parallel text: books 12/13, 13/14
5/4 Papers Due
Requirements:
short essay answers to study questions (due 2/21 and 3/21)
one oral report (this can be collaborative)
research or critical essay
The paper is due at the end of the semester but will be developed concurrent with the class. The paper can be on any of the poets, artists, critics, or printmakers of the period, or any interdisciplinary topic, that is, a comparative analysis of works in various media, or on any relevant aesthetic issue, theme, subject, or concept, including a further development of study or exam questions or your oral report. The paper can be a collaborative and/or multi-media Web project. I will expect you to discuss your ideas for papers with me and with other members in the class.
Study questions for Parts I, II, III. These questions can also be used as topics for your class paper.
Part I. For the first take home exam, answer two of the
following questions in 4 or more pages. Due 2/21.
1. Discuss the ways in which Blake and Landseer agree and disagree about the state and status of printmaking in England in the Romantic period.
2. What is Blake's idea of books, prints, and/or readers in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell?
3. Discuss the ways in which text and/or illustrations of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell or The Book of Urizen comment on the creative process, perception, or the usurpation of originals by imitations.
4. Reynolds recommends "not the industry of the hands, but of the mind." Discuss in detail what he means by this and why he advocates this position.
5. Blake states "How very Anxious Reynolds is to Disprove and Contemn Spiritual Perceptions." Explain what Blake means by this and why he says it.
6. Both Blake and Reynolds are concerned with the way that art is taught and perceived. Examine some of the main topics, like inspiration and genius, on which they agree and disagree.
7. Discuss how Blake and Hazlitt agree and disagree regarding theories of Reynolds or on the topics of progress in the arts, imitation, genius, and originality.
Part II. For the second take home exam, answer two of the
following questions in 4 or more pages. Due 3/21
1. What are Cozens objectives in the New Method and why does he consider them important? Are they realized in practice? If so, how; if not, why not?
2. Compare and contrast the drawing instructions and practices of Cozens (or Gilpin) and Blake (or Craig), using examples from their work and/or writings (or works executed in their styles) to support your findings.
3. How do you think Burke, Reynolds, Blake, and Cozens would respond to the watercolors of Turner reproduced in Butlin? Explain their responses by citing their writings or painting styles.
4. Define the Picturesque traveler and argue the case for or against him, using the writings and works of the critics and painters to support your claims.
5. In what ways does Gilpin see himself as extending the aesthetic theories of Burke and/or Reynolds?
6. Discuss the painting styles of Towne, J. R. Cozens, and Girtin in relation to one another, to the topographical ideal, and to the late watercolor paintings of Turner.
7. Discuss a few watercolor drawings or paintings that express Burkean ideas of the sublime and beautiful.
Part III. Study questions and potential topics for final
papers
1. Discuss the ways in which Burke's idea of the sublime or Gilpin's idea of the picturesque figure into the poetry of Wordsworth or Coleridge. Focus on passages from poems in the Lyrical Ballads, or the Prelude, or one or two other poems.
2. Discuss the ways in which Burke's idea of the sublime or Gilpin's idea of the picturesque figure into the prose of Wordsworth or Coleridge. Focus on passages from the Preface, essay on WordsworthÕs "The Sublime and the Beautiful," or ColeridgeÕs "On the Principles of Genial Criticism."
3. Examine the themes of mediation and/or natural vs arbitrary sign-systems, as expressed in the writings or creative works (paintings, drawings, prints, or poems) of two or more poets and artists.
4. Discuss the use of painting as a metaphor or analogy in the poetry and/or prose of Wordsworth and Coleridge.
5. Discuss the ways in Wordsworth and/or Coleridge ÒpictureÓ nature, i.e., how they verbally describe pictures and the picturesque.
6. Examine HazlittÕs views on originality and imitation or on depicting nature in art and compare them with WordsworthÕs, ColeridgeÕs, or BlakeÕs.
ART RESERVE BOOK LIST
ND1140.B36.
1986
Barrell,
J. Political Theory of Painting from Reynolds to Hazlitt
ND1354.4.B47.1 Bermingham,
A. Landscape and Ideology
N6766.B52.
1981
Bicknell,
P. Beauty,
Horror and Immensity
ND2240.B535.
1987
Bicknell,
P. Gipin to
Ruskin
DA
670. L1 W67. 1984 Bicknell,
P. Wordsworth's
Guide to the Lakes
PR 4142. E285. 1998 Blake,
W.
The Early Illuminated Books
PR
4144.U7. 1995
Blake, W.
The Urizen Books
N6797.B57.B87 Butlin,
M.
Complete Paintings & Drawings of William Blake
Folio
ND 1942 T8. B8 1965 Butlin, M.
Turner's Watercolors
N6766.C8 Cummings,
F. Romantic Art in Britain
PE 25 A5 HEFT 71 Draper,
J. Bibliography on18th Century
Aesthetics [Davis]
NE628.P756.
1985
Fitzwilliam The
Print in England
ND 1942 C66 F55 Fleming-Williams
Constable's Landscape Drawings
NC
242 C5 G33 Gadney,
R. Constable's
Oil Sketches
NE
850 G37 1986 Gasgoinge,
B. How
to Recognize Prints [reference section]
Folio
ND497 C7. H5 1985
Hill,
D. Constable's
English Landscape Scenery
BH221.G72.H5
Hipple,
W. J. The Beautiful,
The Sublime, The Picturesque
BH301.L3
H8
Hussey,
C.
The Picturesque
ND
1354.4 P37.1973 Parris
Landscape in Britain
N6797 C67 A4.1982
Rajnai, M.
John Sell Cotman
N6766.C8
Rosenblum Romantic
Art in Britain
Folio
ND 1942 T8. A4 Shanes, E.
Turner's Picturesque Views in England and Wales
NE 642.B5.V57.1993
Viscomi, J. Blake
and the Idea of the Book
ND
1928 W533. 1985 Wilcox
British Watercolors
ND
1928 W55. 1977 Wilton
British Watercolor 1750-1850
N6797.T88
A4. 1980
Wilton
Turner and The Sublime
Folio
NC 242 P33. W5 Wilton
William Pars Journey Through the Alps
ND
1942 T8. W55 1982 B Wilton
Turner Abroad
Topics for Oral Reports
18th c. English Landscape Gardening (see J. Dixon Hunt)
Capability Brown, the landscape architect
The English country house (see Mark Girouard and Clive Wainwright)
Ruins in romantic art or literature
The grand tour
The picturesque tour, or a specific tour once taken by a painter, poet, or connoisseur
The English Lake District
Dr. Syntax (a parody of William Gilpin, by Rowlandson and Coombs)
Tintern Abbey or another popular site visited by picturesque tourists
Landscape, a Poem (Gilpin)
Rudolf AckermanÕs Repository of Art
Prince Hoare (early 19th c. art critic) on Cultivating the PublicÕs Taste and the influence of Art on Morals
The Man of Taste
The Gothic in art, architecture, or literature
William Hazlitt
Thomas Rowlandson
James Gillray
Alexander Cozens
Paul Sandby
Joshua Reynolds
Thomas Girtin
TurnerÕs tours, or a specific tour
TurnerÕs poetry
TurnerÕs prints
ConstableÕs prints
BoydellÕs Shakespeare (large prints after paintings of scenes from Shakespeare; see me for bib)
Green Romanticism (see KroeberÕs Ecological Literary Imagination
WW Descriptive Sketches
and Evening Walk
WW and travel literature (see Coe)
WW and Constable (see Kroeber)
WWÕs Guide to the Lakes
The British Museum
The British Institution
The Royal Academy
Images for the French Revolution (satirical prints, see Gilray)
Mountain Gloom, Mountain Glory, M. H. Nicholson
Newton Demands the Muse, M. H. Nicholson
Morris Eaves, The Counter-Arts Conspiracy: Art and
Industry in the Age of Blake
Robert Essick, The Language of Adam (study of Blake in light of 18th century theories of language)
Theresa Kelly, Revisionary Aesthetics (in Wordsworth)
Wordsworth and the Sublime (Weiskel vs Wlecke)
Blake and the Sublime (see Deluca)
Anne Bermingham, The Ideology of Landscape
Morton Paley, The Apocalyptic Sublime
DrawingÕs role in the education of women (see Bermingham, Sha, and essays of V. Knox, E. Darwin, John Burton, Hannah More, John Moir; de Bolla has a good bib on the subject)
SheeÕs Rhymes on Art, 1809
Connoisseurship (see C. J. Gibson–Wood)
Idea of patronage (see Prince HoareÕs Director or The Artist, in Rare Books)
Uvedale Prince, theorist of the picturesque (see Hipple, Draper)
Richard Paine Knight, theorist of the picturesque (see Hipple, Draper, N. Penny)
Humphry Repton, landscape architect
George Beaumont, art patron and friend of WW (see F. Own and D. Brown)
Thomas Stothard: The Mechanisms of Art Patronage in England, c. 1800. S. Bennett
The Discovery of Painting: The Growth of Interest in the Arts in England 1680-1768, Iain Pears
Selling Art in Georgian England: The Rise of Arthur Pond, L. Lippincott
Politics of the Picturesque, ed. Copley and Garside.
In Search for the Picturesque, M. Andrews
Grand tours and CookÕs Tours, Lynne Withey
The Romantic Ethic and the Spirit of Modern Consumerism, Colin Campell
ÒPortrait Painting as a Business Enterprise in London in the 1780sÓ Marcia Pointon (Art History 7 1984)
Landscape Imagery and Urban Culture in early 19th-c. Britain, A. Hemingway
Edward Dayes, on Taste or Drawing, from his Works (1805)
James ThomsonÕs The Seasons
18th c. Topographical poetry
Forgery and the Philosophy of Art
ÒOriginal GeniusÓ (see Draper for bib)
Alexander Gerard, on Genius (see Hipple, Draper)
Achibald Alison, on Taste (see Hipple, Draper)
HogarthÕs Analysis of Beauty
Ut Pictora Poesis (see Rensselaer W. Lee)
RousseauÕs Essai sur lÕorigine des langues, ch. 16 ÒFausse analogie entre les couleurs et les sonsÓ
Bromley, on paintingÕs superiority over poetry