The Chief English Romantic Writers Joseph Viscomi
English 437.2, Fall 2003 office GL 504, hrs: T-Th 1-2  
2:00-3:15 Tues & Thurs GL 318 & appt.  962-8764

TEXTS:
The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Romantic Period. Volume 2A. Seventh Edition. Edited by M. H. Abrams. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc. 2003.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. Edited with an introduction by Maurice Hindle. New York: Viking Penguin Inc., 1992.
Trimmer, Joseph. A Guide to MLA Documentation, fourth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1996.

RESERVE:
The English Romantic Poets; A Review of Research and Criticism, ed. Frank Jordan, 4th edition. MLA, l985. [Davis Reference Shelf, PR590.E5.1985]. This is an annotated bibliography of books and important articles on the Romantic poets and their works. Critical works on the Romantics from 1985 to the present can be found through the card catalogue, the index of periodical literature, the annual bibliography published by Garland Press (from 1979), Modern Language Association (MLA), 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 1994-2002 at: http://www.rc.umd.edu/reference/ksjbib/. See also the Romantic Circles Scholarly Resources at http://www.rc.umd.edu/reference/, and www.wwnorton.com/nael.

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 [these are facsimiles of Blake's illuminated books and are in the Department of Rare Books, Wilson Library; for excellent digital reproductions of various exemplary copies of these and other of Blake’s illuminated books, as well as helpful bibliographies, go to The Blake Archive at <http://blakearchive.org>.]

Romanticism on the Net

  • British Poetry 1780-1910
  • Romanticism on the Net-Related Sites page
  • Romantic Circles
  • Romantic Circles: Publications
  • Romantic Links, Electronic Texts, Home Pages, and Syllabi
  • Romantic URLS Newsletter
  • The New Child: British Art and the Origins of Modern Childhood
  • Voice of the Shuttle: Romanticism
  • On-Line Literary Resources: Romantic Resources
  • Romantic Movements
  • Romantic Period Chronology
  • Internet Library of Early Journals


    8/26

    Introduction to course and Romantic Movement

    8/28 The Romantic Movement and William Blake
    Contents pages, General Introduction (1-23)
    Introduction to Blake (35-39), poems from Poetical Sketches

    WILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827)
    9/2, 4, 9 Illuminated Printing and Illuminated Books
    All Religions Are One, There is No Natural Religion, series a & b
    Songs of Innocence, Songs of Experience
    9/9, 11, 16 The Book of Thel; The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
    Prose and letters, 86-91
    9/18 Blake quiz

    WILLIAM WORDSWORTH (1770-1850)

  • William Wordsworth Page
  • The Dove Cottage and Wordsworth Trust Webpage
  • Wordsworth, William. 1888. Complete Poetical Works
  • The English Lake District: Writers and Artists
  • The "Advertisement" (1798)
  • " Preface"(1802)
  • " Appendix: By what is usually called Poetic Diction" (1802)
    		•
    9/18, 23, 25 Introduction and Introduction to Dorothy Wordsworth (1771-1855) and selections from her Alfoxden and Grasmere Journals
    from Lyrical Ballads (1798), and handout: Advertisement to Lyrical Ballads
    9/25, 30 Preface to the Lyrical Ballads
    10/2, 7 Coleridge's Biographia Literaria, ch. 4, 14, 17 (on Wordsworth and origin of Lyrical Ballads) (474-86)
    Poems (pages 251-292; these are mostly from Lyrical Ballads (2 vols., 1800) and Poems in Two Volumes (1807); Sonnets (296-299); Prospectus to Excursion
    Prelude, Introduction and excerpts from Books 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 12, 13

    SAMUEL COLERIDGE (1772-1834)

  • The Coleridge Archive

    • 10/9, 14, 16 Introduction, Poems (419-467), focusing on the conversation poems and poems of mysticism and demonism);
    William Hazlitt, intro and My First Acquaintance with Poets (513-26)
    Biographia Literaria, ch. 1, 13;
    selections from Lectures on Shakespeare and The Statesman’s Manual
    10/21 Midterm Exam
    10/23 Fall Break

    GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON (1788-1824)
    10/28, 30 Introduction and letters; Poems (pages 555-62), “Prometheus” (handout)
    11/4 Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, canto III; Manfred: A Dramatic Poem;
    Don Juan, Cantos 1, 2, 3, 4

    JOHN KEATS (1795-1821)

  • British Library Keats Exhibition
  • Selected Poetry of John Keats
  • The Poetical Works of John Keats

    • 11/6, 11 Poems (701-32, 1763-71); Preface to Prometheus Unbound; Adonais; A Defence of Poetry

    MARY SHELLEY (1797-1851)

  • Frankenstein e-texts
  • Frankenstein: Arts and Legends
  • Frankenstein Resource Center
  • The Frankenstein Page

    • 11/13-18

    Frankenstein (1831 text and Preface; Hindle’s introduction in the Penguin edition). Preface to 1831 text is also in Perkins.
    11/20 Byron, Shelley, M. Shelley quiz

    PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY (1792-1822)

  • Selected Poetry and Prose of Percy Bysshe Shelley
  • Keats-Shelley Journal
  • The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley
  • The Shelley Chronology
    		•
    11/20, 25 Introduction and letters (826-902)
    Eve of St. Agnes; Lamia; The Fall of Hyperion: A Dream; the Odes, “La Belle Dame Sans Merci”
    11/27 Thanksgiving
    12/2, 4 Keats continued

    FINAL EXAM: Tuesday, December 16, 12pm

    ASSIGNMENTS: two quizzes, midterm, and a final exam. You will be asked to contribute identification questions for the quizzes and exams and to supply detailed answers. Questions and answers are to be typed.

    Two papers are required: the first will deal with one or more works from the first generation of writers (Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge); the second will deal with works from the second generation (Byron, P. Shelley, M. Shelley, Keats). The topics are open and can be taken from anything we read or discuss in class. The length of the papers should be appropriate to the topic and argument, though four pages are usually too few and ten too many. N.B. All papers should include a work cited page and at least two secondary sources.

    GRADES: You are responsible for the works assigned on the syllabus, and not only those works discussed in class. The papers are worth 25 points each; the final exam is worth 25 points; the midterm exam is worth 15 points. The quizzes are worth 3 and 7 points respectively.

    Due Dates for papers on the following authors:
    Blake 9/25 Byron 11/11
    Wordsworth 10/16 P., or M. Shelley 11/25
    Coleridge 10/28 Keats 12/11