Early British Romantic Writers

Course Goals:

The Romantic Era, 1789-1837, was one of great ferment, both politically and in the arts. In this class, we will examine the early part of this period: from the French Revolution (1789) to Waterloo (1815). We will look in detail at the philosophical ideas accompanying and sometimes propagating the great revolutions that made America into an independent Republic and toppled the monarchy in France. We will also examine several Revolutions in literary form: the overturning of poetic conventions and turn to the "ordinary"; the Ballad and Sonnet revivals; the emergence of the Jacobin (i.e., politically radical and utopian) novel; the assault in novels, pamphlets, and poems on British colonialism and imperialism, including one of its most egregious manifestations, the slave trade. How, one might ask, do formal and political innovations go together? Barbauld says explicitly that genius can only reside within the Spirit of Liberty, and William Hazlitt definitively links "the Spirit of the Age" to great artistic creativity.

Required Texts:

William Blake, Favorite Works of William Blake (Dover 0486290867)
William Blake, Book of Urizen (Dover 0486298019)
Anna Letitia Barbauld, Selected Poetry and Prose, eds. McCarthy & Kraft (Broadview 1551112418)
William Wordsworth & Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lyrical Ballads, eds. (Richey & Robinson Houghton Mifflin 0618107320)
Sydney Owenson, The Missionary, ed. Wright (Broadview 1551112639)
Charlotte Smith, The Young Philosopher, ed. Kraft (Univ. Press of Kentucky 0813109620)
A Century of Sonnets: The Romantic-Era Revival, ed. Feldman & Robinson (Oxford Univ. Press 0195115627)
Joseph Williams, Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace (Univ. of Chicago Press 0226899152)

NB: Some further texts will be made available electronically, on Blackboard.

Work Required:

Students should actively participate in class. If you are too shy to speak up in class, post your thoughts to the class Blog at http://eng339a.blogspot.com.

There will be six major assignments due this semester, including an essay introducing the period to an undergraduate in a literature survey course and a group project with individual components called "The Ivanhoe Game." Like papers, the assignments can be revised for a better grade; all revisions are due one week after you have received my comments on the first version. There will be two short (3 pp.) papers. Students may either take a final exam or create a Web site about a poem or author who appears in the Bijou, an online giftbook.

Grades:

To get an A in Class Participation, you must come prepared (as evinced by quizzes) and make at least one thoughtful comment per class meeting.

I will grade each written assignment on what you are able to achieve with your writing, both stylistically and conceptually. That is, each paper or assignment to receive an A will reveal that its writer is really trying to think about a question or problem, using writing as a tool to do so. Language is a precision instrument: you can think better if you define your terms -- not according to any dictionary definition, but in accordance with the way you perceive the word to be operating in the texts you are analyzing. It may take a whole paper to define a term: you might write ten paragraphs about what makes George Delmont a philosopher, each one addressing a different aspect of that kind of person, and then finally have defined what Charlotte Smith means by "Philosopher" which you can then state or summarize as your conclusion. You can also think better if you use strong verbs, minimize nominalizations, clarify references (avoid "This shows" and "That means"! Who is "he"? "they"? "it"?), and make visible the connections (sometimes logical ones) between one idea and another (see Joseph Williams on writing well). In commenting on your written assignments, I will a) refer to Williams's Style and b) ask questions in the margins. If you decide to revise your paper or assignment, you should do so by answering those questions in the body of your next paper. If I say, "What makes you think that Louisa is easily swayed?" I really want to know! I may actually agree with you about Louisa, but my question indicates that your claim has not been effectively made in the paper itself. In your revised paper, you should quote a passage from the text or describe events showing your readers how easily swayed Louisa is. My questions and comments are designed to help you revise effectively. All revisions are due one week after you receive my comments. You may revise as many times as you like, until we are out of time (and even then . . .).

A+	97-100	C	73-76
A	93-96	C-	70-72
A-	90-92	D+	67-69
B+	87-89	D	63-66
B	83-86	D-	60-62
B-	80-82	F	0-59
C+	77-79

15%	Class and Blogger Participation
35%	Assignments
25%	Papers 1 & 2
25%	Final Exam or Web Project

Attendance Policy:

Miami University Academic Regulations Section 701 states that "Every student is expected to attend every class session for which the student is duly registered." Attendance is especially important in classes that meet TR. However, things happen in life: missing three classes will not affect your grade (except, perhaps, for participation). Since three absences are allowed, there is no need to tell me why you have missed those classes, though of course you are welcome to do so.

All absences, whether medically necessary or not, count towards these three. That is, you cannot take three absences for other reasons and then give me a doctor's note for a fourth absence to have it excused: it would only be excused if you have a doctor's note for ALL FOUR absences. So please, save your absences for when you really need them.

Four to five absences will seriously affect your grade. If you have more than five absences, you will be dropped from the course. You will receive an 'F' (the registrar does it automatically if I drop you from the course) UNLESS you bring a drop slip to my office -- I'm happy to give you a passing grade if you were passing the course at the time you stopped attending it. You are responsible for bringing me the drop slip, for making sure I will be in my office at the time you intend to come by, and for arranging to meet me in advance of the drop deadline (last day of classes).

Teacher Availability:

You may call, come by the office, email me, contact me online through AOL Instant Messenger (LauraMiam5) and Microsoft Instant Messaging (find me by my email address), or visit my office in the Romantic Circles MOO. I don't always have time to answer email -- if you send me an email to which I did not respond, please check with me after class to make certain I received it.

Schedule of Readings and Assignments:
each reading must be done BY the date listed on the syllabus, and each assignment is due on the date listed.

DATE	READINGS	ASSIGNMENTS
8/26 T	Course Introduction -- Syllabus
8/28 R	Anna Letitia Barbauld, "Summer Evening's Meditation" (98-101) Excerpts from William Wordsworth, The Prelude; Preface to Lyrical Ballads (Handout)
9/2 T	EXCHANGE DAY -- no class
9/4 R	Students introduce the Romantic Era	Assignment #1 Due: Write about 2 pp. introducing a survey class to the Romantic Era (for 1/2 class)
9/9 T	Students introduce the Romantic Era	Assignment #1 Due (for 1/2 class)
9/11 R	William Blake, Songs of Innocence, Songs of Experience, Marriage of Heaven and Hell	Come prepared to participate with our visitor, British Romanticism professor from France (Univ. of Tours), Prof. Isabelle Bour
9/16 T	Research Class: Spend class time plus several hours at the library becoming an expert literary critic, of a particular school, on Blake
9/18 R	Meet in Groups: Play "the Ivanhoe Game" with your group; gamekeepers will turn in the results.
9/23 T	Blake, "London" "London" criticism (Handout) Barbauld, "Hymns in Prose for Children" (234-261) Barbauld, "What Is Education?" (321-333)	Assignment #2 Due: 3 pp. paper describing the point of view of a particular school of criticism
9/25 R	Blake, Book of Urizen
9/30 T	Revolution Controversy (Handout) Richey & Robinson, "Political Backgrounds," in Lyrical Ballads and Related Writings (167-210) William Wordsworth, "Simon Lee" (R & R 442-444) Wordsworth, Letter to Charles James Fox (Handout) Richey & Robinson, "Fears in Solitude and Other Political Writings By Coleridge" (211-235)
10/2 R	John Locke, "Association of Ideas," from the 1700 edition of An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (Handout) Richey & Robinson, "Political Backgrounds," in Lyrical Ballads and Related Writings (119-143 [top]) Barbauld, "On Prejudice" (333-344)
10/7 T	Charlotte Smith, The Young Philosopher Barbauld, "Thoughts on the Inequality of Conditions" (345-355)	Assignment #3 Due: 3 pp. paper answering the question, "How might revolutions in literary form be connected to political revolutions?
10/9 R	Young Philosopher (cont')
10/14 T	Young Philosopher (cont') Barbauld, from The British Novelists, "Mrs. Charlotte Smith" (436-441)
10/16 R	Young Philosopher (cont')	Paper #1 Due
10/21 T	Richey & Robinson, "Reactions of Wordsworth and Coleridge" (384-422) -- focus on Wordsworth's Preface and Appendix to Lyrical Ballads, and on Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Biographia Literaria R & R, "Contemporary Reviews" (351-368)
10/23 R	Wordsworth and Coleridge, Lyrical Ballads (R & R 43-110) Wordsworth, "Tintern Abbey" (R & R 110-115) Coleridge, "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (R & R 423-441)	Assignment #4 Due: In 3 pp., add onto the essay you wrote for Assignment #3, using specific passages from Lyrical Ballads as examples that either illustrate or refute some of your claims.
10/28 T	Richey & Robinson, "The Ballad Revivial" (236-271) Mary Robinson, from Lyrical Tales (Handout) Feldman & Robinson, Introduction to A Century of Sonnets (3-24)
10/30 R	Sonnets and Scansion (Handouts) Sonnets (25-111) Mary Robinson, Preface to Sappho and Phaon (Handout)
11/4 T	Sonnets (111-167)	Assignment #5 Due: Turn in your scanned sonnet. Write 2 pp., answering the following: how does its meter affect its meaning?
11/6 R	Charlotte Smith, Elegaic Sonnets (Available on line at the Univ. of California at Davis British Woman Romantic Poets Project. Barbauld, poems (41-121)
11/11 T	Coleridge, "To Famine," and UEA Studies Group (Handout) Barbauld, poems (127-185); pay attention especially to "Eighteen Hundred and Eleven" (160-173)	Begin work on your Bijou Web Site
11/13 R	Barbauld, "Epistle to William Wilberforce" (121-126) Barbauld, "Sins of Government, Sins of the Nation" (297-320) Anti-Slavery poems by Thomas Day, Hannah More, Ann Yearsley (Handout) Sensibility (Handout)	Assignment #6 Due: answer the question proposed to you on the "Sensibility" handout.
11/18 T	Sydney Owenson, Lady Morgan, The Missionary "Imperial Administration and Religious Difference," in Owenson, ed. Wright (277-293)
11/20 R	Owenson, The Missionary British Imperialism (Handout)
11/25 T	Owenson, The Missionary "Reviews and Respones to Owenson's Writings," in Owenson, ed. Wright (295-312)	Paper #2 Due
11/27 R	THANKSGIVING -- no class
12/2 T	Barbauld, "To Mr. S. T. Coleridge" (142-143) Coleridge, "Kubla Khan" (available on line at the Univ. of Virginia) De Quincey, excerpts from Confessions of an English Opium Eater (medium to be determined)
12/4 R	Coleridge, "Christabel" (medium to be determined) Christina Rossetti, "Goblin Market" (medium to be determined)
12/9 T	Review for COMPREHENSIVE FINAL Course Evaluations
12/11 R	Class Party
	FINAL EXAM	Bijou Web Site Due