Course description

This course examines a selection of British poetry, prose, and fiction from the mid-1780s to the mid-1830s, commonly known as the Romantic period. Course selections and thematic studies may vary from year to year, but study will typically include representative forms of Romantic poetry and fiction, and a selection of prose works which illuminate the central issues of the period. Through a close examination of each text in the context of the cultural discourses in which it was produced and received, the student will gain a better understanding of the literary responses to social, intellectual, and political upheavals, but also the way in which the literature helped shape those upheavals.