Course Objectives
This senior/graduate-level introduction to 19th-century British literature and culture focuses primarily upon the Romantic period (roughly 1780-1835), but it does so under the umbrella of the course's formal catalogue prefix: "19th-Century British Literature." Therefore we will also consider, as part of our work, some of the ways in which the literature and culture of the Victorian period that followed served to build upon, interrogate, or otherwise revisit and reprocess some of the themes, issues, and concerns that especially occupied the Romantics. At the same time, and perhaps even more importantly, we will consider some of the complex relationships that exist between the Romantics (and their culture) and their predecessors from the later eighteenth century.
We will not undertake a "survey" in this course, since two other courses, English 231 and 365, already do that. Rather, we will approach selected materials in terms of continuities and discontinuities which we will explore among these themes and topics. In addition to our central preoccupation with the literature, literary artifacts, and literary community of the Romantic period as a whole, our work will range broadly and eclectically over history (social, political, and intellectual), the arts, economics, and culture generally.
Additional information: expectations about learning objectives and skills
As part of its reorganization of the undergraduate major in English, the Department has adopted a number of expectations about the sort of work students can expect to do in courses at the four numbered levels of the curriculum. In a course at the 400 level (like this one) all students should expect to do the following: