Course Description:
This course will provide in-depth examination of the writings of some of the most important writers of the first generation of British Romantics, centering specifically on the circle formed by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, including Dorothy Wordsworth, William Hazlitt, Robert Southey, Charles Lamb, and Thomas De Quincey.

Course Objectives:
This course will emphasize the importance of critical and analytical skills in examining Romantic-era literature within its historical, interpersonal, and literary contexts.  Students will be expected to utilize their own interpretive abilities in addition to demonstrating the capacity to

• explore the significance of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and the legal, political, and social  responses in England and abroad,
• examine the complex relationships among the main figures under consideration and to analyze the literary context within which their texts were produced, especially in terms the influence of the writers on each other;
• examine the Romantic notions of individual consciousness, the interplay between reason and the imagination, and the connections between solitude and community;
• investigate the ways in which different modern schools of criticism—psychoanalytic, feminist, Marxist, and poststructalist, for example—have been used to inform the study of these works;
• demonstrate their understanding of course content through participation in informed class discussions and the preparation of written discussions of the literature under discussion, both with and without the incorporation of secondary source criticism.

• evaluate the works we read in terms of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and the legal, political, and social  responses in England and abroad;
• explore the complex nature of these writers’ responses to the political climate of the time, especially within the context of the increasingly oppressive publishing environment that developed at the end of the eighteenth century;
• examine the complex domestic relationships among the main figures under consideration, especially in terms of the familial connections in place within the Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey households;
• consider the different theories of the mind, political philosophies, and educational beliefs discussed and exemplified in these works;
• investigate the ways in which different modern schools of criticism—psychoanalytic, feminist, Marxist, and poststructuralist, for example—have been used to inform the study of these works;
• demonstrate their proficiency in these areas through thoughtful classroom discussion, presentations, and written arguments.

• Students will be expected to complete all assigned readings for each session before coming to class and arrive prepared to discuss them.
• Written assignments will include weekly brief response papers (300-500 words) on the texts assigned for the course, one slighty longer critical response paper (1300-word min.), and one fully-documented critical research paper (6000-word minimum).
• The critical response paper and research paper must be on two separate subjects.
•  Written assignments are due at the beginning of class on the due date. Late papers will be penalized
• Students will also give a brief (15-20 minutes) oral presentation on one of the assigned readings.
• The brief presentation will be selected from a list generated by the instructor. A written version of the presentation will be submitted at the time of the presentation. Although no secondary source material is required for this assignment, ALL sources must be CLEARLY cited in the written version of the presentation.  Oral citation of sources will be insufficient and may lead to serious consequences (Please familiarize yourself with the Graduate School's guidelines on academic dishonesty, which can be found in the most recent catalog).
• Students will also experience a final, essay examination on the materials covered in the course.

Required Texts:

• Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. Coleridge’s Poetry and Prose. Ed. Nicholas Halmi, et al. NY: Norton, 2004.
• Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, and Robert Southey. The Fall of Robespierre. (on-line text)
• De Quincey, Thomas. Confessions of an English Opium-Eater. NY: Oxford, 1998.
• De Quincey, Thomas. Recollections of the Lakes and the Lake Poets. NY: Penguin, 1980.
  
• Hazlitt, William. Selected Writings. Ed. John Cook. NY: Oxford UP, 1999.
• Lamb, Charles. Essays of Elia. [Iowa City: U Iowa P, 2003.] Available On-Line 
• Wordsworth, Dorothy. The Grasmere and Alfoxden Journals. Ed. Pamela Woof. NY: Oxford, 2002.
• Wordsworth, William. Major Works. Ed. Stephen Gill. NY: Oxford UP, 2000.

• Sisman, Adam. The Friendship: Wordsworth & Coleridge. NY: Penguin, 2007.

• (cpp): Coleridge’s Poetry and Prose
• (ceo): Confessions of an English Opium-Eater
• (dw): Dorothy Wordsworth: A Longman Cultural Edition
• (ee): Essays of Elia
• (mw): Major Works of William Wordsworth
• (sw): Selected Writings of William Hazlitt
• : On-line source

Jan	24	Course Introduction
	31	Coleridge and Southey,  Fall of Robespierre STC, "Ode on the Departing Year" (cpp): 34-42 "Fears in Solitude" (cpp): 108-16 "France: An Ode" (cpp):  116-119 "Vision of the Maid of Orleans" (cpp): 125-29 "Fire, Famine, and Slaughter: A War Ecologue" (cpp): 140-43 Letter to George Coleridge, 10 March 1798 (cpp): 626 Recommended: Buckley, "A Dream of Murder"
Feb	7	Lyrical Ballads and Other Conversations STC: "Effusion XXXV" ("The Eolian  Harp") (cpp): 17-20 "Reflections on Having Left a Place of Retirement" (cpp): 52-54 "The Foster-Mother's Tale" (cpp): 100-2 "The Nightingale" (cpp): 102-5 "The Dungeon" (cpp): 105 "Love" (cpp): 106-8 "To a Friend" (cpp): 134-36 "This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison" (cpp): 136-39 Biographia Literaria, Ch. 14 (cpp): 489-90 (1st 2 ¶'s) Letters of STC and Charles Lamb (Handout) WW: Advertisement (mw): 591-92 Note to "The Thorn" (mw): 593-94 Preface (mw): 595-615 Recommended: Burwick, "Coleridge's Conversation Poems"  Recommended: Romanticism on the Net Special Issue
	14	WW & STC, Lyrical Ballads, cont. WW: "Salisbury Plain": (mw): 13-28 "The Female Vagrant" (Handout) "The Mad Mother" (Handout) "Old Man Travelling" - "Lines Left Upon a Seat" (mw): 29-31 "Lines Written a Small Distance" - "The Thorn" (mw): 54-66 "The Idiot Boy" - "Last of the Flock" (mw): 67-91 "Expostulation and Reply" - "The Tables Turned" (mw): 129-31 Recommended: Hale,"Wordsworth's "The Mad Mother" Deadline to Select Topic for Brief Oral Presentation
	21	DW, Journals DW, Poems (Handout) WW, "A Whirl-blast from Behind the Hill" (mw): 66-7 "Beggars," (mw): 243-44 "To a Butterfly" (mw): 244 STC, "Christabel" (cpp): 158-79 Recommended: Comitini, "'More than Half  a Poet'"  Recommended: Henderson, "Revolution, Response, and 'Christabel'"
	28	STC, “Dejection: An Ode” (cpp): 143-58 WW, "Resolution and Independence" (mw): 260-64 “Ode: Intimations of Immortality” (mw): 297-302 Handouts: Letter from WW to SH IF Notes to "Ode" STC/WW, "The Mad Monk" Recommended: Keanie, "Coleridge's Capable Negativity"  Critical Response Paper Due
Mar	6	WW, The Recluse (excerpts) Preface (Handout) "The Ruined Cottage" (mw): 31-44 "[A Night-Piece]" (mw): 44-5 "Discharged Soldier" (mw): 45-49 "Old Cumberland Beggar" (mw): 49-54 "Home at Grasmere" (mw): 174-99 Appendix, (mw): 676-81 Recommended: Wordsworth, "On Man, On Nature, and On Human Life"  Recommended: Johnston, "Wordsworth and the Recluse"
	13	WW, The Prelude (Bks.1-8) (mw): 375-508 Recommended: Kneale, "WW's Images of Language"
	20	** Spring Break **
	27	WW, The Prelude (Bks. 9-13) (mw): 509-92 Handout: Excerpt from 1799 Prelude Recommended: Gravil, "Some Other Being"  Deadline for Research Paper Proposals
Apr	3	STC,  Biographia Literaria (cpp): 372-552 WW, 1815 Preface to Poems and Supplementary Essay (mw): 626-62, but esp. 630-39 Recommended: Mudge, "Politics of Autobiography"
	10	De Q,  Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (ceo): vii-80 Suspiria de Profundis, (ceo): 87-181 Handout: Letter of WW to De Q, 29 July 1803  Recommended: “The Letters of De Quincey to Wordsworth, 1803-1807” Recommended: “Leeches and Opium”
	17	De Q,  Recollections of the Lakes and the Lake Poets Recommended: "De Quincey and the Dark Sublime" (Handout)
	24	Hazlitt,  "The Character of Mr. Burke" (sw): 54-66 "The French Revolution" (sw): 84-98 “My First Acquaintance with Poets” (sw): 211-29 "Mr. Wordsworth" (sw): 347-58 Recommended: Robinson, “Autobiography of a Cultural Critic”
May	1	Lamb,  Essays of Elia  "The South Sea House" (ee): 1-14 "Christ's Hospital Five and Thirty Years Ago" (ee): 27-50 "Imperfect Sympathies" (ee): 133-47 "Modern Gallantry" (ee): 181-88 "The Praise of Chimney-Sweepers" (ee): 249-61 "A Complaint on the Decay of Beggars" (ee): 262-75 Old China" (Handout) Recommended: WW, "Written After the Death of Charles Lamb"  Recommended: Hickey, "Double Bonds"
	8	Final Examination
	15	Final Research Paper Due

Bibliography:

• Aaron, Jane. A Double Singleness:  Gender and the Writings of Charles and Mary Lamb. NY: Oxford, 1991.
• Abrams, M. H. Natural Supernaturalism: Tradition and Revolution in Romantic Literature. NY: Norton, 1971.
• Armstrong, Charles. Romantic Organicism: From Idealist Origins to Ambivalent Afterlife. NY: Palgrave MacMillan, 2003.
• Barrell, John. The Infection of Thomas De Quincey: A Psychopathology of Imperialism. New Haven: Yale UP, 1991.
• Barth, J. Robert, ed. The Fountain Light: Studies in Romanticism and Religion. NY: Fordham UP, 2002.
• Blades, John.  Wordsworth and Coleridge: Lyrical Ballads. NY: Palgrave MacMillan, 2005.
• Bromwich, David. Hazlitt: The Mind of a Critic. New Haven: Yale UP, 1999.
• Cafarelli, Annette Wheeler. Prose in the Age of Poets: Romanticism and Biographical Narrative from Johnson to De Quincey. Philadelphia: U Penn P, 1990.
• Cronin, Richard, ed. 1798: The Year of the Lyrical Ballads. NY: St. Martin’s, 1998.
• Gill, Stephen, ed. Cambridge Companion to Wordsworth. NY: Cambridge UP, 2003.
• ---. William Wordsworth:  A Life. NY: Oxford, 1990.
• Gittings, Robert, and Jo Manton.  Dorothy Wordsworth. NY: Oxford, 1985.
• Hartman, Geoffrey. The Unremarkable Wordsworth. London: Metheun, 1987.
• ---. Wordsworth's Poetry: 1787-1814. New Haven: Yale UP, 1964. rpt. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1987.
• Hitchcock, Susan Tyler.  Mad Mary Lamb:  Lunacy and Murder in Literary London. NY: Norton, 2005.
• Holmes, Richard.  Coleridge: Darker Reflections, 1804-1834. NY: Pantheon, 2000.
• ---. Coleridge:  Early Visions. NY: Penguin, 1990.
• Jacobus, Mary. Romanticism, Writing, and Sexual Difference: Essays on The Prelude. NY: Oxford, 1989.
• James, Felicity. Charles Lamb, Coleridge, and Wordsworth:  Reading Friendship in the 1790s. NY: Palgrave, 2008.
• Johnston, Kenneth. The Hidden Wordsworth: Poet, Lover, Rebel, Spy. NY: Norton, 1998.
• ---. Wordsworth and The Recluse. New Haven: Yale UP, 1984.
• Jones, Kathleen. A Passionate Sisterhood: The Sisters, Wives and Daughters of the Lake Poets. NY: St. Martins, 2000.
• Keane, Patrick. Coleridge's Submerged Politics: The Ancient Mariner and Robinson Crusoe. Columbia: U Missouri P, 1994.
• Levin, Susan. Dorothy Wordsworth & Romanticism. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1987.
• ---, ed. Dorothy Wordsworth: A Longman Cultural Edition. NY: Longman, 2009.
• Matlak, Richard. The Poetry of Relationship: The Wordsworths and Coleridge: 1797-1800. NY: Palgrave MacMillan, 1997.
• Mellor, Anne, ed. Romanticism and Feminism. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1988.
• ---. Romanticism and Gender. NY: Routledge, 1993.
• Monsman, Gerald. Confessions of a Prosaic Dreamer: Charles Lamb's Art of Autobiography. Durham: Duke UP, 1984.
• Newlyn, Lucy, ed. Cambridge Companion to Coleridge. NY: Cambridge UP, 2002.
• Page, Judith. Wordsworth and the Cultivation of Women. Berkeley: U California P, 1994.
• Pratt, Lynda, ed. "Robert Southey: A Special Edition." Romanticism on the Net. 32-33 (2003-2004). <http://www.erudit.org/revue/ron/2003/v/n32-33/index.html>.
• ---, ed. Robert Southey and the Contexts of English Romanticism. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2006.
• Roberts, Daniel Sanjiv. Revisionary Gleam : De Quincey, Coleridge and the High Romantic Argument. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2000.
• Ruoff, Gene. Wordsworth and Coleridge:  The Making of the Major Lyrics, 1802-1804. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1989.
• Russett, Margaret. De Quincey’s Romanticism. NY: Cambridge UP, 1997.
• Smith, Christopher. Quest for Home : Reading Robert Southey. Liverpool: Liverpool UP, 1997.
• ---.. "Robert Southey and the Emergence of Lyrical Ballads." Romanticism On the Net 9 (February 1998).   <http://www.erudit.org/revue/ron/1998/v/n9/005792ar.html >.
• Snyder, Robert Lance, ed.  Thomas De Quincey: Bicentenary Studies. Norman: U Oklahoma P, 1985.
• Speck, W. A. Robert Southey: Entire Man of Letters. New Haven: Yale UP, 2006.
• Storey, Mark.. Robert Southey: A Life. NY: Oxford, 1997.
• Whale, John C. Thomas De Quincey's Reluctant Autobiography. Totowa, New Jersey: Barnes & Noble, 1984.
• Wilson, Frances. The Ballad of Dorothy Wordsworth: A Life. NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2008.
  
• Wordsworth, Jonathan. William Wordsworth: The Borders of Vision. NY: Oxford, 1982.
• Worthen, John. The Gang: Coleridge, the Hutchinsons, and the Wordsworths in 1802. New Haven: Yale UP, 2001.
• Wu, Duncan. WIlliam Hazlitt: The First Modern Man. NY: Oxford, 2008.