This course will provide in-depth examination of the writings of some of the most important writers of the second generation of British Romantics, centering specifically on the circle formed by Mary Godwin Shelley, Percy Shelley, and Lord Byron, but also briefly examining the influence of Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin on the Shelleys in particular.

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 engage in research of secondary source criticism to inform their in-class discussion and presentations as well as the written requirements for the course.

Teaching Methods and Activities:

Students will be expected to do the following:

• evaluate the works we read in terms of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and the Greek War for Independence and the legal, political, and social  responses in England and abroad, including the abolition and reform movements;
• examine the complex relationships among the main figures under consideration as well as such ancillary figures as John Polidori, Claire Clairmont, and Leigh Hunt;
• analyze the literary context within which these texts were produced, especially in terms of the intellectual influence of Wollstonecraft and Godwin (in addition to other important figures such as Wordsworth and Coleridge) on the younger writers and the influence of the writers on each other;
• 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 poststructalist, 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.

• Byron, George Gordon. Poetry and Prose. Ed. Alice Levine. NY: Norton, 2010.
• Godwin, William. Caleb Williams. Ed. Gary Handwerk and A.A. Markley. Ontario: Broadview, 2000.
• ---. St. Leon: A Tale of the Sixteenth Century. Ed. William Brewer. Ontario: Broadview, 2006.
• Polidori, John. The Vampyre and Ernestus Berchtold; or, The Modern Oedipus. Ed. D.L. Macdonald and Kathleen Scherf. Ontario: Broadview, 2007.
• Shelley, Mary.  The Original Frankenstein. Ed. Charles Robinson. NY: Random House, 2009.
• ---. Valperga. Ontario: Broadview, 1998.
• Shelley, Percy. Shelley’s Poetry and Prose. Ed. Donald Reiman and Neil Freistat. 2nd Ed.  NY: Norton, 2002.

Aug	24	Course Introduction
	31	William Godwin, Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (cw): 483-98 Things As They Are, or Caleb Williams Recommended: Collings, “The Romance of the Impossible,” esp. 847-63
Sept	7	Godwin, Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (sl): 455-59 St. Leon: A Tale of the Sixteenth Century Recommended: Collings, “The Romance of the Impossible” esp. 863-71
	14	Lord Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Cantos 1-2 (bpp):  21-97 Recommended: Elledge, “Chasms in Connections” Deadline to Select Topic for Brief Oral Presentation
	21	Percy Shelley, Queen Mab (spp): 15-71 Alastor (spp): 71-90  “On Love” (spp):  503-4  “Mont Blanc” (spp): 96-101 Recommended: Ferber, “Alastor” (spp): 654-63
	28	Lord Byron, “A Fragment” (“Augustus Darvell”) (vep): 231-36 PBS, Ghost Story fragments (vep): 236-40 John Polidori,  The Vampyre  (vep): 37-59 Ernestus Berchtold (vep): 61-170 Diary of Dr. John William Polidori Recommended: Bainbridge, “Lord Ruthven's Power”
Oct	5	Mary Shelley,  Frankenstein  (of): 16-443 Recommended: Robinson, Introduction to Frankenstein Notebooks (handout)
	12	Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto 3 (bpp): 196-229 Manfred (bpp): 247-83 Recommended: Manning, “The Sublime Self” (bpp): 898-919 Critical Response Paper Due
	19	Percy Shelley, “To Constantia” (spp): 107-9  “Lines Written Among the Euganean Hills” (spp): 110-19  “Julian & Maddalo” (spp):  119-35  “The Sensitive Plant” (spp): 286-95 “Ode to the West Wind” (spp): 297-301 Recommended: Everest, “Shelley's Doubles” (spp): 675-83
	26	Lord Byron,  “Prometheus” (bpp): 239-41 Percy Shelley, Prometheus Unbound (spp): 202-86 Recommended: Webb, “The Unascended Heaven” (spp): 694-711 Deadline for Research Paper Abstracts
Nov	2	Lord Byron, Don Juan, 1-5 (bpp): 375-553 Recommended: Graham, “Nothing so Difficult” (bpp): 943-55
	9	Don Juan, 9-17, passim (bpp): 554-682 Recommended: Wolfson, “Their She-Condition” (bpp): 955-72
	16	Mary Shelley, Valperga Recommended: Maunu, “Connecting Threads”
	23	Thanksgiving Break:  No Class
	30	Mary Shelley, Matilda (handout) “The Transformation” “The Mortal Immortal” Byron, The Deformed Transformed Recommended: Cantor, “Mary Shelley and the Taming of the Byronic Hero” (handout)
Dec	7	Final Examination
	10	Final Research Paper Due

• Bennett, Betty, and Stuart Curran, eds. Mary Shelley in Her Times.  Baltimore:  Johns Hopkins UP, 2000.
• Bieri, James. Percy Bysshe Shelley: A Biography. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2008.
  
• Blank, G. Kim. Wordsworth's Influence on Shelley: A Study of Poetic Authority. NY: St. Martin's, 1988.
  
• Bloom, Harold. The Anxiety of Influence: A Theory of Poetry. NY: Oxford UP, 1973.
  
• Blumberg, Jane. Mary Shelley’s Early Novels: ‘This Child of Imagination and Misery.’ Iowa City: U Iowa P, 1993.
• Brewer, William. The Shelley-Byron Conversation. Gainsville: U FL P, 1994.
  
• Buss, Helen,  D. L. MacDonald, and Anne McWhir, eds.  Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley:  Writing Lives. Ontario: Wilfred Laurier UP, 2001.
• Carlson, Julie. England's First Family of Writers: Mary Wollstonecraft, William Godwin, Mary Shelley. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 2007.
• Clark, Timothy. Embodying Revolution:  The Figure of the Poet in Shelley. NY: Oxford, 1989.
• Clemit, Pamela. The Godwinian Novel: The Rational Fictions of  Godwin, Brockden Brown, Mary Shelley. NY: Oxford UP, 1993.
• Conger, Syndy M.,  Frederick S. Frank, and Gregory O’Dea, eds. Iconoclastic Departures: Mary Shelley after Frankenstein. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson UP, 1997.
• Eberle-Sinatra, Michael.  Mary Shelley’s Fictions: From Frankenstein to Falkner. NY: St. Martin’s, 2000.
• Eisler, Benita. Byron: Child of Passion, Fool of Fame. NY: Vintage, 2000.
• Fisch, Audrey, Anne K. Mellor, & Esther H. Schor, eds. The Other Mary Shelley: Beyond Frankenstein. NY: Oxford, 1993.
• Gelpi, Barbara. Shelley's Goddess: Maternity, Language, and Subjectivity. NY: Oxford UP, 1992.
  
• Gilmour, Ian.  The Making of the Poets: Byron and Shelley in Their Time. NY: Carroll & Graf, 2004.
• Gittings, Robert and Jo Manton. Claire Clairmont and the Shelleys, 1798-1879. NY: Oxford, 1995.
• Graham, Kenneth. The Politics of Narrative: Ideology and Social Change in William Godwin's Caleb Williams. NY: AMS Press, 1990.
• Hill-Miller, Katherine. “My Hideous Progeny”: Mary Shelley, William Godwin, and the Father-Daughter Relationship. Newark, DE: U Delaware P, 1995.
• Hogle, Jerrold. Shelley’s Process: Radical Transference and the Development of His Major Works. NY: Oxford UP, 1988.
• Holmes, Richard. Shelley:  The Pursuit. NY: NY Review of Books, 2003.
• Jacobs, Diane. Her Own Woman: The Life of Mary Wollstonecraft.  NY: Simon & Schuster, 2001.
• Kilgour, Maggie. The Rise of the Gothic Novel. NY: Routledge,  1995.
• MacCarthy, Fiona. Byron: Life and Legend.  NY: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2002.
• MacDonald, D. L. Poor Polidori: A Critical Biography of the Author of The Vampyre. Toronto: U Toronto P, 1991.
• McGann, Jerome. Byron and Romanticism. NY: Cambridge UP, 2002.
• Mekler, L. Adam, and Lucy Morrison, eds. Mary Shelley: Her Circle and Her Contemporaries Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2010. 
• Mellor, Anne.  Mary Shelley: Her Life, Her Fiction, Her Monsters. NY: Routledge, 1989.
• Robinson, Charles. Shelley and Byron: The Snake and Eagle Wreathed in Fight. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1976.
  
• Seymour, Miranda.  Mary Shelley. London: Grove, 2002.
• St. Clair, William. The Godwins and the Shelleys: The Biography of a Family. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1991.
• Stabler, Jane. Byron, Poetics and History. NY: Cambridge UP, 2003.
• Sunstein, Emily.  Mary Shelley:  Romance and Reality.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1991.
• Todd, Janet. Death and The Maidens: Fanny Wollstonecraft and the Shelley Circle. Berkley: Counterpoint, 2007.
• ---. Mary Wollstonecraft:  A Revolutionary Life. NY: Columbia UP, 2000.