ENG 553 - British Romanticism and its Contexts

The period 1789-1832 was one of dramatic political, social, and industrial upheaval in Europe. In response, British writers and artists produced some of the most powerful representations in English literary history of hopes for liberty and progress, and of pure transcendent joy, as well as some of its sharpest attacks on oppression and convention. The class will analyze the formal and stylistic innovations of these writers and the relation of their works to the profound social changes and experiences that they depict, connecting them to their aesthetic, political, and colonial contexts. The main focus will be on the poetry of the period, with some discussion of contemporary prose. Primary readings will be drawn from the works of William Blake, Edmund Burke, Mary Wollstonecraft, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Mary Robinson, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley, John Keats, and others. Class readings will also include recent critical and historical studies of this revolutionary era.

Unit(s): 0.5
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Notes: Graduate course. Offered fall 2025.
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

Deploy skills, methods, and knowledge developed in coursework.
Demonstrate close, analytical interpretations of source materials in one’s writing.
Analyze the value and significance of one’s own academic and creative work, and situate it within the context of similar works.
Express oneself articulately in oral discussion and in presentational modes when appropriate, and express oneself articulately in writing.