In this seminar we will read and engage with British literature of the Romantic period (c. 1780-1830). After many decades of relative stability and primary engagement with the so-called Big Six (William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleride, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats), how we study and think about Romanticism has undergone several critical shifts in the last forty years. Working with an understanding of Romanticism as ”an open field rather than a defined and distinct concept” (Haekel 2017), this class will take into account a range of both male and female writers. While dedicating a significant amount of time to the genre of poetry, traditionally centered in research on the Romantic period, this class will also include discussions of narrative and drama. We will engage critically with concepts such as original genius and creative imagination and discuss how they shape widespread notions of authorship to this day.
Writers of interest to the class (in addition to the above-mentioned) include: Anna Laetitia Barbauld, John Clare, Hannah More, Mary Robinson, Charlotte Smith, Mary Shelley.
Students will have some say in what they would like to study.
- Lehrende/r: Laura Schmitz-Justen