Romanticism

This course is designed as an overview of major texts (in poetry and prose), contexts, and themes in British Romanticism. The movement of Romanticism was born in the ferment of revolution, and developed alongside so many of the familiar features of the modern world—features for which Romanticism provides a vantage point for insight and critique. As we read authors including William Blake, John Keats, Mary Shelley, and many others, we will situate our discussions around key issues including: the development of new ideas about individualism and community; industrialization and ecology (changes in nature and in the very conception of “nature”); and slavery and abolition.