This course takes as its focus the work of the major English poets and novelists from 1790-1830. We will look at how these writers engaged with contemporary politics, religion, and aesthetic theory in a spirit of competition and collaboration. Expect to read poetry (mostly short poems) by Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, and Keats. We will also read three novels: Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, and Thomas Love Peacock’s Nightmare Abbey. Contemporary texts will give a glimpse of how other writers—essayists and reviewers who were less famous, perhaps, in the long view of Romanticism—were reading the poets and also weighing in on the issues at stake. Grading will consist of a weekly short informal writing, a formal essay, and midterm and final exams. A good grade in this class requires regular attendance and consistent in–class engagement.

Required texts (I will be working with Broadview to get a package deal in the UW bookstore that should help to keep costs down):
The Broadview Anthology of British Literature: The Age of Romanticism - Second Edition (Broadview), 9781551114040.
Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility (Broadview), 9781551111254.
Thomas Love Peacock, Nightmare Abbey (Broadview), 9781551114163.
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (Broadview), 9781554811038.