This course introduces students to British poets from the late-seventeenth century to about 1925. We will consider issues of poetic form in light of the cultural, social, and political climates in which these authors worked. Questions of gender, imperialism, literary authority, and literary periodization will guide our study. We will focus on one or two major poets from each "period": Alexander Pope and Anne Finch, William Wordsworth and Charlotte Smith, John Keats, Alfred Tennyson and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and T. S. Eliot. Class be centered on discussion with occasional short lectures. Requirements: 2 five-page analytical papers, a few shorter projects (e.g., an exercise using the online Oxford English Dictionary, final, close reading, attendance, and participation.

--Lawrence Warner lwarner@english.upenn.edu http://www.english.upenn.edu/~lwarner/