A course focusing on literary responses to unprecedented social and political change, including English reactions to the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars; the unmistakeable evidence of an industrial revolution and an altered balance between city and countryside; and new agitation for the rights of workers and women. We will read major romantic poets in depth -- mainly Blake, Wordsworth, Shelley and Byron -- alongside less known figures such as Anna Barbauld, Mary Wollstonecraft, Maria Edgeworth, Dorothy Wordsworth, Robert Burns, John Clare and William Hazlitt, as well as popular journalists, pamphleteers and caricaturists. Key concerns will include the intersection and the divergence of high and popular culture; the social uses of literacy and expressive media; and the gap between public life and private experience as a basis for art. There will be several brief papers early in the course and a longer paper (10-15 pages) by the end. Because this course is scheduled as a CGS "early bird" class, breakfast makings will also be welcome.

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Richard Hendrix
Associate Dean, School of Arts and Sciences
Director, College of General Studies
University of Pennsylvania
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