Department of English

This semester, we will approach the major poets, male and female, of the early nineteenth century by covering a series of themes central to the period. Instead of our reading each poet in separate chronological order, we will arrange the reading across such thematic units as the visual arts and aesthetics, revolutions (American and French), the self and the other (including slavery), Scottish and Irish themes, women and education, literary theory and criticism, the country and the town, and the supernatural. We will run class sessions with the help of our students on the basis of interactive team teaching.

The writing for the course will consist of an occasional quiz, and a selection - made by each student - of papers totalling about 30 pages from a menu of brief, short, and longer ones.