Department of English

This course will introduce students to a wide range of British poetry written between 1700 and the early 20th century. The majority of these poems will be about the spiritual, incorporeal, gothic, ghoulish, ghastly, possessed, unnatural, other-worldly, transcendent, descendent, and things that are generally creepy, spooky, or weird. We will examine ghosts, spirits, witches, elves, fairies, out-of-body experiences, omens, haunted houses, haunted minds, and things that go bump in the night. We will also look at a few "unghostly" poems to help us flesh-out the historical, literary, and aesthetic picture. Our examination of the ghostly (and unghostly) will lead to discussions of different aesthetic theories and the relationship between poetic form and content. Also important will be questions about the relationship between poetry and the body, identity, sexuality, parenthood, domesticity, nationality, literary authority, and authorship. Authors we study will include Pope, Gray, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Rossetti, the Brownings, the Brontes, and Hardy. Two short papers, one longer research paper, and a final exam. Regular attendance and active participation are a must.