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Spring 2012
13:10-16:00 Tu. Room# 190304
(O) 29393091, ext 88174
(H) 86619047
Email: cmchen@nccu.edu.tw
Dr. Chao-ming Chen
Research Building #911
Office Hours:
T. 9:00-12:00
and by appointment
Romantic Literature
Purposes:
This course is designed to introduce students to the critical and historical study of
British literature from the period of Western culture known in the European context as
Romanticism. Readings include poetry, prose, and fiction, most of which are collected in the
Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol 2. This syllabus focuses on seven writers:
William Blake (1757-1827), William Wordsworth (1770-1850), Samuel Taylor Coleridge
(1772-1834), George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824), Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822),
John Keats (1795-1821), and Mary Shelley (1797-1851); our discussion, however, will refer
to a number of prose writers and women writers, including Mary Robinson (1757-1800),
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797), Dorothy Wordsworth (1771-1855), and Charles Lamb
(1775-1834).
Required Texts:
The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol 2, ed. Stephen Greenblatt (8th edition)
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein. (Bookman)
Optional:
Abrams, M.H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. 7th edition.
Ronald Carter and John McRae, The Penguin Guide to English Literature: Britain and
Ireland.
Duncan Wu, ed. A Companion to Romanticism.
Requirements:
1. Class Attendance: Class attendance is a normal expectation and a whole bunch of absences
will make your final grade suffer.
2. Reading Assignments: You are supposed to complete all reading assignments before
attending classes.
3. Examinations: You take two exams (April 17 & June 19)
4. Group Projects: You are required to join a discussion group, whose function is to
encourage you to share and develop opinions and insights with your group partners. Three
or four of you organize a team to work on the chosen writer(s) or work(s); be sure to attend
the discussion and turn in an 8-page paper (Chinese or English) after each discussion.
5. Grading Procedures: The following formula will be used to decide your final grades.
10%
20%
70%
Class Attendance and Reading Assignments
Group Projects
Exams
Class Schedule:
Feb. 21
Introduction: Some Romantic Readings
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2
28
March 6
13
20
27
April
3
10
17
24
May
1
8
.
15
22
Romanticism: the historical context
Readings: NA, pp. 1-6
Romanticism: Romanticism: a critical sampler
Readings: NA, pp. 6-22
No class
M. H. Abrams, "English Romanticism: The Spirit of the Age"
Wordsworth, Preface to Lyrical Ballads, 262-73
Coleridge, Biographia Literaria, 474-84
Shelley, A Defence of Poetry, 837-50
Keats, Letters, 940-954
Mary Robinson, “London’s Summer Morning,” 69
Blake: life and works
Blake: A Vision of the Last Judgment, 124-26
Blake: The Book of Thel, 97-101
Blake: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, 110-21
Blake: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, 110-21
Blake: Songs of Innocence, 81-87; Songs of Experience, 87-97
Wordsworth: life and works
Simon Lee, 245
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, 305
Wordsworth: Tintern Abbey, 258-62
Group Project #1 due: Blake
Wordsworth: My Heart Leaps Up, 306
Resolution and Independence, 302-04
Ode: Intimations of Immortality, 306-12
Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802, 317
Wordsworth: The Prelude (Introduction and Books), 322-87
Group Project #2 due: Wordsworth
Mid-term exam
Romantic Prose: Introduction
Dorothy Wordsworth: The Alfoxden Journal, 390-92
The Grasmere Journal, 392-402
Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, 170
Charles Lamb, Old China, 510-14
Coleridge: life and works
Kubla Khan, 446-49
The Eolian Harp, 426-28
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, 430-45
Group Project #3 due: Romantic Prose
Coleridge: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, 430-45
Byron: life and works
She Walks in Beauty, 612
Darkness, 614-16
Group Project #4 due: Coleridge
Byron: Child Harold's Pilgrimage, 617-28
Introduction to Don Juan, 669-733
Shelley: life and works
2
3
29
June
Ozymandias, 768
Mont Blanc, 762
England in 1819, 771
Ode to the West Wind, 772-74
Group Project #5 due: Byron
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
5
Keats: life and works
On First Looking into Chapman's Homer, 880
Ode on a Grecian Urn, 905
To Autumn, 925
Group Project #6 due: Percy Bysshe Shelley
Group Project #7 due: Mary Shelley
12
Keats: Lamia & The Eve of St. Agnes
19
Final Exam
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Notes for Group Projects
Your group is scheduled to meet several times this semester at your convenience.
You will be given a topic (on a writer, a longer work, or several short poems) two weeks
before the due date; attend the discussion and share your critical insights (or interpretations)
with your group members. (I will be willing to join your discussion.) Your report should be
like minutes, recording each one's opinions and providing an introduction and a conclusion (if
any). If you are still confused, you are welcome to talk to me.
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