Acadia University Faculty of Arts
English 2386 X0: Literature of the Romantic Period
Regular Session 2008-2009 (both terms)
MWF 9:30-10:20 (Slot 2)
Location: BAC 206
Instructor: Dr. Jon Saklofske
Email: jon.saklofske@acadiau.ca
Office: BAC 423
Office Phone: 585-1422
Office Hours : TBA
Course Description and Objectives:
This course focuses on the diverse literature of the Romantic Period in England (17851830), a period of social, political and artistic change and contradiction. Favouring imagination,
emotion and vision, artists and writers variously combined an historical nostalgia, a self-aware
immediacy and a hopeful idealism, and their expressions became vehicles for innovative
approaches to revolution, rebellion and repose. This course looks at the way in which the
contextual energies and dynamism of this uncertain period manifest themselves in the form and
content of its literary expression. We will examine major themes and authors of the period,
engaging in close readings to understand the particular concerns and nuances of each writer, but
also evolving a comparative consideration between writers and their works to better understand
the conflicts and complex interrelations that characterise the Romantic period.
Course Materials and Format:
Required Texts:
1. Austen. Jane. Northanger Abbey. Ed. Marilyn Gaull. New York: Pearson Longman 2005.
2. Lewis, Matthew. The Monk. Eds. D.L. Macdonald and Kathleen Scherf.
Peterborough: Broadview, 2003.
3. Robinson, Mary. A Letter to the Women of England and The Natural Daughter. Ed. Sharon
M. Setzer. Peterborough: Broadview, 2003.
4. Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein: The Original 1818 text. 2nd Ed. Eds. D.L. Macdonald and
Kathleen Scherf. Peterborough: Broadview, 1999.
5. Wolfson, Susan and Peter Manning, eds. The Longman Anthology of British Literature.
Volume 2A—The Romantics and their Contemporaries. 3rd Ed. New York: Longman,
2006.
Optional Text: Buckley, Joanne. Fit to Print: The Canadian Student’s Guide to Essay
Writing. 6th Ed. Scarborough: Nelson Thomson, 2004.
Assignments and Evaluation:
Students are expected to attend class, to participate in class discussion and to fully participate in
the technological components of this course. Please note that January 14, 2008 is the last day to
drop full-year courses without academic penalty. It is essential that assigned readings be read
carefully and critically. The final grade will be based on the following partial grades:
5%
Essay #1: Due October 3 (900 words minimum)
10%
Essay #2: Due November 5 (1200 words minimum)
5%
Essay #3: Written December 1, In Class (approx. 900 words)
10%
Essay #4: Due February 13 (1200 words minimum)
10%
Essay #5: Due March 13 (1200 words minimum)
10%
Essay #6: Due April 8 (printed copy) (1200 words minimum)
10%
Attendance, In-Class Participation and Quizzes (5% per term)
10%
Context presentations (5% per term x 2 terms)
30%
Final Exam
Total:
100%

All essays should consist of a central thesis supported by a well-structured
argument. Topics will be provided for the assignments through MOODLE (except
for the in-class essay) in the first few weeks of the course. Essays will be
evaluated for both content and style. Please provide proper documentation for
essays, making use of MLA citation style and including a Works Cited page. (For
information on MLA style, please consult a style guide such as Fit to Print or go
to: http://library.acadiau.ca/guides/english/writing.html ) Additionally, your
carefully formatted essays should be double-spaced and word processed using a
12-point font.

Except for the in-class essay and the last paper (Essay #6), all essay assignments
should be submitted to me electronically via MOODLE. Note: Essay #6 should be
printed out and submitted to me in person during class on the due date. We will
spend some class time reviewing the characteristics of an effective essay. Please
note that I will not accept assignments submitted after the last day of
lectures.

The In-Class Essay will be handwritten during class time on the scheduled date
and will be closed book (no textbooks, notes, computers or other material
allowed).

Final Exam:
There will be a mandatory, comprehensive final examination scheduled during the
April exam period. The final examination will be worth 30% of your final grade.

If you are a student with a documented disability who anticipates needing
accommodations in this course, please inform me after you meet with Jill or
Suzanne in Disability/Access Services, in the Student Resource Centre, lower
floor of the old SUB. jill.davies@acadiau.ca 585-1127 or
suzanne.robicheau@acadiau.ca 585-1913.
Penalties:
1. Late Assignments: Papers are due before the end of class on the specified due
date. Papers submitted after class will be considered late. It is your responsibility
to contact me as soon as possible regarding late or missed assignments. Late
assignments are subject to a penalty of 1/3 letter grade per day (including
weekends) unless you are granted an extension due to documented medical or
compassionate circumstances. (i.e. a “B” paper that is handed in two days late
would receive a mark of “C+”.) Late assignments will be graded, but will include
no written commentary. Late essays not submitted electronically MUST be date
stamped and submitted to me via the English Department Office (Room 415,
Beveridge Arts Centre). I do not accept papers submitted under my office door.
2. Plagiarism: Please refer to the section entitled "Academic Integrity" in the 20082009 Calendar for Acadia University's policies regarding plagiarism. Note that
penalties for plagiarism include rewriting work, receiving a failing grade for a
particular assignment, failing the course or being dismissed from the university.
Please be aware that faculty members reserve the right to utilise software or
websites to test student assignments for the presence of plagiarised material.
Although some class time will be spent learning how to avoid the pitfalls of
plagiarism, when in doubt, ask me for advice or go to
http://library.acadiau.ca/guides/plagiarism/
3. Attendance: Attendance is mandatory. More than 3 unexcused absences per term
will result in a significant deduction from your participation mark.
Please note that I will not accept assignments
submitted after the last day of lectures.
(Thursday, April 9, 2009)
Course Outline:
This course will engage in a progressively historical and thematic survey of the Romantic
Period by focusing on its major authors. As we advance through the various reactions by
each writer to the uncertainty and dynamic energy that characterise the period, pay
attention to the recurring presence of and individual engagement with the following
themes. These themes are not exclusive, but are often simultaneously contrary and
complementary in their interaction.
Politics




Revolution/Rebellion/Redemption
Local/Exotic
Individual Poetics/Social Politics
Industrialism/Naturalism/Supernaturalism
Aesthetics
 Novelty/Nostalgia
 Imagination/Imitation
 Beautiful Simplicity/Awe-ful Sublimity
 Precision/Indeterminacy
 Meditation/Emotion
Tentative Reading Schedule:

Readings may be altered as the term progresses
September
3
Introduction
5
Historical Context
(3-29), (1099-1104)
8, 10
Historical Context
Perspectives:
The Rights of Man and the Revolution Controversy (92-133)
12, 15
Barbauld
“To a little Invisible Being Who Is Expected Soon to Become Visible” (66), “To the
Poor” (67)
17, 19
Smith
“On Being Cautioned” (87), “The sea view” (87)
22, 24
Blake
“Introduction” to the Songs of Innocence
26
“The Lamb” (159), “The Tyger” (177)
“The Chimney Sweeper” (161), “The Chimney Sweeper” (174)
29
October
November
1, 3
October 3: Essay #1 Due
Blake
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: Title Page, Plate 11 (189), Plates 17-20 (192-195),
“Song of Liberty” (handout).
6, 8, 10
Wollstonecraft
All selections from “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” (281-303)
15, 17, 20, 22,
24, 27
Robinson
The Natural Daughter
29, 31
The Natural Daughter MOO and discussion
3, 5
November 5: Essay #2 due
Baillie
From “Plays on the Passions” (357-361), “A Mother to Her Waking Infant” (363-64)
7
Burke
From “A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and
Beautiful” (33-40)
10
Burns
“To A Mouse” (372-73),
12, 14
Wordsworth
Preface to Lyrical Ballads (408-420)
17, 19
Wordsworth
“Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey” (404-408); “The World is too
much with us” (450),
21
Wordsworth
“Resolution and Independence” (520-524)
24, 26, 28
Wordsworth
The Prelude: Book First (453-468), Book Fifth “The Mystery of Words” (478)
December
1
In Class Essay(#3)
January
5, 7
Wordsworth
“Intimations of Immortality” (528-533)
9, 12
Coleridge
“Dejection: An Ode” (619-623)
14, 16
Coleridge
Biographia Literaria (all excerpts) (628-640)
19, 21, 23
Coleridge
Lectures on Shakespeare “Mechanic vs. Organic Form (641-42), “Stage Illusion” (64344), ‘Shakespeare’s Images” (644-45), “Kubla Khan” (614-16)
26, 28, 30
Coleridge
“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (580-595)
February
2
4, 6, 9, 11, 13
February 13:Essay #4 Due
Austen
Northanger Abbey
February 16-20: Study Week (No Classes)
March
March
April
23, 25, 27
Byron
Manfred (659-695)
2
Shelley
A Defence of Poetry (867-876)
4
Shelley
“Ode to the West Wind” (835-837)
6, 9
Keats
Letters (992-1001), “Ode on a Grecian Urn” (955-57)
11, 13, 16, 18,
20, 23
March 13: Essay #5 due
Mary Shelley
Frankenstein
25, 27, 30
Matthew Lewis
The Monk
1, 3, 6
8
April 8 Essay #6 due
Review