Elizabeth Fay
Fall 09
EN641 Studies in Romanticism: Empire
Mondays 4-6:30pm
Office: W-6-87; 287-6715 (leave message)
elizabeth.fay@umb.edu
Hours: MW 3.30-4pm and by appt.
Course Description:
In this course we will undertake the comparative study of several literary and cultural movements
within the larger historical moment we call the Romantic Period (1780-1832). We will combine
our study of canonical writers and well-known works by them, with some of their lesser-known
works, and with works by lesser-known writers, and do so by focusing on “Empire”: the effects
of colonialism, colonial thinking, and global thinking on the Romantics. We will investigate the
effects of colonialism in India that filtered back to the “home front,” as well as the influence of
German Romantic thinking on “universal history,” as both world history and cosmic history. Both
of these influences impacted speculative thinking and imaginary landscapes: the Romantics were
both intensely present in the moment and intensely aware of history and historical presence. We
will attempt to build up our own web of intersections, concurrences, networks, and centers or
dispersals of literary, intellectual, and creative energy.
Book List:
These are the books on order at the bookstore. We will also be reading literary texts on websites
such as the “Blake Archive” and by pdf that I will send to you (be sure I have your email
addresses for the your frequently checked email).
1. Betty Joseph, Reading the East India Company 1720-1840: Colonial Currencies of Gender,
Univ. of Chicago, 2004 978-0226412030
2. Lord Byron: The Major Works, ed by Jerome McGann, Oxford UP, 2008 978-0199537334
3. Austen, Mansfield Park, ed. Tony Tanner, Penguin 2003 978-0141439808
4. Austen, Catharine: and Other Writings, ed. Margaret Anne Doody. Oxford UP 1998 9780192835215
5. De Quincey, Confessions of an English Opium-Eater: and Other Writings, ed. Grevel Lindop
(Oxford World's Classics, 1998) 978-0192836540
6. Immanuel Kant, Basic Writings of Kant (Modern Library Classics, 2001), ed. Allen W. Wood
978-0375757334
7. Mary Shelley, The Last Man, Ed. by Morton D. Paley (Oxford UP, 2008)
ISBN13: 9780199552351
8. Schelling, The Ages of the World (SUNY Press, 2000), ed. Jason Wirth, 978-0791444184
9. Wordsworth, The Major Works: including The Prelude, ed. Stephen Gill (Oxford World's
Classics, new ed. 2008) 978-0199536863
The Romantic Chronology Website [http://English.ucsb.edu:591/rchrono]
The Romantic Circles Website [http:// www.rc.umd.edu]
The Blake Archive [http://www.blakearchive.org]
Voice of the Shuttle Website [ http://vos.ucsb.edu/ ]
RAVON (Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net ejournal) [ http://www.ron.umontreal.ca/ ]
Blackwell Compass Romanticism ejournal [available on the Healey website:
http://www.lib.umb.edu and click on. To search directly by journal name use:
http://find.flo.org/umb/az]
A Romantic Natural History Website [http://users.dickinson.edu/~nicholsa/romnat/]
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The Georgian Index [http://www.georgianindex.net/] (a fun amateur website—scroll to bottom
alphabetical listing for historical info on clothing, bios of celebrity figures, sports, colleges, East
and West India docks, etc)
National Gallery Website [ http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/ ] (esp the Painting Collection—
check by artist, or with the “18th to 20th Century Overview”:
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/collection-overview/collectionoverview/*/viewPage/5 )
Tate Online (website for the Tate Gallery; esp Turners and Blakes)
[http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/]
British Museum Website [http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/] (check out the Rosetta Stone and
Parthenon’s Elgin Marbles!! For example, an amazing horse head portrait:
http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/gr/h/head_of_a_horse_of_sel
ene.aspx)
Virtual Library: Museums [http://icom.museum/vlmp/]
Course Goals:
The goals of this course are to increase your knowledge of literary and cultural history, to
enhance your skills in textual analysis, to familiarize you with the basic tools for analyzing
prosody, and to increase your familiarity with the critical debates in the field. These goals are
aimed at furthering your ability to connect the great literary insights and visions of the period to
the historico-cultural forces that enabled writers to have and express these insights and visions as
individuals and as part of a larger historical, imaginative, and aesthetic movement. Finally, we
will trace our contemporary relation to and ongoing engagement with Romanticism. We may
discover that, in the end, we are still Romantic in our cultural and imaginative orientation.
Class Procedure: Attendance counts; according to university policy, any absences over 2 missed
classes (equaling 2 weeks of class) affects your final grade. Your course grade consists of:
15% for participation in class discussion, including the willingness to contribute, as well
as your preparation of and engagement with the readings, and any written homework or research
assignments. Surprise reading quizzes may be given if preparation for class discussion seems
inadequate. We will begin class with a 5 min. written meditation on the assigned reading; please
do not be late for class, and if you feel you require more time, please come a few minutes early
to start writing.
15% for one 4 pg. paper, typed in 12 pt font, double-spaced. Due 10/19 (see handout; this
paper may be emailed as a file).
15% for an analysis paper (4 pg.) of one critical article that treats one or more works by
writers we are studying. The article and the texts cannot be the same as I will give you a list of
peer-reviewed journals from which to select your article. Due 11/9 (see handout; this paper may
be emailed).
20% for an oral report of 15 minutes based on an assigned reading; presentation date will
depend on the text you sign up for. Your report should be submitted as a 4 pg. formal paper 1-2
weeks after your presentation (see handout). Your report should be informational as well as
interpretive, and can bring in visual or material culture. Your goal is to initiate class discussion
for that class meeting, and you will need to let me know beforehand which materials you will
engage and how. This paper must be submitted in hardcopy.
35 % for the Term Project (12-13 pg.), combining library research with analysis of a
literary text or texts discussed in class. This paper can be related to (but not entirely focused on)
texts you prepared for your oral presentation and can use materials you engaged with there, in
addition to new materials. Or, it can develop a comparison of one or more literary texts, using
critical materials to help you engage with and expand your thinking about these texts. Your paper
should reflect the kind of work we will be doing all semester—not a historical survey or a
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thematic project, but rather focusing on a topic that depends on analyzing a text(s), placing it in
its historical or literary context, and relating your interpretation to what other critics have had to
say about this work. I will ask for a project prospectus, and can meet with you to discuss the
prospectus if either you or I feel it would be beneficial. If you have an idea for a paper that does
not fall in these guidelines, please see me before the prospectus is due to discuss how we can
adjust it to suit the course goals. Prospectus is 11/30. Paper can be submitted any time prior to
one week after the last day of class, Monday 12/21 at 12 noon. It may be submitted by email.
Special Needs:
Anyone having special medical or family emergencies that will result in more than 2
absences should discuss your situation with me in advance.
Anyone needing assistance for special learning requirements should notify me so that we
can make the necessary arrangements.
Academic Honesty:
All students will be held to the University’s rules for academic honesty, including penalties for
plagiarism (cheating on exams and the use of unattributed sources in papers). Here is the UMB
official policy (full statement and description of what qualifies as plagiarism available at:
http://www.umb.edu/admissions/ugrad_catalog/plagiarism.html):
University Policy on Academic Standards and Cheating
The first obligation of students is to pursue conscientiously the academic objective which they
have determined for themselves. Students are expected to conform to all regulations of the
university, of the college in which they are enrolled, and of the classes in which they are
registered. It is further expected that all examinations, tests, written papers or other assignments
completed as a part of academic programs are the product of the student’s own work and effort.
This means that students may not solicit or use unauthorized material or assistance for their own
benefit and may not offer or give such assistance to another student. Every written report or
similar class assignment must indicate fully the sources from which the information used is
obtained, and any verbatim quotations or paraphrases must be clearly indicated as such and
properly credited to the source from which they were extracted or adapted.
Academic dishonesty may also involve cheating or plagiarism. Cheating is defined as the use of
illegal techniques (slips, copying, signs, etc.) to convey or receive answers during examinations.
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Reading Assignments: Dates indicate when a reading or assignment should be prepared for
discussion, although dates are also subject to change.
9/14
Introduction to class, 4-5pm. Collect email addresses. Lecture 5:30-6:30
9/ 21 Blake: (http://www.blakearchive.org; click “Enter” and choose “Works” or “Search” and
then “Text Search”). “All Religions Are One, ” “There Is No Natural Religion [Copy B (Bentley
a)]” and “There Is No Natural Religion [Copy L (Bentley b)].” Each “object” in the list for a text
equals a plate or page of the text. Read each object in a list. You can ask for the textual
transcription in the “Show Me” pull-down menu at bottom. Study both the poems and the
visual/poetic relationship created on each plate. Bring print outs of the texts.
9/28 Hermeticism: Magee chapter by pdf; Volney Ruins of Empire (in-class handout);
Coleridge “Kubla Khan” (http://etext.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/Kubla_Khan.html). Print
out Magee and Coleridge and bring to class.
10/5 Transcendental Idealism: Kant (this will provide a good laugh when we come to De
Quincey’s Confessions!). Critique of Pure Reason (First Critique): “Introduction” sections I-V
(pp. 24-34), “The Transcendental Doctrine of Elements” (42-53). Check out the Tables on pp. 57
and 59. Chapter 2 sections 1-3, 15-20 (pp. 66 bottom -78). Take notes on what you think Kant is
doing in this Critique. Bring the Blake poems with you for class discussion.
[10/12 Columbus Day]
10/19 Wordsworth: “Expostulation and Reply,” “The Tables Turned,” “Tintern Abbey,” The
Prelude Book V “Books” (focus: Meditation on books, the dream of the Arab) Book VI
“Cambridge, and the Alps” (focus: The pleasure of geometric science, the Simplon Pass, to the
Imagination)
10/26 Cosmopolitanism: Kant Idea for a Universal History with Cosmopolitan Intent (119-32);
Byron Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage Canto I and IV, The Corsair Canto I and III, The Giaour
Advertisement, and ll. 1-167.
11/2
Cosmopolitanism II: Mary Shelley, The Last Man
11/9
Colonialism and Gender: Austen The History of England (in Catharine, 134-44); Betty
Joseph, Reading the East India Company
11/16 Colonialism, cont: Austen, Mansfield Park
11/23 Colonialism, cont: Austen, Mansfield Park, cont. plus “Henry and Eliza,” “Love and
Freindship,” “A Tour Through Wales” in Catharine.
11/30 Colonialism, cont: De Quincey, Confessions of an English Opium-Eater
12/7
Universal History: Schelling, Ages of the World
12/14 Universal History: Kant, selections from Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View;
Blake, The Song of Los (Copy A). The first plate is amazing. (The Blake Archive)
12/21 Term Projects due.
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Assignment #1 Short Paper
Assignment #2 Critical Analysis
Assignment #3 Oral Report
Assignment #4 Prospectus
Assignment #4 Term Project Due 12/21
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