This module studies the canonical second-generation Romantic poets, Keats, Byron and Shelley, together with some of their lesser-known contemporaries, who were tremendously popular in their day but have since fallen into relative critical neglect, namely, the Welsh-identified poet Felicia Hemans, the Irish poet Thomas Moore, and the English ‘peasant’ poet, John Clare.  Students will develop an ability to draw associations between individual works and the movement known as second-generation Romanticism, exploring Romantic aesthetics, the creative imagination, eroticism, and song.  We will also pay close attention to poetic form and metre.

On completion of the module students should be able to discuss selected poems in detail and demonstrate an understanding of second-generation Romanticism. 

The module will be taught through a blend of synchronous and asynchronous learning classes and activities, designed to fulfil the learning outcomes. These will be delivered remotely, and on-campus if the University deems it safe and practicable.

This module will develop specific skills.  Students will become familiar with the techniques and tools of poetic analysis, as they develop and enhance their ability to assimilate knowledge of key Romantic concepts and formal techniques.  The close reading of poetic texts and discussion of their contexts will develop a literary and historical awareness.  Employability skills include the ability to synthesise information, debate ideas and produce written arguments in a clear, precise and professional manner.

A blend of coursework and portfolio assessments.

The primary text for the module is Duncan Wu, ed., Romanticism.  An Anthology.  Fourth Edition (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 2012).  This is the best anthology in the field.  It provides the widest available selection of the poetry of the period with in-depth historical headnotes and footnotes as well as valuable reading lists and a time-line.  For an overview of the Romantic period and the poems discussed on the module, see Jane Moore and John Strachan, Key Concepts in Romantic Literature (London: Palgrave, 2010).  The best introduction to the study and writing of poetry is John Strachan and Richard Terry, Poetry, Second Edition (Edinburgh: EUP, 2011).  Students will be expected to have read the primary texts in preparation for the lectures and seminars.  Required reading for the weekly lectures is listed below but students are also encouraged to read more widely. 

ONE             
Lecture:           Introduction to the Second Generation Romantic Poets

TWO
Lecture:           Byron and the Augustan tradition
                        George Gordon, Lord Byron, Don Juan, ‘Dedication’ (Wu, pp. 959-63) and ‘Canto I’ (Wu, pp. 964-1015)


THREE
Lecture:           Keats’s Narrative Poetry
                        ‘The Eve of St. Agnes’ (Wu, pp. 1446-57)


FOUR
Lecture:           Keats and the Imagination
                        ‘Letter from John Keats to George and Tom Keats’, 21 December 1817 (Wu, pp. 1404-05),
                        ‘Letter from John Keats to Richard Woodhouse, 27 October 1818’, (Wu, 1406-07).  
                        ‘Ode to a Nightingale’, ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ (Wu, 1395-99).

FIVE
Lecture:           Shelley and the Imagination
                        Percy Bysshe Shelley, ‘Hymn to Intellectual Beauty’, (Wu, pp. 1101-3),
                        ‘To a Skylark’ (pp. 1215-17), ‘A Defence of Poetry’ (Wu, pp. 1233-47).


SIX    
Lecture:           Romantic Cosmopolitanism: Hemans and Byron.  
                        Felicia Hemans, ‘The Switzer’s Wife’ (Wu, pp. 1312-15); Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto III, stanzas 11-18 (Wu, pp. 880-82), Canto IV, stanzas 25, 78, 128-31 (class handout)


SEVEN
Lecture:           Felicia Hemans: Romantic patriotism
                        From Welsh Melodies, ‘The Rock of Cader Idris’ (Wu, pp. 1296-7), ‘Taliesin’s Prophecy’, ‘The Meeting of the Bards’ (class handout)


EIGHT
Lecture:           Thomas Moore: Romantic patriotism
                        Selected poems from Irish Melodies (class handout)
                         ‘The Harp that Once’, ‘Oh Breathe not his Name’, ‘She is Far from the Land’, ‘Oft in the Stilly Night’


NINE
Lecture:           John Clare: Eco-Romanticism
                        ‘The Shepherd’s Calendar’, (Wu, pp. 1273-75),‘To the Snipe’ (Wu, pp. 1275-78), ‘The Badger’ (Wu, pp. 1284-85), ‘I am’ (Wu, p. 1286)


TEN
Lecture:           Essay writing


ELEVEN  GUIDED STUDY WEEK

Course readings will be made available on Learning Central.