ENGL 243 A: Reading Poetry

Course: English 243: The Natural and the Supernatural in Romantic Poetry

Instructor: Jessica Campbell

Description:
In this course, we will focus on the poetry of the British Romantic period (late 18^th-early 19^th century). We will read various poems by the “big six” canonical Romantic poets (William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and John Keats) as well as lesser-known writers. Along the way, we will consider stylistic conventions and innovations in the period as well as the poets’ widely varying thematic concerns. In particular, we will look at poems that seek to understand the natural world and to explore magical and supernatural forces. Because this course carries a W credit, your grade will be primarily based on formal and informal writing assignments.

Textbook: The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Ninth Edition, Volume D: The Romantic Period