ENGL 440 A: Special Studies in Literature

Poetry in the nineteenth century was both a prestigious art form and an extremely popular one.  It enjoyed a breadth of readership throughout the world that is hard to imagine today.  This course will discuss nineteenth-century British and American poetry.  We will discuss various poetic traditions, the connections between poetry and nationalism, the influence of sentimental poetics, the place of poetry in contemporary discussions of human and animal rights, and the material conditions of global literary exchanges (printing presses, steamship voyages, railroads, telegraphs).  And we will study some of the most influential poetry ever written.