ENG 845 Seminar: Romanticism
In this course, we will read a wide range of authors who wrote in the Romantic period, from around 1790 to 1832 in Europe and Britain, and slightly later in America. This period placed enormous faith in the power of poetry to reveal the powers of the mind, disclose universal truths, and defend human nature against dehumanizing forces. As we engage with this literature, we will consider such questions as, how does Romanticism grow out of the Enlightenment? When does the Romantic appreciation of nature constitute ecological consciousness? Where does irony fit in? And finally, how compatible is Romanticism with the novel?