AJL14102 English Literature 1700-1830: The Augustans and Romantics

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2024
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 6 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Taught in person.
Teacher(s)
doc. Michael Matthew Kaylor, PhD. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. Michael Matthew Kaylor, PhD.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Supplier department: Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites (in Czech)
( AJL01002 Practical English II || AJ01002 Practical English II ) && ( AJL04003 Intro. to Literary Studies II || AJ04003 Intro. to Literary Studies II )
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 25 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/25, only registered: 0/25, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/25
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 12 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
This course will engage the texts and contexts of the English Augustans and Romantics. Special attention will be paid to how various literary and visual forms are employed for biographical, political, social, cultural, and religious ends. These periods are unique for their aspirations as much as for their accomplishments, for their conception of the writer as a strikingly monumental and sometimes prophetic figure—as Percy Bysshe Shelley claims in the last statement of his "Defence of Poetry": “Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the World.”
Learning outcomes
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to discuss the writing of others with sensitivity and appreciation; have an understanding of the contexts of the English Augustans and Romantics; and be familiar with the key writers and their texts.
Syllabus
  • Schedule of Assignments. Week 1: JONATHAN SWIFT (1667-1745), “A Modest Proposal” (Vol. I, pp. 2462-2468). ALEXANDER POPE (1688-1744), “An Essay on Criticism” (Vol. I, pp. 2497-2513) and “The Rape of the Lock” (pp. 2513-2532). Week 2: LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU (1689-1762) “The Lover: A Ballad” (Vol. I, pp. 2585-2586) and “Epistle from Mrs. Yonge to Her Husband” (pp. 2587-2588). SAMUEL JOHNSON (1709-1784), The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia (Vol. I, pp. 2680-2743). Weeks 3-4: JAMES BOSWELL (1740-1795), The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (Entire, in PDF). Week 5: THOMAS GRAY (1716-1771), “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” (pp. 2867-2870). MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT (1759-1797), “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” (Vol. II, pp. 170-184). Week 6: WILLIAM WORDSWORTH (1770-1850), From “Preface” to Lyrical Ballads (1800) (Entire, in PDF), “We Are Seven” (Vol. II, pp. 248-249), “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey” (pp. 258-262), “The Ruined Cottage” (pp. 280-291), “The Solitary Reaper” (pp. 314-315), and “Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802” (p. 317). Week 7: SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE (1772-1834), “Kubla Khan” (Vol. II, pp. 446-448), “Christabel” (pp. 449-464), Biographia Literaria, Chapter XVII (in PDF), Lectures on Shakespeare, [“Fancy and Imagination in Shakespeare’s Poetry”] (pp. 485-488), and The Statesman’s Manual, [“The Satanic Hero”] (pp. 490-491). THOMAS DE QUINCEY (1785-1859), “On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth” (Vol. II, pp. 569-572). Week 8: GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON (1788-1824) “Darkness” (Vol. II, pp. 614-616) and “The Vision of Judgment” (Entire, in PDF). Week 9: PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY (1792-1822), “Ode to the West Wind” (Vol. II, pp. 772-775), “The Cloud” (pp. 815-816), “To a Sky-Lark” (pp. 817-819), and Adonais (pp. 822-835). Week 10: JOHN CLARE (1793-1864), “The Nightingale’s Nest” (Vol. II, pp. 851-853), “Pastoral Poesy” (pp. 853-856), “I Am” (p. 857), “An Invite to Eternity” (p. 858), “Clock a Clay” (p. 859), “The Peasant Poet” (pp. 859-860), and “Song [I hid my love]” (pp. 860-861). Weeks 11-12: JOHN KEATS (1795-1821), “The Eve of St. Agnes” (Vol. II, pp. 888-898), “La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad” (pp. 899-900), “Ode to Psyche” (pp. 901-902), “Ode to a Nightingale” (pp. 903-905), “Ode on a Grecian Urn” (pp. 905-906), “Ode on Melancholy” (pp. 906-908), and “To Autumn” (pp. 925-926). Weeks 13-14: MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT SHELLEY (1797-1851), The Last Man (Entire, in PDF).
Literature
    required literature
  • The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 8th edition (2006), Volumes I and II (PDFs of these volumes have been provided for you on the ELF page for this course)
    recommended literature
  • Jackson, J. R., ed. Samuel Taylor Coleridge: The Critical Heritage. Routledge, 2002
  • Matthews, G. M., ed. John Keats: The Critical Heritage. Routledge, 2000
  • Schor, Esther, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Mary Shelley. Cambridge University Press, 2003
  • Bentley, G. E., ed. William Blake: The Critical Heritage. Routledge, 1975
  • Franklin, Caroline. Byron. Routledge, 2007
  • Woof, Robert. William Wordsworth: The Critical Heritage. Routlege, 2001
  • Priestman, Martin. Romantic Atheism. Cambridge University Press, 2004
  • Jackson, Noel. Science and Sensation in Romantic Poetry. Cambridge University Press, 2008
  • Klancher, Jon. A Concise Companion to the Romantic Age. Blackwell, 2009
Teaching methods
Seminars, 100 minutes
Assessment methods
Grading: To augment and deepen our considerations and discussions of the English Augustans and Romantics, you will be expected to write two in-class essays of 3-5 nicely developed paragraphs each. These in-class essays should have well-crafted theses, should be scholarly in tone, and should endeavor to support all claims textually through the materials listed below. There will also be a final exam, in various formats (short-answer and multiple-choice questions, etc.). Final grades will be divided in the following proportions: 20% for your attendance and class participation; 40% for your in-class essays; 40% for your final exam. Required Materials: The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 8th edition (2006), Volumes I and II (PDFs of these volumes have been provided for you on the ELF page for this course). The following are also provided, in their entirety in PDF, on that ELF page: James Boswell’s biography The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.; George Gordon, Lord Byron’s poem “The Vision of Judgment”; and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s novel The Last Man.
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: every week.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2023.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2024, recent)
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