ENGLISH 335B
BRITISH ROMANTIC LITERATURE
SPRING 2009
SECTION 01
COMBS 111
12:30 P.M. T R
Dr. Chris Foss
Combs 307 cfoss@umw.edu
MTWRF 2:00-3:00 and by appointment 654-1128
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course takes for its focus late eighteenth-century and early nineteenth-century British literature. It will
provide you with a thorough understanding of this period's writers, their social context(s), and the many complex
points of interchange between the two.
Until only about fifteen years ago, courses in this period concentrated almost exclusively on English
Romanticism's "Big Six": William Blake, Lord Byron, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley,
and William Wordsworth. Scholars have tried to offer various coherent definitions of Romanticism based upon the
writings of these men, but to my mind ultimately without any "definitive" success. The Big Six deserve their place in
the canon—indeed, some of my all-time favorite writers are among their number—and you will engage with them
repeatedly throughout the semester. However, you will find there are equally exciting dimensions to the period's
numerous other voices, many of these voices more popular and/or more critically acclaimed at the time than the Big
Six themselves.
Throughout the semester we will be continually at work addressing, but not definitively answering, the question,
"What is Romanticism?" With each new unit, new writer, new text, we will talk about the ways in which it might
complement or supplement, finalize or problematize this or that aspect of any number of the multiple constructions
of Romanticism we will consider. Each class period will be framed in terms of productive sets of questions in
relation to this larger question, and I encourage you to feel free either to begin forming your own theory of
Romanticism(s) or instead to focus on understanding why certain questions or foci historically have led to a
particular answer or set of answers. Your incentive is that I will ask you to address the following prompt as part of
your final examination: Compose an essay-length answer, demonstrating your broad knowledge of British Romantic
Literature, in response to the question, "Should one ask, 'What is Romanticism?'" If so, delineate your answer to
this question. If not, delineate why such a question cannot or should not be posed.
You will engage with seven central topical focus points during the course of the semester: (1) The French
Revolution and Rights of Man; (2) Rights of Woman; (3) Slavery, The Slave Trade, and Abolition in Britain; (4)
Society and Political Economy; (5) Science and Nature; (6) Aesthetic Theory and Literary Criticism; and (7)
Romantic-Era Fiction. All but the last of these corresponds with a historical and cultural context section in our
anthology, and you will read the section introduction for each of these as part of your first reading assignment. I will
walk you through the Aesthetic Theory and Literary Criticism section in particular, since this focus point will serve
not only as an initial ground but also as a continual reference point for our semester-long exploration of
Romanticism(s). Then, before turning to a sequence of units on the remaining topical focus points, we will devote a
day to each of the Big Six so as to begin to grasp "What was Romanticism" in order to better consider "What is (or,
is not) Romanticism?"
Along the way you will hear from 37 different writers (just a few more than 6!), including 18 of the numerous
women writers whose fundamental role in the fashioning of Romanticism(s) has been firmly reestablished. You also
will read texts by some writers of color and some writers from the "lower" classes. In this way we will attempt to
plumb the astonishing variety of the many coexisting aesthetics originally present in the period as it unfolded.
What hopefully will be most exciting for you, however, is that in this course you will not simply be subjected to
my idea of what texts you should read in order to best approach our overarching question. One of your major
assignments, the Canonball project, will allow each and every one of you to join in constructing a part of our
calendar of readings reserved for student-selected works. In this way I hope to foster in you a true sense of
ownership where the course material is concerned and to emphasize that you are participating in a dynamic process
of meaning-making as we explore our subject matter together rather than merely attending a class to passively
receive information transmissions which you will be required to regurgitate at some later point in time (although,
admittedly, some regurgitation practice always is good for the gullet).
Finally, to further stress our partnership in this enterprise, I want you to know that every single one of the student
Canonball selections from the last time I taught this course (Fall 2006) now has become part of your experience of
BRL as newly-assigned instructor selections. I hope knowing that students taking this course in the future will be
reading something you have nominated for inclusion in my own BRL canon will motivate you to fully embrace this
centerpiece assignment.
REQUIRED TEXTBOOK
You have only one book for this course, but it is a hefty one: British Literature 1780-1830, edited by Anne K.
Mellor and Richard E. Matlak (Heinle/Harcourt). By remaining registered, you agree to use this edition.
GOALS
The main goal of this course is to provide you with an extensive knowledge of British Romantic Literature. By
the end of the semester (after reading 37 different writers and exploring our 7 central focus points), you should be
able to provide multiple successful answers the question, "What is Romanticism?" The general goals are that you
will improve your ability to think critically and that you will improve your ability to express your ideas clearly and
accurately in writing.
ASSIGNMENTS
You will pursue these goals through oral and written contributions to the class. Oral contributions first and
foremost involve your participation in class discussions (see Class Participation below). There is also, however, a
major assignment that contains both an oral and a written component. The Canonball project (see separate
assignment sheet) will require an oral presentation in which you offer a reading/analysis of a text (or texts) of your
choice from our anthology. This choice is subject to my approval, and must not be selected from my required
calendar of readings. I cannot guarantee that missed presentations will be rescheduled.
Your written contributions will take the form of both graded and nongraded assignments. You will write two
graded papers for me. These papers will be assigned at least two weeks prior to their respective due dates, at which
time I will provide sample essays for class discussion. The first paper will be a formal thesis-driven summary of one
of our class meetings during the semester (see separate assignment sheet); the second will be an essay based on the
aforementioned Canonball oral presentation. A late paper will have its grade knocked down one full level (that is,
from A to B) for each class meeting that passes without your turning it in (beginning with the due date meeting)
unless I grant you an extension. Last but not least, you will be writing a final examination.
Nongraded writing assignments for class meetings will serve as a springboard for discussion and/or an exercise in
honing your critical writing skills, and they will earn you points toward your class participation grade. In addition to
any such nongraded writing, you also will be required to complete some nongraded electronic writing in that you all
will be contributing in a couple of different ways to the construction of a class wiki throughout the semester. A wiki,
as in Wikipedia, is a collaborative webspace in which users may compose, upload files and images, and/or edit the
material found there. By nongraded here I again mean that your various contributions will earn points toward your
class participation grade rather than to a separate letter grade for the assignment.
CLASS PARTICIPATION, WIKI PARTICIPATION, AND QUIZZES
Your active class participation is required. The points for this portion of your grade primarily will come from
oral contributions to in-class discussions (both in small group and in large group formats), plus any nongraded
writing assigned. Our discussions will ask you to practice close reading of the assigned texts. Accordingly, you
need to take these discussions seriously by coming prepared to talk about what you have read. Also, as stated above,
you will need to further contribute to the class through wiki work (see separate assignment sheet). Finally, please
note I also will be giving very frequent quizzes as part of a separate quiz grade (see separate assignment sheet),
though these will be made available online.
GRADING
The official default distribution that will determine your final grade is as follows:
Quizzes 10%
Class participation 20%
Class meeting summary paper 20%
Canonball oral presentation 05%
Canonball paper 20%
Final examination 25%
In all this work you will be expected to abide by Mary Washington's Honor Code and thus to refrain from lying,
cheating, and stealing in all their various and nefarious forms. You must complete both papers and the final
examination in order to receive a passing grade for this course.
LEARNING CONTRACT OPTION
While the above percentages represent the distribution I have decided upon as the ideal weights from my
perspective, in this course they actually only are an official default option. I am offering each and every one of you
the chance to design your own individualized own learning contract, if you so choose. This contract will allow you
to adjust the weighted percentages I have set, within a pre-set range, so that I can cater (at least to some extent) to
your individual strengths and weaknesses in determining how successfully you have engaged with the course
material. In other words, if you know you have a hard time speaking in class, you might lower the class participation
percentage and increase that of one of the other categories. If you feel you are likely to do better on the second
writing assignment (either because you tend to be much more invested in topics you have self-selected or just
because it is second and you will have had much more detailed feedback from me on your writing at that point in the
semester), you may increase your Canonball weight while decreasing your class summary percentage.
You do not need to fiddle with this option at all; if you do not submit an individualized learning contract to me, I
automatically will assess your overall success in the course according to the official default weighting system listed
above in the preceding section of the syllabus. If, however, you wish to take advantage of this option, then you may
submit via email only your individualized set of adjusted percentages (see official contract form). The window of
opportunity for submitting a learning contract is limited to Week Three, M Jan. 26 through F Jan. 30. Please be sure
that your total adds up to 100%; if a contract is submitted without a total of the percentages adding up to 100%, you
will be graded using the default scale instead.
The official learning contract option percentage ranges are as follows:
Quizzes 10%
Class participation 15%-25%
Class meeting summary paper 15%-25%
Canonball oral presentation 05%
Canonball paper 15%-25%
Final examination 20%-30%
All contract percentages must be a multiple of 5. Regardless of how you might adjust the percentages, you still
must complete both papers and the final examination in order to receive a passing grade for this course.
EXTRA-CREDIT OPPORTUNITIES
You will have the opportunity to visit a virtual Villa Diodati (the villa where Byron and the Shelleys lived
together in 1816 and wrote some of their greatest work) to gather electronically to discuss British Romantic
Literature not only with other class members but also with other students and scholars from across the country and
around the globe. I will offer a variety of possible extra-credit assignments in conjunction with the Villa (see
separate assignment sheet). Any points earned at the Villa will be applied toward your class participation grade.
DISABILITY ACCOMMODATIONS
I will make every effort to accommodate disabilities. The Office of Disability Services has been designated by
UMW as the primary office to guide, counsel, and assist students with disabilities. If you already receive services
through ODS and require accommodations for this class, please make an appointment with me as soon as possible to
discuss your approved accommodation needs. Bring your accommodation letter with you to the appointment. I will
hold any information you share with me in strictest confidence unless you give me permission to do otherwise. If
you need accommodations (note taking assistance, extended time for tests, etc.), please see ODS as soon as possible
(or call ODS at 654-1266). You will need appropriate documentation of disability. Because of the nature of this
course, most of what we do in class cannot be done alone or made up individually, so I will not waive quiz and
participation requirements (exceptions, again, only under "exceptional" circumstances).
UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR INSTRUCTION
Thanks to a UMW Teaching Innovation Grant, I am attempting (whenever possible and to the best of my ability)
to deliver this course and its materials according to the principles of Universal Design for Instruction (UDI). UDI is,
according to the University of Connecticut’s Center on Postsecondary Education and Disability, “an approach to
teaching that consists of the proactive design and use of inclusive instructional strategies that benefit a broad range of
learners, including students with disabilities.”
UDI features I have incorporated include a detailed syllabus with clear learning objectives and complete
calendar, an online version of the syllabus with navigable headings and hot links off of the calendar (including to
outside resources, digital versions and audio files of the assigned readings whenever possible, and instructor-
generated documents such as questions for discussion and important quotations from the readings), previews of the
anticipated format for each class meeting, published statement of teaching philosophy, multiple forms of assessment,
multiple formats for in-class delivery, online student-generated summaries of assigned readings and daily class
meetings, sample assignments (plus instructor modeling of and student practice runs at these assignments whenever
possible), mid-semester course evaluations, online quizzes, a take-home final examination, collaborative and self-
assessment options, and the learning contract with adjustable percentages.
I am very interested in your opinions, both throughout the semester and after the semester has ended, about any
or all of these features (for example, what worked well for you and why, or what did not work well and why) and
about the UDI approach overall. Also, if you do appreciate this sort of approach to course delivery, please consider
being proactive in asking other professors to begin to include as many of these features as possible; this is perhaps
the best way to ensure that the curricula here at Mary Washington becomes more accessible sooner rather than later.
STIRRING CONCLUSION/SALES PITCH
All this being said, I hope you will find this class to be not only intellectually stimulating but also enough fun that
you look forward to attending each and every session. This period was one of the most exciting times to be alive (at
least in Western Europe), and its writers engaged with some of the most profound and pressing aesthetic,
philosophical, and sociopolitical issues of their age (many of which we are still grappling with today). We will be
reading a lot of challenging texts, texts that do not simply present you with difficult vocabulary and obscure allusions
but texts that also will force you to wrestle with extremely knotty questions and to confront very complex
controversial issues. Ultimately, however, while you certainly will not like everything you read, my hope is that you
will come to respect these great writers' painstaking attempts to compel both themselves and their readers to think
intently and intensely about a number of very important topics.
According to Percy Shelley, great art "is a fountain for ever [sic] overflowing with the waters of wisdom and
delight; and after one person and one age has exhausted all its divine effluence which their peculiar relations enable
them to share, another and yet another succeeds, and new relations are ever developed, the source of an unforeseen
and an unconceived delight." Consider this course an invitation to get your feet wet in that fountain, maybe to splash
around a bit, or even to go for a swim. C'mon in; the water's fine!
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335 CALENDAR
After each assignment you will find page information in parenthesis. If you find a single number [for example,
(125)], that will indicate the first page of a selection you need to read in its entirety. If you find a range or a set of
ranges of numbers [for example, (1-85) or (439-46; 454-55)], that will indicate the specific pages of a selection you
need to read. The bracketed items on each Big Six day are works I will cover in class; you do not need to read these.
INTRODUCTIONS
WEEK 1
T J 13 Introductions/Syllabus Overview/Course Preview
R J 15 Section Introduction: "The French Revolution and Rights of Man" (9)
Section Introduction: "Rights of Woman" (31)
Section Introduction: "Slavery, The Slave Trade, and Abolition" (53)
Section Introduction: "Society and Political Economy" (85)
Section Introduction: "Science and Nature" (105)
Section Introduction: "Aesthetic Theory and Literary Criticism" (125)
[Foss: Teaching Philosophy]
THE BIG SIX
WEEK 2
T J 20 BLAKE: "Introduction" (277)
BLAKE: "The Ecchoing Green" (278)
BLAKE: "The Lamb" (278)
BLAKE: "The Little Black Boy" (278)
BLAKE: "The Chimney Sweeper" (279)
BLAKE: "The Divine Image" (280)
BLAKE: "Holy Thursday" (280)
BLAKE: "Nurse's Song" (281)
BLAKE: "Infant Joy" (281)
BLAKE: "The School Boy" (283)
BLAKE: "The Voice of the Ancient Bard" (284)
BLAKE: "Introduction" (299)
BLAKE: "Earth's Answer" (299)
BLAKE: "The Clod and the Pebble" (300)
BLAKE: "Holy Thursday" (300)
BLAKE: "The Chimney Sweeper" (300)
BLAKE: "Nurses Song" (300)
BLAKE: "The Sick Rose" (300)
BLAKE: "The Fly" (301)
BLAKE: "The Tyger" (301)
BLAKE: "The Garden of Love" (302)
BLAKE: "The Little Vagabond" (302)
BLAKE: "London" (302)
BLAKE: "The Human Abstract" (302)
BLAKE: "Infant Sorrow" (303)
BLAKE: "A Poison Tree" (303)
BLAKE: "To Tirzah" (304)
BLAKE: "Auguries of Innocence" (314)
BLAKE: from A Vision of the Last Judgment (316)
[Foss: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell]
R J 22 W. WORDSWORTH: "Lines Written at a Small Distance from My House" (564)
W. WORDSWORTH: "Expostulation and Reply" (571)
W. WORDSWORTH: "The Tables Turned" (571)
W. WORDSWORTH: "Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey" (571)
W. WORDSWORTH: "She Was a Phantom of Delight" (593)
W. WORDSWORTH: "It Is Not to be Thought" (599)
W. WORDSWORTH: "To a Butterfly" (600)
W. WORDSWORTH: "My Heart Leaps up When I Behold" (600)
[Foss: Preface to Lyrical Ballads; "Ode [Intimations]"]
WEEK 3
T J 27 Meet in Combs 349
COLERIDGE: "Frost at Midnight" (697)
COLERIDGE: "This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison" (709)
COLERIDGE: "Dejection: An Ode " (711)
COLERIDGE: "Kubla Khan" (729)
COLERIDGE: "Work without Hope" (760)
[Foss: Biographia Literaria; "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"]
R J 29 P. SHELLEY: "To Wordsworth" (1062)
P. SHELLEY: "Mont Blanc" (1063)
P. SHELLEY: "Hymn to Intellectual Beauty" (1065)
P. SHELLEY: "To A Skylark" (1138)
P. SHELLEY: "Essay On Love" (1163)
P. SHELLEY: "Sonnet: England in 1819" (1166)
P. SHELLEY: "Song to the Men of England" (1166)
[Foss: A Defence of Poetry; Prometheus Unbound]
WEEK 4
T F 03 BYRON: Letter to Lady Byron (898)
BYRON: "To ----" (899)
BYRON: "Prometheus" (920)
BYRON: Manfred (927)
[Foss: The Byronic Hero; Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage]
R F 05 KEATS: "Ode to Psyche" (1295)
KEATS: "Ode to a Nightingale" (1296)
KEATS: "Ode on a Grecian Urn" (1297)
KEATS: "To Autumn" (1308)
KEATS: "Ode on Indolence" (1312)
KEATS: "La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad" (1313)
KEATS: "This living hand, now warm and capable" (1320)
[Foss: Keats's letters]
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND RIGHTS OF MAN
WEEK 5
T F 10 BURKE: from Reflections on the Revolution in France (13)
WOLLSTONECRAFT: from A Vindication of the Rights of Men (20)
PAINE: from The Rights of Man (25)
MORE: Village Politics (210)
WOLLSTONECRAFT: from An Historical and Moral View of the Origin and Progress of the French
Revolution; and the Effect It Has Produced in Europe (415)
R F 12 BARBAULD: Eighteen Hundred and Eleven (181)
BURNS: "Robert Bruce's March to Bannockburn" (360)
W. WORDSWORTH: "I Griev'd for Buonaparte" (597)
OWENSON: "The Irish Harp" (809)
BYRON: Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte (896)
P. SHELLEY: "Feelings of a Republican on the Fall of Bonaparte" (1062)
RIGHTS OF WOMAN
WEEK 6
T F 17 BARBAULD: "The Rights of Woman" (186)
WOLLSTONECRAFT: from Vindication of the Rights of Woman (373-75; 379-90; 401-05; 411-13)
EDGEWORTH: "Rights of Woman," from Belinda (541)
R F 19 ROBINSON: "Deborah's Parrot" (324)
AIKIN: Epistle I of Epistles on Women, Exemplifying Their Character and Condition in Various Ages
and Nations (818)
TAYLOR: "Accomplishment" (841)
HEMANS: "Joan of Arc, in Rheims" (1237)
HEMANS: "The Image in Lava" (1242)
HEMANS: "Woman and Fame" (1247)
L. E. L.: "The Proud Ladye" (1379)
SLAVERY, THE SLAVE TRADE, AND ABOLITION IN BRITAIN
WEEK 7
T F 24 CUGOANO: from Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of the Slavery and Commerce
of the Human Species (58)
EQUIANO: from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African (192)
PRINCE: from The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave (869)
R F 26 COWPER: "The Negro's Complaint" (62)
COWPER: "Pity for Poor Africans" (63)
BELLAMY: The Benevolent Planters (64)
SOUTHEY: "The Sailor, Who Had Served in the Slave Trade" (68)
OPIE: "The Black Man's Lament" (82)
BARBAULD: Epistle to William Wilberforce, Esq. on the Rejection of the Bill for Abolishing the Slave
Trade (169)
W. WORDSWORTH: "To Toussaint L'ouverture" (598)
WEEK 8—SPRING BREAK
WEEK 9
T M 10 MORE: Slavery, A Poem (206)
YEARSLEY: A Poem on the Inhumanity of the Slave Trade (263)
SOCIETY AND POLITICAL ECONOMY
R M 12 COBBETT: Cobbett's Poor Man's Friend (102)
MORE: "The Riot; or, Half a Loaf Is Better Than No Bread" (217)
BURNS: "John Barleycorn: A Ballad" (356)
BURNS: "The Fornicator: a New Song----" (363)
BURNS: "[Why should na poor folk mowe]" (364)
THELWALL: "To the Infant Hampden—" (533)
THELWALL: "Maria" (533)
WEEK 10
T M 17 ROBINSON: "All Alone" (320)
ROBINSON: "The Poor, Singing Dame" (322)
OPIE: "Consumption" (557)
W. WORDSWORTH: "Resolution and Independence" (593)
W. WORDSWORTH: "Composed on Westminster Bridge, Sept. 3, 1803" (596)
D. WORDSWORTH: [Friday 3rd October] from The Grasmere Journals (664)
D. WORDSWORTH: [May 1802] from The Grasmere Journals (666)
C. LAMB: "The Old Familiar Faces" (799)
R M 19 COLERIDGE: "The Pains of Sleep" (730)
C. LAMB: "The Superannuated Man" (802)
DE QUINCEY: from Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (859-865)
HEMANS: "The Indian City" (1234)
CANONBALLS
WEEK 11
T M 24 Student presentations (reading assignments TBA)
R M 26 Student presentations (reading assignments TBA)
WEEK 12
T M 31 Student presentations (reading assignments TBA)
R A 02 Student presentations (reading assignments TBA)
WEEK 13
T A 07 Student presentations (reading assignments TBA)
SCIENCE AND NATURE
R A 09 BARBAULD: "To Mr. S. T. Coleridge" (189)
C. SMITH: "Written in the church-yard at Middleton in Sussex" (227)
C. SMITH: "To fancy" (228)
C. SMITH: "To Dr. Parry of Bath, with some botanic drawings which had been made some years" (228)
C. SMITH: "Reflections on some drawings of plants" (229)
ROBINSON: "Come, Reason, come!" (320)
ROBINSON: "O Reason! vaunted sovereign of the mind" (320)
BAILLIE: "Thunder" (438)
AUSTEN: "To the Memory of Mrs. Lefroy" (768)
WEEK 14
T A 14 BARBAULD: "Washing-Day" (187)
W. WORDSWORTH: "The World Is Too Much with Us; Late and Soon" (596)
W. WORDSWORTH: "Elegiac Stanzas" (602)
W. WORDSWORTH: "On the Projected Kendal and Windermere Railway" (623)
D. WORDSWORTH: "Floating Island at Hawkshead" (659)
D. WORDSWORTH: "Thoughts on My Sick-Bed" (669)
P. SHELLEY: "Ode to the West Wind" (1101)
CLARE: "The Morning Wind" (1249)
CLARE: "The Peasant Poet" (1251)
CLARE: "Pastoral Poesy" (1252)
ROMANTIC-ERA FICTION
R A 16 AUSTEN: Lady Susan (769)
WEEK 15
T A 21 NO CLASS—KEMP SYMPOSIUM
M. SHELLEY: Mathilda (1339-1355)
R A 23 M. SHELLEY: Mathilda (1355-1376)
FINAL EXAMINATION--Tuesday, April 28 at 12:00 noon