British Romantic-Era Poetry British Romantic-Era Poetry
English 4/802L
Spring 2013
Stephen C.
Behrendt
319 Andrews; 472-1806
office: 11-1230 TR2,
and by appointment
John
Constable. Helmingham Dell. 1825-26.
I will distribute separately a list of suggestions for course essay topics. That list is not meant to be either prescriptive or proscriptive in any way. If anything, I mean to suggest to you that the range of possible topics is very wide indeed, and that you need not simply write your essay “about a poem” – the ultra-typical “English paper” – since I expect that most of you can do that and indeed have done that often enough – just as I, in turn, have already read that “paper” far too often myself. Rather, I want you to stretch yourself, to flex your mind by wrapping it around some of the issues of larger, broader cultural significance we will be examining in this course. I’d like you to undertake research projects that will lead you to discover and explore more of the extraordinary diversity of the Romantic period in Great Britain. You will see that the topics I have suggested include diverse issues such as gender, politics, history, economics, philosophy, and the practical affairs of publishing.
Remember, however, that this is after all a course in British literature. When you plan and compose your essay, you should remember to consider the ways in which the topic you choose intersects with the materials we are studying in the course. An essay on the domestic political situation in the immediate aftermath of Waterloo, for instance, or on the geo-political implications of the Congress of Vienna, or on changing attitudes toward women or children – or war, or the beginning of “environmental consciousness” needs to address at least in some meaningful ways what was being written by some of our authors, and why. An essay on the economics of publishing should include specific information (including numbers) involving the poets we are studying, and from their contemporaries. An essay on fashions of dress needs to demonstrate how the way people dressed (and how they behaved as a consequence of their clothes) is explicitly connected to individual poems or other texts (including visual texts) from the period. And so on.
In short, I am asking you to explore in your research, and in the essays that result, the context(s) in which British Romantic poetry exists, rather in the sense in which we will be doing so in our class sessions all semester. Start with the particular work(s) in which you are most interested (perhaps beginning with an author with whom you feel especially comfortable) , since any wheel needs to have a sturdy hub and strong spokes. But your task nevertheless involves situating particular works, authors, or subjects and themes within a broader cultural context: if your main topic is the hub of the wheel, these are the spokes, around which you finally fashion a rim to complete the wheel. In a sense there is something of the cultural anthropologist’s work here, as well as the detective’s, for you will be investigating ways in which cultural artifacts (poems, in this case, for the most part) tell us about the culture that produced and consumed them. At the same time, you will be studying various “extra-literary” aspects of the culture as a means of coming better to understand the writing. You will be working in – and from – both directions, in other words.
I believe that your essay should run to about ten to twelve pages, double-spaced. You may feel free to go longer if you need to, but if your paper is falling well short of ten pages, you have probably not broken through the surface of your topic and into the rich and fertile soil that lies beneath that surface. In that case, dig. Of course, feel free to talk to me at any time about your research and any difficulties you may be having. I’ll do my best to give you reasonable, calm advice.
I shall expect your essay to demonstrate a level of intellectual and mechanical proficiency appropriate to an advanced course in literary study. Minimally, it should of course be entirely free of mechanical and grammatical problems and errors, and should demonstrate a rigorous intellectual engagement with the topic you select. Furthermore, I expect your essay to address a topic of real substance, and to do so with vigor and insight. At the same time, though, I want you to regard this assignment as an opportunity for you to demonstrate your ability to think through, on your own, some ramifications of the issues with which we are most concerned in the course. Your essay is not any mere exercise, in other words, but rather an occasion for you to demonstrate your intellectual and critical skills by engaging in the sort of interdisciplinary analysis and creative thought that ought to lie at the very heart of any university curriculum.
I’ll be glad to chat with you about your topic at any time, and to discuss your research and your approach to your essay. I encourage you to begin thinking about your research project right now, even though we are very early in the semester. You need not have specific topics in mind yet, of course; that would be unrealistic. But you can begin thinking about the sort of questions, issues, themes, and topics that intrigue you and that you would be interested in exploring in greater detail on your own. I’ll ask you eventually to tell me specifically, in writing, both what you plan to explore and what preliminary thinking and research you have done on the topic, and I will do my best to be as helpful as possible as you proceed. For while I expect your papers to reflect your own work, your own interests, I do not expect you to work in isolation. We’re all in this together. I will try to be a useful resource; feel free to draw on whatever I may have to offer in this respect. And feel free, also, to discuss your ideas, your projects, and your challenges with one another. As I said, we’re all in this together, so let’s make this work for all of us.
— 28 February: submit tentative subject area, justification (“Why?”), and proposed approach in writing
— 28 March: submit 1-page report on progress, problems and proposed solutions (including materials)
— 11 April: submit final project update: How’s it going?” (1 page max.)
— 18 April: Completed essay due IN CLASS by Thursday, 18 April
Our last class meeting is on Thursday, 25 April, and our Final Examination is on Tuesday, 30 April. I would really like to be able to return your essay to you at our final meeting, so that nothing but the Final Exam will remain for either of us. This means that you will need to submit your essay no later than Thursday, 18 April. I will of course be absolutely delighted if you can give me your essay earlier than that, simply because it will give me additional time to read it and assess what you have done. But I really must have it no later than Thursday, 18 April.
Please talk to me at any time about this project, no matter how “early” the date or how “trivial” your question might seem. This assignment requires somewhat different skills than the typical “English paper.” I do not intend for this to be either a mystifying or a mysterious assignment but, rather, one that gives you a great deal of intellectual and creative “room” to try out ideas and research techniques. I know that questions will arise, so please don’t hesitate for even a moment to contact me for help, guidance, suggestions, or just a “listen.”