Eberle, Roxanne
TR 12:30 PM
Park Hall 0139
English 4500 is an introduction to the poetry, prose, and fiction of the British Romantic Period (1789-1830). Writers working during this literary era include William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Mary Wollstonecraft, Jane Austen, Lord Byron, John Keats, and the Shelleys. Our twofold focus will move from examining the intricacies of poetic and novelistic form, even as we explore Romantic literature to considering the context of its historical production. How were the essays, poems, plays, and novels of the Romantics shaped by events of the day -- events which included the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars? More importantly, perhaps, we will explore the ways in which Romantic-era authors sought to shape history through their art. After all, Percy Bysshe Shelley believed that poets were the "unacknowledged legislators of the World." Throughout the semester we will be examining what Romantic-era authors hoped to "legislate" through their writing.