Ateneo - UPO

ENGLISH ROMANTIC CULTURE

S. T. Duncan Wu (a c. di), Romanticism: An Anthology, Oxford, Blackwell, 2006; Duncan Wu (a c. di), A Companion to Romanticism, Oxford, Blackwell, 1998; Stuart Curran (a c. di), The Cambridge Companion to British Romanticism, Cambridge, C.U.P., 1993; Diego Saglia, Modernità del Romanticismo, Marsilio, 2023; Carla Pomarè, Il Romanticismo, in F. Marenco (a c. di), Guida allo studio della lingua e della letteratura inglese, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1994, pp. 267-284.

objectives: This course aims at developing in-depth knowledge of the various manifestations of English Romantic culture, with specific reference to the literary and historical contexts. It also aims at building up advanced skills in the analysis of poetical, narrative and argumentative texts.

B2 level of English

Lectures and in-class readings of primary texts

Students can choose between two modalities of assessment: oral exam + final essay OR oral exam + in-class activities. Essay topics must be consulted with the instructor in advance and papers must be handed in at least one week before the oral exam. The oral exam (approx. 20 minutes, dates to be found on the Department website) will assess:
- the knowledge of the texts/topics/authors covered in class;
- the knowledge of the cultural contexts of the primary texts;
- the ability to use the appropriate lexicon in English to communicate – clearly and effectively – knowledge, information and opinions;
- the degree of coherence, accuracy and relevance of the student's answers.

content: This course will provide a survey of the major manifestations of English Romantic culture, both in prose and in poetry, focusing on texts by William Blake, William Wordsworth, S. T. Coleridge, George Gordon Byron, Mary Shelley.
Unit 1 Romantic cultural geographies: chronological limits and historical contexts
Unit 2 Revolution, republicanism, liberalism (Readings: Blake, «London»; Shelley, «The Mask of Anarchy»; Cowper, «Pity for poor Africans»; Wilberforce, «A Letter on the Abolition of the Slave Trade»; Edgeworth, «The Grateful Negro»)
Unit 3 Romantic keywords: nature, childhood, imagination (Readings: Bowles, «To the River Itchin»; Coleridge, «To the River Otter»; Wordsworth, «Tintern Abbey»Wordsworth, from the Preface to Lyrical Ballads; Coleridge, from Chapter 13 Biographia Literaria; Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner; Keats, «A Thing of Beauty»)
Unit 4 Celebrity culture: the case of Lord Byron (Readings:Extracts from Childe Harold IV and Don Juan; «She Walks in Beauty»; «To Augusta»; «To the Po»)
Unit 5 The novel – from the Gothic to Jane Austen (Readings: Mary Shelley's Frankestein)

(KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING)
- knowledge of the most important developments in Romantic-period culture
- knowledge of the key historical events relevant to the reading and interpreting of Romantic-period culture
- critical understanding of the texts studied, with specific reference to their linguistic component.
(APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING)
- Ability to grasp and understand the connections between texts and contexts (historical, geographical, political), using the critical and methodological tools appropriate to the analysis of the texts considered.
- Ability to use the appropriate lexicon in English to communicate - clearly and effectively - knowledge, information and opinions related to the topics dealt with.
- Capacity to work with familiar and unfamiliar conceptual frameworks; integrate and synthesize different kinds of material; develop a cogent line of argument