1Romantic Poetry and CultureENG 593-90Tiffin University, Master of Humanities

Im James Rovira, Associate Professor of English in the College of Arts and Sciences at Tiffin University. I can be reached by email at rovirajtiffin@gmail.com, and by instant message at

jamesrovira@gmail.com and jamesrovira@yahoo.com. My office is on the second floor of Bridgewater House, Room 5. I was awarded my Ph.D. by Drew University in 2008 and my M.Phil. in 2004. I received my B.A. from Rollins College in 1996.

My book, Blake and Kierkegaard: Creation and Anxiety was released by Continuum in June of 2010 in hardcover and in paperback in October of 2011.

You can reach me by phone at 419-448-3586. Thats my office number, but its usually set to forward to my cell phone. This course will examine the

poetry of the English Romantic era (1770-1839) as a response to developments in the areas of politics, philosophy, art, culture, law, and economics both in England and on the European continent. The idea of a Romantic era is a complicated one: Romantic poetry reveals different features in the decades leading up to the 1800 than in the early decades of the 1800s, and the Romantic era itself includes the Regency period that lasted from 1810-1820. Poets studied will include Charlotte Smith, Johanna Baille, William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and others.

Romantic Poetry and Culture: ENG593-90, Tiffin University Masters of Humanities Degree

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2Course ObjectivesTo develop familiarity with both canonical and

non-canonical English Romantic poets.To understand the characteristics of English

Romantic poetry within the context of British and European literatures of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

To understand the ways in which the poetry of the English Romantics engaged the historical and intellectual currents of its time.

To understand how the poetry and thought of the English Romantic era shaped modern beliefs, attitudes, and values.

To develop a critical understanding of English Romantic poetry from theoretical, aesthetic, and historical perspectives.

To gain familiarity with a range of scholarly perspectives on the English Romantic period.General Education Goals Met By This Course

This course will meet the following general education goals set by Tiffin University:

Critical Thinking: Critical thinking is that mode of thinkingabout any subject, content, or problemin which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards upon them. Communication Skills: Communication

skills include the ability to present and communicate in written and oral form and to use language appropriately to articulate a complex argument. They also include the ability to listen appropriately and to understand and evaluate information.

Inquiry and Analysis: Inquiry and analysis are the acts of 1) taking a poorly stated question or problem, 2) clarifying it, 3) recognizing the need for information, 4) identifying, locating, and evaluating information, 5) effectively using this information in coming up with an answer or a solution, and 6) implementing that answer or solution.

Knowledge of Human Cultures: Our knowledge of human cultures develops our knowledge of a cultures responsibilities to its citizens and ones own responsibilities as human beings and citizens of a world community. We gain knowledge of these shared responsibilities as we gain knowledge of world, British, and American history, philosophical traditions, major religions, cultural legacies, and contested questions.

To see a World in a Grain of Sand / And a Heaven in a Wild Flower / Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand / And Eternity in an hourWilliam Blake

Course Objectives:What youll learn and do

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William Blake Poet, painter, visionary, lived from 1757-1827 and inspired poets and painters from his day to our own.

3GradingHow things count

Course participation will be determined by attendance of online chats and regularity and effectiveness of your message board comments. Every week, you will upload your response paper to the weeks reading to turnitin.com and copy and paste it to the appropriate eCollege discussion thread by 5 PM Sunday. Do not worry about the formatting of your copied and pasted discussion thread post just do the best that you can. Read at least two of your peers response papers and post

substantial responses to them by midnight Wednesday. These responses should be at least two full paragraphs, documented following MLA style, and should include a Works Cited page. Online chats, message board posts, and message board responses are all worth 20 pts. each. See the rubric for discussion board responses posted under Course Home on the eCollege discussion board.

Course PoliciesHow were going to run thingsParticipation in this course implies agreement with all policies as stated in the course syllabus. Applicable policies are not limited to those explicitly stated in the course syllabus, but also include verbal instruction given privately and in class and university wide policies.

1. DocumentationAll papers in this course shall be

formatted and documented following MLA style as described in the MLA Handbook, 7th edition. If you have any questions about how to document a source after checking the handbook please ask me, preferably on the designated message board thread so other students can benefit as well, but of course by email at any time.

Set up your prose papers following the instructions provided in Chapter 4 of the MLA Handbook. All papers should be typed in Times New Roman, 12 pt. font double spaced from top to bottom without interruption or extra line spaces, with 1 margins all around. Properly setting up your paper counts toward the mechanical half of your paper grade.

2. Academic Honesty Policy: See the student handbook.

Policies unique to this class: any instances of plagiarism carry with them the consequences of either a grade of

zero on the assignment or a grade of XF for the class at the instructors discretion. All final drafts of essays are to be submitted to turnitin.com by the due date/time in order for you to receive credit for the assignment. Go to turnitin.com and join class 3260477 with the password RomPoet2010.

3. Attendance Being an online workshop class, there will be approximately four required online chats during the semester. I may schedule more chats, but only four are required. Your participation in these chats will count toward your class

participation grade along with your timely submission of work and substantial feedback on your peers' discussion board posts. See the threaded discussion grading rubric on eCollege for details.

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scenes of life / As daughter, sister, mother, friend, and wife; / But harder still, thy fate in death we own, / Thus mourn'd by Godwin with a heart of stone.

William Roscoe on Mary Wollstonecraft

Samuel Taylor ColeridgeIn Xanadu did Kubla Khan / A stately pleasure-dome decree: / Where Alph, the sacred river, ran / Through caverns measureless to man /Down to a sunless sea.

4Weekly papers about the assigned reading will be worth 100 pts each. See the rubric at the end of this syllabus for grading standards. All papers should be two to five pages (maximum) and synthesize all reading material for the week into a coherently argued thesis. I have uploaded thesis writing PowerPoints to Course Home if you need help with thesis development. Each weeks assignment has a question associated with it to help you begin writing. Feel free to ignore this question if you have a clear and compelling thesis of your own.

Your final research paper will be worth 1000 pts. It should be 15-20 pages and should argue a thesis about any of the material covered in this class. Your thesis can be focused on a figure, theme, trend, cultural, social, or political development, literary work, genre, etc. You can combine two or three of these topics as well: an author with a political development, a theme with a genre, a cultural development with a literary work, etc. My first suggestion is always to find a work, period, question, author, event, development, etc., that has engaged your interest, then ask yourself, "Why do I find this interesting?" My second suggestion is to pay attention to the questions that you have about the works that you read as you read them. Look for questions about your subject that don't have obvious answers. Your thesis will be your answer to one of these questions. The more specific your question, the stronger your thesis will be.

My computer crashed is not an excuse for not having your work posted on the due date. Be sure to back up all your work either onto a memory stick, onto your school network drive, or onto a file storage system such as Google docs (preferably at least two of the above three if not all three). If you have your work backed up, should your computer crash you may be able to continue your work at public computers at libraries, nearby colleges, etc. If you do not back up your work, you are responsible for failing to do so. Late work will not be accepted.

Whenever secondary sources are used, they must come from professional, peer reviewed journals or books in the Tiffin University library, or through the MLA International Bibliography on Ohiolink.edu. Do not use Wikipedia, news sources, or other publicly accessible websites without first speaking to me and obtaining my permission in writing or by email. Romanticism on the Net is an

excellent, publicly reliable source that is an exception to this rule.

What is a college class?Liberal arts courses involve directed self-

education. I am only a guide: you educate yourself through reading and reflecting upon your reading. Assignments and class discussions are designed to aid the reflection process. If you regularly participate, do the reading, and do all assignments you will educate yourself. If you do not, you cheat yourself of that opportunity.General Essay Grading Standards

Grade of A: ExcellentThe A paper is a highly sophisticated paper that

supports an original thesis with a complex argument that skillfully and correctly integrates substantial outside research. The A paper demonstrates not only substantial understanding of primary and secondary reading but the ability to advance knowledge with its insight into the material. It has few or no grammatical or punctuation errors -- no more than three or four for every five pages of writing -- and maintains a highly academic tone that correctly and effectively employs field-specific language.

Grade of B: Above AverageThe B paper fulfills all requirements of the

assignment. It meets or exceeds research requirements effectively, demonstrating comprehension of all sources. It properly documents its sources with no more than two or three citation errors. It is almost free of grammatical or punctuation errors, having no more than one or two errors per page, but while highly competent, the B paper lacks the insight and linguistic competence characterizing the A essay.

Grade of C: AverageThe average college-level paper will receive a

grade of C. This paper is written well enough to be easy to follow, but could benefit from some restructuring or additional paragraphs. It meets minimum assignment requirements for research and other elements and integrates sources correctly following the most basic requirements of the assigned documentation style; in-text citations are clearly keyed to the references, bibliography, or works cited page. It demonstrates basic reading comprehension of both primary and secondary sources. It may have some minor punctuation, capitalization, grammatical, or spelling errors or some use of informal language, but is generally appropriate and correct.

More on GradingGet the most for your work...

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5Course ScheduleWeek 1

M May 10 Online chat reviewing syllabus and course to be scheduled before Su, May 16th.

Week 2No further assignments.

Week 3Su May 16: Introduction to the Romantic Era Reading:

Colley: Preface and Introduction (pp. xi-9) Longman: The Romantics and Their

Contemporaries (pp. 3-29) CCBR Ch. 2: Romanticism and Enlightenment (pp.

25-47) CCRP Ch. 1: The Living Pantheon of Poets in 1820Supplemental reading: Note: supplemental readings are not required readings

for the week. Use the supplemental readings for further background for the weeks reading, or if you choose to write your final paper about the weeks topic.

A. O. Lovejoy, On the Discrimination of Romanticisms: see doc sharing folder for this file and for a file listing translations of German and French phrases in this essay.

Lwy and Sayre, Figures of Romantic Anti-Capitalism: see doc sharing folder.

Writing: Note: the prompts/questions are to help you get started

with the material. The main requirements for all weekly readings are that you write two to five pages, follow MLA style, and argue a thesis. The thesis can come from the prompts provided or be your own. See thesis writing PowerPoints under Course Home.

Synthesis essay answering the question, What is Romanticism, its relationship to its predecessors, and its context?

Week 4Su May 23 Introduction to Romantic PoetryReading:

Longman: Perspectives: The Sublime, the Beautiful, and the Picturesque (pp. 30-62).

CCBR Ch. 10: Romantic Poetry: Why and Wherefore?

CCRP Ch. 3: Romantic Meter and Form Supplemental readings: Kants Critique of Judgment, complete text. See the

Webliography. Edmund Burke, On the Sublime and the Beautiful,

complete text. See the Webliography.

Writing: Synthesis essay answering the question, What are the

characteristics and concerns of Romantic poetry?

Week 5Su May 30 Romanticism and RevolutionReading:

Colley ch. 4: Dominance Longman: Perspectives: The Rights of Man and the

Revolution Controversy Wordsworth: The Prelude, Bks 10, 11 (Longman pp.

495-509) Blake: The Tyger (Longman p. 177) CCBR ch. 3: Poetry in an Age of Revolution

Supplemental reading: William Blake, The French Revolutionat the Blake

Digital Text Project: http://www.english.uga.edu/~nhilton/Blake/blaketxt1/french_revolution.html

Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: see doc sharing folder.

Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man: see doc sharing folder.

Writing: Synthesis paper answering the question: What were the

range of Romantic responses to the French Revolution, how might those responses have changed over time, and what motivated both early and later reactions to the French Revolution?

Week 6Su June 6 Romanticism and the MonarchyReading:

Colley ch. 5: Majesty CCRP ch. 11: Rethinking Romantic poetry and

history: lyric resistance, lyric seduction P.B. Shelley: The Mask of Anarchy (Longman pp.

824-835) William Blake: London (Longman p. 179) Robert Southey: A Vision of Judgment Text of the poem: See doc sharing folder. George Gordon, Lord Byron: The Vision of Judgment

Text of the poem: See doc sharing folderSupplemental reading:

Newspaper account of the libel trial following the poems publication: See Doc Sharing folder.

Writing: Synthesis essay answering the question, What were the

range of Romantic responses to the British monarchy, what motivated these responses, and what motivated critics of Romantic authors to respond as they did?

The ScheduleWhen things will be done...

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6Week 7Su June 13 Romanticism and Women: 1Reading:

Colley ch. 6: Womanpower Anna Letitia Barbauld and Charlotte Smith (Longman

pp. 63-91) Mary Robinson (Longman pp. 266-278) CCBR ch. 8: Women Readers, Women Writers

Writing: Synthesis essay answering the question, What were the

range of womens responses to and concerns with Romantic era Britain?

Week 8Su June 20 Romanticism and Women: 2Reading:

Dorothy Wordsworth (Longman pp. 538-569) Felicia Hemans (Longman pp. 877-907) Joanna Baillie (Longman pp. 356-368) CCRP ch. 8: Romantic Poetry, Sexuality, and Gender

Writing: Same as previous week.

Week 9Su June 27 Romanticism and Women: 3Reading:

Mary Wollstonecraft (Longman pp. 279-328) Perspectives: The Wollstonecraft Controversy and the

Rights of Women (Longman pp. 319-354)Writing: Synthesis paper answering one of the following questions:

How is Wollstonecraft situated ideologically, politically, as a woman in relationship to other women writers of the period?

How did the French Revolution influence Wollstonecrafts ideas about womens rights?

Week 10Su July 3 Romanticism and SlaveryReading:

Colley ch. 8: Victories Perspectives: The Abolition of Slavery and the Slave

Trade (Longman pp. 209-265) William Blake: Vision of the Daughters of Albion

(Longman pp. 197-203). See also the William Blake Archive for the text of the poem as Blake presented it in Illuminated Book form: http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/object.xq?objectid=vda.p.illbk.01&java=yes

Writing: Synthesis paper answering the following question: How did Romantic discourse on the slave trade reflect

concerns expressed in discourse on the French Revolution and on Womens rights?

Week 11Su July 11 Major Author: William BlakeReading:

William Blake (Longman pp. 150-208) CCBR ch. 11: The Sister Arts in British Romanticism

Writing: For all major author papers, synthesize your prior

reading in this class with the weeks assigned reading to argue a thesis about a major theme, concern, aesthetic, etc., in the authors poetry.

Week 12Su July 18 Major Author: William WordsworthReading:

William Wordsworth (Longman pp. 385-537)CCRP ch. 7: Wordsworths Great Ode

Wk 13Su July 25 Major Author: Samuel Taylor ColeridgeReading:

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Longman pp. 570-655)CCBR ch. 4: German Romantic Idealism

Wk 14Su Aug. 1 Major Author: John KeatsReading:

John Keats (Longman pp. 920-1007) CCBR ch. 7: Romantic Hellenism

Supplemental Reading: Fuseli: Reflections on the Painting and Sculpture of the

Greeks: see doc sharing folder.

Wk 15Final PaperSu. Aug. 9 Final Paper Proposal Your final paper proposal should be a minimum 250 word

description of your thesis and its importance and should have a bibliography. You are not required to provide a fixed number of sources, but all points you make to support your thesis should cite scholarship by way of support of your point, refutation of opposing ideas, and/or context/background for your own ideas. Post your proposal to the appropriate eCollege discussion board and to turnitin.com.

Wk 16Sun. Aug. 16 Chat: Final Paper draft review/questions(10 PM EST, eCollege chat room)

Optional chat for those with questions about their papers. Email me your papers by 5 PM EST Saturday, Aug. 15th if you would like some general feedbackWed. Aug. 18 Final Paper due, submitted to turnitin.com by midnight.

The Schedule Continuedand on we go...

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