The late eighteenth and early nineteenth century was the age of revolution and romanticism. In this course we will read a variety of texts in different genres, ranging from extracts from the key political texts of Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine, to the novels, poetry and drama that responded to and addressed concerns raised by the French Revolution and its aftermath. These texts exemplify the cultural awareness of this period – one of profound political change – and explore many of its central concerns: the place of the individual, the articulation of social oppression, the retreat to nature and the rise of historical and national consciousness. Among the authors we will read are Charlotte Smith, Matthew Lewis, Mary Shelley and Walter Scott.

Requirements:

mid-term paper
final exam
written responses
attendance and participation