19-307 BRITISH ROMANTIC POETS: BLAKE, WORDSWORTH, COLERIDGE, KEATS, SHELLEY, BYRON AND THE ‘POETRY OF EXPERIENCE’

19-307 BRITISH ROMANTIC POETS:  BLAKE, WORDSWORTH, COLERIDGE, KEATS, SHELLEY, BYRON AND THE ‘POETRY OF EXPERIENCE’

Randy Greene, Fridays 10 am - 12 noon                         

Cactus Room:  September 20, 27 October 4, 11, 18, 25

Beginning in the 1790’s, a small group of British poets radically changed the way poetry is written. Although we take many of these changes for granted today, at the time these poets were considered revolutionary.  In this course students will examine the poetry of Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Shelley, and Byron. The focus will be on both the subject matter of their poems and the style in which they wrote. Participants will look at the biographical, historical, cultural, scientific, and philosophical issues which informed their writing. Time will also be spent on visual and musical analogues, specifically the works of Constable and Turner and Beethoven and Berlioz. Finally, how their writings influenced the art of the 19^th and 20^th centuries will be explored.

In the first session, participants will discuss the 18^th century background and what the poets were rebelling against.  For the first class, students should read William Blake’s “All Religions Are One,” “There Is No Natural Religion [a&b],” “The Lamb,” “The Tyger,” and “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.” Subsequent readings will be distributed in the first class.