Augustans and Romantics
EN2035
This course draws together two periods of English literary history that have traditionally been seen in strong contrast - an antithesis which was frequently underscored by critical manifestos issued during the eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries.
The course explores what appear to be the important distinctions, but also considers continuities that may exist between the two periods.
The topics you may study include:
- Prose and verse satires of the early eighteenth century.
- The emergent novel.
- Attitudes towards the language of poetry.
- Romantic poetry; author-based studies.
Learning outcomes
If you complete the course successfully, you should now:
- Have a detailed knowledge of a range of Augustan and Romantic texts.
- Have acquired the knowledge and skills to identify the key formal and thematic of the literature of the period
- Be able to demonstrate critical understanding of how this period and its genres are related to relevant cultural and historical contexts.
- Have a critical understanding of the historical development of a number of literary genres (including satire in prose and verse and the emergent novel).
- Be able to employ appropriate interpretative models and critical terms to read the different texts studied on the course.
Essential reading
You may choose to study works from the following:
- Swift
- Defoe
- Gay
- Pope
- Thomson
- Richardson
- Fielding
- Sterne
- Gray
- Goldsmith
- Sheridan
- Blake
- Wordsworth
- Coleridge
- Keats
- Austen