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Presentation on Popular British War Poetry
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Romantic Circles has made available online Betty T. Bennett's invaluable but long
out of print anthology British War
Poetry in the Age of Romanticism, 1793-1815. We will be examining this
collection of popular poetry throughout the quarter to understand both the
prevailing popular sentiment of the times and the role of the
periodical press in reflecting or reacting to that sentiment.
At our first meeting, we will determine a presentation schedule for the
remainder of the quarter. Each week, from the second to the tenth,
presenters (one, two, or three per week) will read the popular poems assigned for
the week and develop a short (ten minute) presentation for the class. The
presentations should minimally include the following elements:
- Brief background on the political atmosphere contemporary to the
year (or years) covered by the presentation (political atmosphere
includes both domestic developments and those of the war)
- An overview of the general political attitudes represented by the
poems with emphasis on how those attitudes reflect or react to the
contemporary political atmosphere
- A specific discussion of one poem that is representative of these
general political attitudes
- A specific discussion of at least one poem that might represent a
more complex or ambivalent response to the contemporary political
atmosphere (this task might not be possible for each week)
- A handout for the class that supplements/supports the
presentations--the handout should clearly identify the poem selected
as representative of the general political attitudes of the year (or
years) under discussion (the poem could even be reproduced on the
handout)
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Weekly Presentations
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At our first meeting, we will determine a presentation schedule for the
remainder of the quarter. Each week, from the second to the tenth,
presenters (one, two, or three per week) will offer short (ten minute) presentations
on the following topics:
| 10/3 |
The Sedition Trials of the
1790s (historical)
Burke's Reflections on the French Revolution
Paine's The Rights of Man
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| 10/10 |
Female Conduct Guides
(historical)
Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Polwhele, from The
Unsex’d Female (322-327)
Blake's Visions of the Daughters of Albion
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10/17
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Surveillance and the Fear
of Invasion (historical)
Thomas Clarkson (historical)
Equiano's Interesting Narrative
Yearsley’s A Poem on the Inhumanity of the Slave Trade
(complete)
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10/24
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1797 Navy Mutinies
(historical)
Wordsworth's "Preface" to Lyrical Ballads
Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
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10/31
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Coleridge's "Once a Jacobin Always a Jacobin"
Wordsworth's The Prelude, Book X
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11/7
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The Duke of Wellington
(historical)
Wordsworth's "The Happy Warrior" and "Laodamia"
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11/14
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Gillray's Napoleonic
Satires
The Byronic Hero (see the section in the Longman and ask me)
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11/21
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Austen's Politics (in a novel other than Persuasion)
Waterloo (historical)
Wordsworth's "Thanksgiving Ode"
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11/28
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The Six Acts (historical)
Shelley's The Mask of Anarchy
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Presenters will examine subjects in greater detail than the rest of the
class and then prepare a short presentation and handout. Some
presentations are historical and/or biographical in nature. Some expand
upon a short reading selection that the entire class will have read, and
so require the presenter to read more extensively in the primary source.
Others focus on reading that the class will not prepare, and so require
the presenter to provide an overview and contextualization of the
text.
Presenters are encouraged to discuss their presentations with me well
in advance of their presentation. (Of course, those volunteering to
present in the first two weeks will benefit from my reciprocal kindness.)
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