ENG20490 Romanticism

Academic Year 2024/2025

This module will introduce students to the Romantic period of literature, which falls approximately between the French Revolution (1789) and the ascent of Queen Victoria to the British throne (1837). The Romantic period was one of peculiar eventfulness. Great changes and possibilities opened with the fall of the Bourbons in France, only to give way to suspicion and paranoia with the advent of the French Terror and the Napoleonic wars. As the increasingly conservative philosopher and Irish MP Edmund Burke wrote in his 'Reflections on the Revolution in France', 'everything seems out of nature in this strange chaos of levity and ferocity, and of all sorts of crimes jumbled together with all sorts of follies.' This was a period full of tumult and excitement, something that makes itself felt in many of the texts that we will read. Romantic writers are still among the best-known today, and include William Wordsworth, Jane Austen, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Mary Shelley. In addition to canonical poets, dramatists, novelists, and non-fiction writers, we will explore the writings of lesser-known writers such as Charlotte Smith, Anna Laetitia Barbauld, and Olaudah Equiano. We will also consider a variety of genres from the Gothic novel to the autobiography to the nature poem. Looking at themes such as 'Slavery and Abolition', 'Radicalism and Protest', 'Romantic War', and 'Romantic Dystopia', we will examine how both radical and conservative writers dealt with the great changes that emerged in the period.

Show/hide contentOpenClose All

Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

1. Have an understanding of the many types of literature produced in the Romantic period.
2. Have a knowledge of key and lesser-known poets, dramatists, non-fiction writers, and novelists, from Olaudah Equiano and William Wordsworth to Jane Austen and Mary Shelley.
3. Appreciate the political and historical circumstances of the period, and how writers responded to these social and political changes, including environmental concerns, slavery and abolition, protest and radicalism, and war.
4. Use secondary sources and literary analysis to write critically about the literature of the period.

Indicative Module Content:


Cultural contexts, such the French Revolution and human rights; environmental concerns; slavery and abolition; radicalism and protest; war; and dystopia and resource depletion.
Literary analysis of poetry, drama, novels, and non-fiction, such as autobiography
Critical reading of primary and secondary sources.

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

12
Small Group

12
Specified Learning Activities

36
Autonomous Student Learning

40
Total

100
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Lectures
Weekly tutorials and focused in-class discussion
Brightspace material
 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Incompatibles:
ENG20020 - Eighteenth-Century Literature, ENG20590 - Romanticism (EVENING)


 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Assignment(Including Essay): 1,800 to 2,000-word mid-semester essay. n/a Graded No

40
Exam (Online): On-line exam scheduled by UCD Exams n/a Graded No

60

Carry forward of passed components
No
 
Resit In Terminal Exam
Spring No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback for essays will be posted on Brightspace. Students are also welcome to request a feedback meeting with their tutor to discuss their feedback further.