Romanticism

                                                                                         

This course attempts to trace the central philosophical and conceptual issues in the study of the Romantic Movement in Europe. Emphasis is on reconstructing the main ideas of the period and examining the literature of that age in relation to these ideas. As the second in a four-part paper, this is an attempt to acquaint students with the cultural and intellectual ideas that have shaped the modern western culture. Alongside the literary appreciation of texts, it is expected that students will also learn to appreciate the political and social contexts which the shape the ideas represented in these texts. Selections include literary and non-literary texts from the period and critical and scholarly works from recent times which attempt to throw new light on the period. A selection of texts for self study has been suggested which will help students gain more in depth knowledge about the issue treated in the in the course.

• Unit I: Introduction to themes and Issues
• Sir Isaiah Berlin, The Romantic Revolution
• Unit II: Key Ideas
• J G Herder, "Is the Beauty of the Body a Herald of the Beauty of the Soul"
• Wordsworth, Preface to Lyrical Ballads
• M H Abrams, The Psychology of Literary Invention: Unconscious Genius and Organic Growth
• Unit III: Texts
• Wordsworth, Tintern Abbey
• Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
• Blake, Milton
• Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther
• Rousseau, The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau
• Unit IV: Revisiting Romanticism
• Alfred Kazin: An Introduction to William Blake
• Martin Heidegger: Holderlin and the Essence of Poetry
• Texts for Self Study
• Tristram Shandy
• Collins: Ode to Evening, Ode to Simplicity, Ode on the poetic character
• Gray: Ode On A Distant Prospect Of Eton College, Ode to Spring
• Shelley, Defense of Poetry
• Warton: The Enthusiast
• Coleridge, Literature and the Fine Arts
• William Doyle, The French Revolution: A Very Short Introduction
• M H Abrams The Psychology of Literary Invention: Mechanical and Organic Theories
• Kermode, The Romantic Image