Greger English 46B Spring 2019

A Schedule of Reading Assignments: Midterm through Finals

(Subject to revisions, clarifications, addendum, etc.)
Mon 3/18: Introduction: Romanticism.

Wed 3/20: For today, get a sense of the political upheavals that are occurring during this period. Read
the intro starting on page 183 of the Norton, and then take a look at selections from Edmund
Burke’s “Reflections on the Revolution in France” (187-194), selections from “Thomas
Paine’s “Rights of Man” (199-203), and selections from Mary Wollstonecraft’s A
Vindication of the Rights of Woman (213-239). These are long selections, but you don’t
have to do expert reading. Instead, be able to pull out the thesis of each selection’s chief
argument, and one or two points that each author makes in support of the thesis.

Fri 3/22: Read about William Blake, on pp. 112-115 of The Norton Anthology of English Literature,
Volume D (Page numbers are from 9th edition). Then, read selections from Songs of
Innocence and Experience, on pp. 118-135. Things to consider: Why are these poems
written like nursery rhymes? Try to find corresponding poems or themes in the “innocence”
and “experience” sections of the work. Pick out your favorite three…

Mon 3/25 – Fri 3/29: Spring Break!

Mon 4/1: More on Blake: Read selections from The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, pp. 148-159.

Extra Credit Assignment: Look at some of Blake’s prints and discuss: what is the
relationship between Blake the artist and Blake the poet?

Wed 4/3: For today, read the intro to the William Wordsworth section in the Norton Anthology (pp.
270-272); then, Wordsworth’s “Preface to Lyrical Ballads” on pp. 292-304. Focus on the
last two sections, “What is a Poet?” and especially “Emotion Recollected in Tranquility.”
Then, read the following poems: “We Are Seven” (p.278); “Lines Composed a Few Miles
above Tintern Abbey…” (p. 288); “Strange Fits of Passion…” (305); I wandered lonely as a
cloud (334); “My Heart Leaps Up (335); and “Ode: Intimations of Immortality” (335); “The
world is too much with us” (347).

Fri 4/5: More Wordsworth: Read selections from “The Prelude,” emphasizing lines 373-451 of
Book 1, and line 990-236 of book 2.

Mon 4/8: Read about Wordsworth’s buddy Samuel Taylor Coleridge, on pp. 437-439 of the Norton.
Then, though it’s long, you have to read “The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner” (it’s
amazing); Kubla Khan (461); “Frost at Midnight” (477) and “Dejection: An Ode” (479).

Wed 4/10: Read about Wordsworth’s buddy Samuel Taylor Coleridge, on pp. 437-439 of the Norton.
Then, though it’s long, you have to read “The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner” (it’s
amazing); Kubla Khan (461); “Frost at Midnight” (477) and “Dejection: An Ode” (479).

Thu 4/11 Multi media day: We explore Romanticism in art and music. Note: Today is the last day to
drop a class.
Greger English 46B Spring 2019

Fri 4/12: Now, we enter the world of the first rock star poet, George Gordon, Lord Byron. Read about
him on pp. 612-616 of the Norton. Read “Written after Swimming…” (616); “She
Walks…” (617); “Darkness” (618); and selections from “Child Harold’s Pilgrimage” (620-
637).

Mon 4/15: For today, read the drama Manfred by Byron, pp. 639-672.

Wed 4/17: For today, read about Percy Bysshe Shelley, pp. 748-751; then read “Mutability” (751);
“Ozymandius” (776); “England in 1819” (790); “Ode to the West Wind” (791).

Extra Credit Assignment: Watch Gothic, Ken Russell’s strange 1986 movie about Byron,
Shelley and Mary Shelley at the Villa Diodati in Switzerland. Comment….

Fri 4/19: For today, read about John Keats (901-903); then read “When I have Fears…” (911); “La
Belle Dame…” (923); “Ode to a Nightingale” (927); “Ode on a Grecian Urn” (930); “Ode
on Indolence” (933); “To Autumn” (951).

Mon 4/22: Today, we’ll begin reading Mary Shelley’s amazing novel Frankenstein. Read the first half.
It’s so much better than any movie of it. She was 19 when she wrote it.

Wed 4/24: 2nd half of Frankenstein .

Extra Credit Assignment: Watch the Director’s cut of Blade Runner. Compare/Contrast
to Frankenstein.

Fri 4/26: Jane Austen’s Emma, part 1.

Mon 4/29: Jane Austen’s Emma, part 2.

Wed 5/1: Jane Austen’s Emma, part 3.

Extra Credit Assignment: Watch Amy Heckerling’s kind of delightful 1995 film
“Clueless,” a Valley Girl update of Emma. Or: Play the online role-playing game “Ever,
Jane” and write a review of it. Get it here: http://www.everjane.com/

Fri 5/3: Read Hawthorne stories: “Young Goodman Brown,” “Wakefield,” and “Rappacini’s
Daughter.”

Mon 5/6: Read Poe’s stories: “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Man of the Crowd,” and
“William Wilson.”

Wed 5/8: Catch Up Day, or: Transcendentalism?

Fri 5/10: Catch Up Day, or: Transcendentalism?

Mon 5/13: Review. Last day of class.

Final Exam: Mon 5/20. 10:30-12:30.