Wordsworth

Undergraduate

Among the most important writers of the Romantic era, William Wordsworth proposed radically innovative ways understanding the world through writing poetry, reading poetry, and thinking poetically. Centered on close reading of the revolution in poetics undertaken in Lyrical Ballads and the remarkable autobiographical project undertaken in The Prelude, this seminar provides the opportunity for immersive study of Wordsworth and of preoccupations central to Romanticism, including the ethics of art, the power of the imagination, and the relationship between self-consciousness and social belonging. Reading of Wordsworth’s poetry will be supplemented by important critical work on Wordsworth from the early reviews to more recent landmarks in literary theory. At least one previous course in English literature or the equivalent. WR , HU T 1:30pm-3:25pm