British Literature II: Revolution, Reaction, Reform examines British literature from the late eighteenth century to the present, a period that witnessed the American and French Revolutions, slave revolts such as the Haitian Revolution, a “revolution in female manners,” the Industrial Revolution, the twentieth-century revolutionary wave in Europe, as well as World War I and World War II, and, of course, artistic revolutions. We will consider how the authors and literary works of this period might be reacting to change, advocating for reform, or participating in literary revolutions—whether revolution is understood in the sense of “revolving” or of “revolting,” going full circle to return to a previous (more perfect?) time or experiencing/effecting a great alteration or rupture.
We'll be using the following texts at COVE Studio in the anthology British Literature II (MSSU), Fall 2020:
Wordsworth, William, "We Are Seven" (1798)
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, "Eolian Harp" (1795)
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, "Metrical Feet: Lesson for a Boy"
Shelley, Mary, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818)
Browning, Robert, "Porphyria's Lover" (1836)
Browning, Robert, "My Last Duchess" (1842)
Browning, Robert, "Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister” (1842)
Tennyson, Alfred, "The Lady of Shalot" (1832 and 1842)
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, "The Cry of the Children" (1843)
Hood, Thomas, "The Song of the Shirt" (1843)
Brooke, Rupert, "The Soldier" (1914)
Eliot, T. S., "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1915, 1917)
Woolf, Virginia, "The Mark on the Wall" (1921)
Auden, W.H., "Musée des Beaux Arts" (1939, 1940)
Thomas, Dylan, "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" (1951)
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In her autobiography Mary Prince writes about being a slave in Antigua. Antigua was known for its sugar plantations, one of the largest plantations would produce 12 tons of sugar crystals a day. The first sugar plantation can be dated back to 1674 and by 1678 half of the islands population was made up of west Arican slaves. The Caribbean's were the gateway to America and an integral part in the development of America.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-35633344
Newstead in Nottinghamshire is a monastic Abbey from the 12th century in which Romantic poet Lord Byron lived from 1808-1814. The Abbey is medieval in style and has a Victorian style kitchen, the private apartments of Lord Byron, and has stood through earthquakes and a civil war. In 1818, Lord Byron sold it to Thomas Wildmam, a British army officer, and he sold the Abbey to William Frederick Webb, an African explorer in 1861.
A part of Newstead Abbey is called the West Front. It is a priory that has medieval cloisters, a sculpture of the Virgin and Child, manuscripts and stone carvings. Surrounding the Abbey is 300 acres of parkland, gardens, lakes, and ponds.
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St. Oswald's Church is the parish church of Grasmere, Rydal, and Langdale in the Lake District, Cumbria, England. The Romantic-era poet William Wordsworth and his family worshiped here, and Wordsworth, his wife Mary, his sister Dorothy, some of their children and other family members are buried or memorialized in the church graveyard. A memorial stone to William Wordsworth as Poet Laureate, created by Pre-Raphaelite sculptor Thomas Woolner, is mounted inside the church.
The church itself was founded in 642 AD by St. Oswald. The current church building is the fourth on this site, with the earliest part of it dating to 1250 AD (St. Oswalds). The Wordsworths attended St. Oswald when they lived at Dove Cottage. William Wordsworth's wife Mary was a regular churchgoer, although William...
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