Oakland University
Department of English

English 452: Wordsworth and Keats

This is an exciting time to be taking a course on Wordsworth and Keats-if you can accept the possibility that anything relating to studying the works of poets dead for a 150 years can be exciting. In recent years, wildly different images of both Keats and Wordsworth have been emerging. Some scholars have come to argue that Keats--long considered to be the "pure poet," the poet of beauty-was actually deeply engaged in the struggles of his age in both his life and his works. They argue that Keats was involved in the movements agitating for what we would recognize as democracy and for protection of the natural world. While many critics have seen Wordsworth, always at the center of the romantic period, as a most un-romantic man, the poet of reserve, restraint and dignity, the title of an important new biography suggests a contrasting image: The Hidden Wordsworth: Poet, Rebel, Lover Spy. Whether these new images have any bearing on how we read their poems-which haven't changed that much since they died-will be determined this semester.

We will be reading a large selection of both poets' work in several contexts: biographical, historical and critical. In addition to reading Wordsworth's poetry, we will read the journal his sister kept while the two shared a house in Grasmere. To supplement our reading of Keats's poetry, we will read a number of his wonderful letters. For both poets, we will also read a number of critical essays and look at biographies. Although this is not the best way to make these decisions, each of you will need to choose early on whether you want to focus on Wordsworth or Keats; then you will select a biography of the writer to read throughout the semester. You will also write your final, research paper on that writer. I have included a list of recommended biographies. I am assigning you to read the biographies because I believe that they are a good way of connecting the writer or work to the historical context. I hope you will not make the mistake of thinking that the poetry is a direct, unmediated expression of the biography. Just because Keats's life was short and not full of happiness, does not mean that "Ode to a Nightingale" is about Keats's personal sadness. But knowing something about Keats's life might help us to understand the material he was working with (or that was working with him) in composing the poem. The letters, journals and biographies will inform our classroom discussions, and provide some direction to guide your individual researches.

Assignments:

Papers: You will be required to write two shorter essays, one annotated bibliography, and one extended research paper. To pass this class, you must turn in all assignments on time.

Paper 1: a short interpretive paper explicating a poem, which constructs an argument about a meaning of the poem and supports it with evidence drawn from the poem. Due 10/5.

Paper 2: a 15-20 minute conference paper to be presented at our literary conference (11/16). This will give you a sense of how an academic conference is run, and how colleagues respond to arguments presented. I will distribute a "Call for Papers" early in the semester which will give more details about the nature of the conference (length and scope of essays). Your conference paper will focus on the writer you are not writing about in your research paper.

Annotated Bibliography: well before your research paper is due, you will submit an annotated bibliography on the sources you are using for the paper. An annotated bibliography is a list of the works (historical, critical, etc.) you are using for your research (the "bibliography" part) which gives a brief explanation of each source (the "annotated" part).

Research Paper: This will be a 10-15 page paper which seeks to interpret a poem (or excerpt, or prose piece) by establishing a context which you think casts light on the work and which supports the interpretive argument you construct. For example, if you were writing about Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancyent Marinere" (which you won't be, since it was not written by Wordsworth or Keats), you might want to argue that to understand the poem readers should see it in the light of colonial exploration or in the literary tradition of the prophet. Your argument should be supported by textual evidence (specific lines from the poem), critical arguments other scholars have published, historical evidence (what does the Mariner's voyage share with actual voyages of the period?), and biographical evidence drawn from your reading (did Coleridge care about colonial exploration?). This should be your masterpiece, a work which brings together all of your knowledge about poetry, the writer, and the period in a coherent work of literary criticism.

Attendance and Participation. Since we meet only once a week, it is crucial that you be in class every time we meet. I realize that there are unforeseen emergencies (such as your sudden death) that sometimes make it impossible that you be in class on a certain night, but I expect you to be here otherwise. Since this is a seminar, it is also crucial that you contribute to our discussions. If you do not meet these two requirements, you can expect your grade to suffer. I hope it was not necessary to say this. I expect each of you to come to class prepared to discuss (and lead a discussion on) at least two poems-or one longer one. There will be no final exam if the class can demonstrate their preparation for each class-especially the last few.

Course Materials:

Wordsworth, William. William Wordsworth. Ed. Stephen Gill. The Oxford Authors. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1984.

Wordsworth, Dorothy and William Wordsworth. Home at Grasmere: Extracts from the Journal of Dorothy Wordsworth and from the Poems of William Wordsworth. Ed. Colette Clark. New York: Penguin, 1960.

Keats, Johh. John Keats. Ed. Elizabeth Cook. The Oxford Authors. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1990.

Studies in Romanticism. Volume 35, Number 3, 1995. (Special Issue: 200 Years: John Keats)

Duplicated packet of criticism-available through me.

Biographies:

Wordsworth:

*Moorman, Mary. William Wordsworth: A Biography. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957. The standard biography of Wordsworth for a generation. It came at the beginning of a period of intense reexamination of the poet. Since it is a bit older, its orientation will be significantly different from contemporary biographies, but it is still consulted and remains a benchmark for other biographies.

Gill, Stephen. William Wordsworth: A Life. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1989. The current standard biography. Gill is both a critic and editor of Wordsworth.

Matlak, Richard. The Poetry of Relationship: The Wordsworths and Coleridge. New York: St. Martin's, 1987. As its title suggests, it is a psychobiography which focuses on the interrelationships between William, Dorothy and Samuel Taylor.

Mahoney, John. William Wordsworth: A Poetic Life. New York: Fordham UP, 1997. As its title suggests, it distinguishes itself from Gill's and Moorman's biography by focusing on readings of central poems in the Wordsworth canon.

Williams, John. William Wordsworth: A Literary Life. New York: St. Martin's, 1996.

New York: St. Martin's, 1997. I don't know about this one, but I suspect it is rather like the Mahoney volume.

Johnston, Kenneth R. The Hidden Wordsworth: Poet, Lover, Rebel, Spy. New York: W.W. Norton, 1998. An important-and controversial-new biography which seeks to overturn the received opinion of Wordsworth as a reserved and tranquil man-a view Johnston argues that Wordsworth himself sought to create.

Gittings, Robert and Jo Manton. Dorothy Wordsworth. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985. Gittings is a well-respected biographer (he wrote a standard biography of Keats).

Davies, Hunter. William Wordsworth: A Biography. New York: Athenuem, 1980. Written for a popular audience, which presents unique disadvantages and advantages.

*Manley, Seon. Dorothy and William Wordsworth : the Heart of a Circle of Friends. New York Vanguard Press, 1974.

Keats:

Bate, Walter Jackson Bate. John Keats. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard UP, 1963. The standard biography of Keats for a generation. Offers strong, albeit dated, criticism of the poetry. Bate is a distinguished scholar and editor.

*Ward, Aileen. Keats: The Making of a Poet. Revised Edition. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1986. An excellent biography, distinguished for its psychological insight into Keats.

Gittings, Robert. John Keats. Boston: Little, Brown and Co. 1968. Another standard biography, more factually detailed than the other two standard biographies from the 1960s (Bate's and Ward's).

Motion, Andrew. John Keats. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1997. A new and controversial biography. Part of a growing trend which seeks to show Keats as intimately involved in many of the most pressing political and social issues of his day.

Lowell, Amy. John Keats. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1925. A biography which turns a respected poet's eye on both Keats and his social context.

Hewlett, Dorothy, Adonais: A Life of John Keats. London: Hutchinson, 1970.

Marquess, William Henry. Lives of the Poet: The First Century of Keats Biography. University Park: Pennsylvania State UP, 1985. Shows how biographies have changed over the years.

Colvin, Sidney. John Keats: His Life and Poetry, His Friends, Critics and After Fame. New York: Octagon Books, 1970. (Published in 1917).

Bush, Douglas. John Keats: His Life and Writings. New York: Macmillan, 1966.

Hirst, Wolf Z. John Keats. Boston: Twayne, 1981. More focused on Keats' creative life.

Hilton, Timothy. Keats and His World. New York: Viking, 1971.

(The last three are introductory biographies-if you work with them we will need to make some special arrangements. See me if you are interested.)

Most of these biographies are available in our library. The asterisk indicates that our library does not own them. These can be acquired through interlibrary loans, or at local public libraries. If two students wish to concentrate on the same biography and can only find one book, we will have to work out some method for sharing.

English 452: Wordsworth and Keats

Rob Anderson Hours MW 10-12:00

Wilson 511 TH 8-12:00

X2262 By Appt.

r2anders@oakland.edu

9/14 Introduction: watch The Borderers

9/21 Wordsworth-"Adventures on Salisbury Plain" "Old Man Travelling," "Lines Left Upon a Seat in a Yew Tree," "The Ruined Cottage," "A Night Piece" "The Discharged Soldier," "The Old Cumberland Beggar"(13-54)

-Home at Grasmere: (33-80)

-Bate, Jonathan. "A Language that is Ever Green." 12-35.

-Glen, Heather. "Morality through Experience: Lyrical Ballads 1798" 225-49.

9/28 Keats-"Lines Written on 29 May, the Anniversary of Charles' Restoration" (8), "O Solitude!" (13), "Woman! when I behold thee flippant, vain" (13), "To one who has been long in city pent" (24), "On first looking into Chapman's Homer" (32), "Sleep and Poetry" (33-44), "I stood tip-toe" (46-52), "Written in Disgust of Vulgar Superstition" (52), "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" (53)

-Letters: 348-81

10/5 Wordsworth-"Lines Written at a Small Distance from Our House," "Goody Blake and Harry Gill," "The Thorn," 'A whirl-blast from behind the hill,' "The Idiot Boy," "Lines Written in Early Spring," "Anecdote for Fathers," "We Are Seven," "Simon Lee, the Old Huntsman," (54-91) "Expostulation and Reply," "The Tables Turned," "Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey" (129-36)

-"Advertisement to Lyrical Ballads," Note to "The Thorn," Preface to Lyrical Ballads, Appendix to Preface (591-620)

-Home at Grasmere (81-123)

-Roe, Nicholas. "The Politics of the Wye Valley: Re-Placing 'Tintern Abbey" 117-36

First Paper is due

10/12 Keats-"Endymion" (60-163)

-Letters: 381-413

10/19 Wordsworth-'A slumber did my spirit seal,' Song ('She dwelt among th'untrodden ways'), 'Strange fits of passion I have known,' "Lucy Gray," "A Poet's Epitaph," "Nutting," "Three Years She Grew in Sun and Shower," "The Brothers," "Hart-Leap Well," "Home at Grasmere," (147-99)

-Wolfson, "Individual and Community: Dorothy Wordsworth in Conversation with William," (packet)

-Heinzelman, "The Cult of Domesticity: Dorothy and William Wordsworth at Grasmere" (packet)

Home at Grasmere: (124-183)

10/26 Keats-"On Sitting Down to Read King Lear Once Again" (168), "When I have fears that I may cease to be" (168), "Lines on the Mermaid Tavern" (171), "Robin Hood" (172), "Isabella; or, The Pot of Basil" (185-201), "Hyperion: A Fragment" (225-47), "The Eve of St. Agnes" (252-64), "The Eve of St. Mark" (265-68)

-Letters: 413-46

-Sperry, Stuart M. "Romance as Wish-Fulfillment: 'The Eve of St. Agnes.'" Kroeber and Ruoff. 373-85. (packet)

-Levinson, Marjorie. "Keats and the Canon." Reading Romantic Poetry. Eds. Karl Kroeber and Gene Ruoff. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1993. 386-99. (packet)

11/2 Wordsworth-"Michael," (224-36) "Beggars" (243), "London" (286), "Ode"(297-302), "I wandered lonely as a cloud" (303), "The Solitary Reaper" (319-20), "Gipsies" (332)

-Bialostosky, Don H. "Social Action in 'The Solitary Reaper.'" (packet)

-Home at Grasmere: (184-230)

11/9 Keats -"La Belle dame sans merci" (273-74), "Sonnet to Sleep" (278), "Ode to Psyche" (278-80), "On Fame" (280), "On Fame" (280), "If by dull rhymes" (281), "Ode on Indolence" (283-85), "Ode to a Nightingale" (285-88), "Ode on a Grecian Urn" (288-90), "Ode on Melancholy" (290-91), "To Autumn" (324-25), "The Fall of Hyperion: A Dream" (291-304), "Lamia" (305-22), "This living hand, now warm and capable" (331)

-Letters: 446-80

11/16 Keats (packet)-McGann, Jerome. "Keats and the Historical Method in Literary Criticism." Eds. Karl Kroeber and Gene Ruoff. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1993. 442-63.

-Swann, Karen. "Harassing the Muse." Romanticism and Feminism. Ed. Anne Mellor. Bloomington: U Indiana P, 1988. 81-92.

-Fry, Paul H. "History, Existence, and 'To Autumn.' Kroeber and Ruoff, 465-73.

-Kelley, Theresa M. "Poetics and the Politics of Reception: Keats's 'La Belle Dame Sans -Merci.'" Kroeber and Ruoff. 400-20.

-Letters: 480-519

Wordsworth and Keats Conference

11/23 -Studies in Romanticism Keats Issue

-Letters: 519-43

Annotated Bibliography due

11/30 Wordsworth-The Prelude, Books 1-3, 5

-Home at Grasmere: (230-73)

-Heinzelman, Kurt. "Wordsworth's Labor Theory: An Economics of Compensation." (196-233) (packet)

12/7 Wordsworth -The Prelude, Books 6-8, 11-12

-Home at Grasmere: (274-98)

12/11 Research Paper Due