This module offers a survey of the first generation of Romantic poets, including William Wordsworth, William Blake and S. T. Coleridge as well as some lesser-known women poets of the period, including Charlotte Smith and Mary Robinson. The module emphasises the importance of poetic analysis as well as the context of first-generation Romanticism, and is aimed at students who have not previously studied poetry of the Romantic age or who wish to broaden their knowledge of the field. As such, the module provides a relatively broad survey of Romantic poetry, rather than an in-depth study of the work of any one poet. 

You will develop an ability to draw associations between individual works and the movement known as ‘Romanticism’ itself, exploring Romantic aesthetics, the creative imagination, the supernatural, the ballad, nature, the French Revolution, race, slavery and abolition, and the city. We will also pay close attention to poetic form and metre.

• analyse the different themes and forms of Romantic-period poetry
• evaluate the importance of historical and cultural contexts
• combine a range of contextual and critical perspectives to build convincing arguments
• interpret critical issues and key concepts that inform or are raised by the texts

This module will be delivered through a mixture of synchronous and asynchronous activities, as part of this programme’s blended provision, which will include on-campus and online teaching and support.

The precise mode of delivery and details – subject to Welsh Government and Public Health Wales guidance – of the teaching and support activities will be made available at the start of the semester via Learning Central.

Academic skills: this module will develop skills in close textual analysis, independent scholarly research and critical thinking, while paying attention to questions of poetic form and historical contexts. Assessment will develop skills in poetry analysis and in organizing and evaluating complex ideas with clarity. Analysis will focus on a range of canonical and non-canonical poetic texts by both male and female poets, and will address the themes of liberty and oppression, revolution and slavery, nature and selfhood, gender, power, and the social role of poetry, as well as examining the significance of poetic form.   

Employability skills: these include the ability to synthesise information; a critical awareness of how texts generate meaning in a given period; and operating in group-based discussion involving negotiating ideas and producing clear, informed arguments. Student-led research will encourage skills of information collation, selection and synthesis. 

The methods of summative assessment for this module are detailed in the table below.

Formative work to be submitted before each summative assessment: you can choose between submitting, as appropriate, an essay plan/structure, synopses of essay topic options (if undecided) or sample paragraph/s; for creative assignments, you can submit working drafts of parts of your composition, as arranged with the workshop convenor.

THE OPPORTUNITY FOR REASSESSMENT IN THIS MODULE:
As with School policy, failed or unsubmitted assessments can be retaken during the August resit period.

Indicative Syllabus:

• From Enlightenment to Romanticism
• Women’s poetry and publishing
• The creative imagination
• Romantic supernaturalism
• The Sublime
• Race, slavery and abolition
• Nature poetry
• Romantic childhood
• Metre
• Coleridge, Wordsworth, Blake
• Burns and the ballad