English 711: The Wordsworth Circle
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Feb 17 WW:
"Old Man Travelling" - "Lines Left Upon a Seat" (mw): 29-31
"Lines Written a Small Distance" - "The Thorn" (mw): 54-66
"The Idiot Boy" - "Last of the Flock" (mw): 67-91
"Expostulation and Reply" - "Tintern Abbey" (mw): 129-35

Possible Topics:

  • Superstition In "Goody Blake" and/or "The Thorn"
  • Pathetic Fallacy in "Lines Written in Early Spring"
  • Portrayal of Childhood in "We are Seven" or "Tintern Abbey"
  • Education In "Expostulation and Reply" and "The Tables Turned"
  • Exemplification of ideas found in Advertisement and/or Preface
  • Attitude toward the Rustic in One of the Poems
24 DW, Journals
WW, "[A Night-Piece]" (mw): 44-5
"A Whirl-blast from Behind the Hill" (mw): 66-7
"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" (mw): 303-4
STC, "Christabel" (cpp): 158-79

Possible Topics:

  • Attitude toward  Nature in the Journals
  • Attitude toward the Poor in the Journals
  • The Relationship between DW and WW in the Journals
  • Connection between the Journals and One of the Poems
  • "Christabel" and the Gothic
  • Superstition in "Christabel"
  • Sexuality in "Christabel" 
Mar 3 WW, "Resolution and Independence" (mw): 260-64
“Ode: Intimations of Immortality” (mw): 297-302
STC, “Dejection: An Ode” (cpp): 143-58
Critical Response Paper Due

Possible Topics:

  • Attitude toward the Poor in "Resolution and Independence"
  • Theology in the Intimations Ode
  • Function of Memory in Intimations Ode
  • Power of the Imagination in Intimations Ode and/or "Dejection: An Ode"
  • Coleridge's Intended Audience(s) in the Dejection Ode
  • Differences between "A Letter to --" and "Dejection: An Ode"
10 WW, The Recluse (excerpts)
"The Ruined Cottage" (mw): 31-44
"Home at Grasmere" (mw): 174-99
Appendix, (mw): 676-81

Possible Topics:

  • Domesticity in "Home at Grasmere"
  • Gender in "The Ruined Cottage"
  • Philosophy in the Appendix passages
17 WW, The Prelude (Bks.1-8) (mw): 375-508
  • Portrayal of Childhood
  • Attitude toward the City (Book 7)
  • Love of Nature and Love of Man (Book 8)
24 Spring Break
31 WW, The Prelude (Bks. 9-13) (mw): 509-92
Deadline for Research Paper Proposals

Possible Topics:

  • Views of the French Revolution
  • William Godwin (Book 10)
  • "Spots of Time" (Book 11)
Apr 7 STC,  Biographia Literaria (cpp): 372-552

Possible Topics:

  • Coleridge's Plagiarism
  • Attitude toward Wordsworth
  • Imagination vs. Fancy
14 De Quincey,  Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (ceo): vii-80

Possible Topics:

  • Orientalism
  • Reliability of the Autobiographical Narrator
  • Prostitutes and other Marginalized Figures
  • Dreams
21 Hazlitt,  "The Character of Mr. Burke" (sw): 62-66
"The French Revolution" (sw): 84-98
“My First Acquaintance with Poets” (sw): 211-29
"Mr. Wordsworth" (sw): 347-58

Possible Topics:

  • Attitude toward Burke and / or the Revolution
  • Attitude toward Coleridge
  • Attitude toward Wordsworth
28 Lamb,  Essays of Elia 
"The South Sea House" (ee): 1-14
"Christ's Hospital Five and Thirty Years Ago" (ee): 27-50
"Imperfect Sympathies" (ee): 133-47
"Modern Gallantry" (ee): 181-88
"The Praise of Chimney-Sweepers" (ee): 249-61
"A Complaint on the Decay of Beggars" (ee): 262-75

Possible Topics:

  • Portrayal of Class / Poverty in "Christ's Hospital" or "Chimney-Sweepers" or "Beggars"
  • Prejudice in "Imperfect Sympathies"
  • Portrayal of Gender in "Modern Gallantry"
Dec 5 Final Examination
12 Final Research Paper Due
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