American University of Beirut
Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Department: English
Course Number and Title: ENGL 213: NEOCLASSICAL AND ROMANTIC AGE
Course Learning Outcomes
1.
2.
3.
4.
Identify the basic principles of English Neoclassicism
Identify the basic principles of English Romanticism
Explain how and why the Romantics revolted against the Age of Reason
Identify socio-historical and political conditions and explain how these affect
individual texts
5. Contrast and compare major literary figures from the neoclassical and romantic
periods
6. Compare literary figures within both periods
7. Offer individual interpretations of the texts/issues under study both orally and in
writing
Resources Available to Students
Textbook: Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vols. 1 and 2, 7th ed.
(gen. ed. M.H. Abrams)
The Selections:
- Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels: Parts One and Four
- Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man
- Thomas Gray, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”
- Samuel Johnson, Rasselas
-William Blake, “To Autumn”, “All Religions Are One”, “There is No Natural Religion”,
“The Chimney Sweeper”, “The Tyger”
-William Wordswoth, Preface to The Lyrical Ballads, “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”,
“The World is Too Much with Us”, “The Tables Turned”
-Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, “Kubla Khan”
- Lord Byron, “She Walks in Beauty”, “They Say that Hope is Happiness”, “When a
man hath no freedom to fight for at home”, “January 22nd, Missolonghi”
- Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Ozymandias”, “Ode to the West Wind”, A Defence of Poetry
- John Keats, “On a Grecian Urn”
Grading Criteria
Attendance: 10%
Oral Participation: 10%
Midterm: 25%
Short Research Paper (approximately 3 pp.): 25%
Final Exam: 30%
Schedule
Assignments are the readings and activities consist of active class participation and the
writing of 1 short research paper.
I. The Neoclassical Age:
Week 1: Course Introduction and General Lecture
Week 2: Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels: Parts One and Four
Week 3: Continued
Week 4: Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man
Week 5: Continued; Thomas Gray, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”
Week 6: Samuel Johnson, Rasselas
Week 7: Continued; MIDTERM
II. The Romantic Age:
Week 8: William Blake, “To Autumn”, “All Religions Are One”, “There is No
Natural Religion”
Week 9: Blake, “The Chimney Sweeper”, “The Tyger”; William Wordsworth,
Preface to The Lyrical Ballads
Week 10: Wordsworth, “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, “The Tables Turned”,
“The World is Too Much with Us”
Week 11: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”
Week 12: Continued; “Kubla Khan”
Week 13: Lord Byron, “She Walks in Beauty”, “They Say that Hope is Happiness”,
“When a man hath no freedom to fight for at home”, “January 22nd,
Missolonghi”
Week 14: Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Ozymandias”, “Ode to the West Wind”
Week 15: Shelley, A Defence of Poetry (Selections); John Keats, “On a Grecian
Urn”
Course Policy
Attendance is required by all students. More than 7 absences result in automatic
withdrawal from the course. Students are responsible for any materials covered during
their absence. Cheating and plagiarism result in automatic failure on the assigned task.
Further, students caught cheating will be referred to the Student Affairs Committee for
further disciplinary action.