THE POETRY OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH AND THE ROMANTIC AGE (Class Full)

William Wordsworth (1770-1850), the nature poet from the English Lake District who celebrated daffodils “dancing in the breeze” and gave thanks for “splendor in the grass,” also experienced firsthand the major political event of his age, the French Revolution. Initially inspired by the ideals of the Revolution, Wordsworth traveled to France to study the language and watched with growing dismay as the Reign of Terror emerged and England and France went to war. Less than six years later, in 1798, he and his friend Samuel Taylor Coleridge brought out “Lyrical Ballads,” a book that launched the Romantic era and fundamentally altered the course of literary history. This course will examine a representative selection of Wordsworth’s poetry – lyric poems, sonnets, blank verse narratives, and portions of ”The Prelude”– showing its connection with his life and contemporary English and European history. We will also consider the sheer pleasure to be enjoyed by attending to the aesthetic qualities of his verse.

Books: I recommend that course participants buy William Wordsworth’s Selected Poems, edited by Stephen Gill (Penguin, 2004) (ISBN-13: 9780140424423). This book is carefully edited, has a fine introduction, and is comfortable to hold in your hands and read. All reading assignments will refer to page numbers in this book.

Course Syllabus: A complete syllabus for the course will be handed out in our first class, on Thursday, September 30. For that class, please read the following poems:

A Night-Piece   p. 18

Lines Written in Early Spring   p. 53

We Are Seven   p. 56

Expostulation and Reply   p. 59

The Tables Turned   p. 60

Location: This class will be held at the Princeton Public Library, Witherspoon Street, Princeton.  Princeton residents who have a library card will be entitled to have their parking card validated for 2 hour free parking in the garage.  Arrangements are being made for participants not from Princeton to be given free parking as well.