Lektürekurs The Big Six of Romantic Poetry

The 'big six' - William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, George Gordon (Lord) Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Keats - had a strong influence on the development of English poetry. They belonged to an era of transition in which the production of literature was affected by political, social, cultural and economic paradigm shifts. Events like the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, industrialisation, scientific progress, the growth of the British Empire or philosophical debates about individual freedom, citizenship and sexuality shaped the face of literature in general and poetry in particular to a large extent. In this 'Lektürekurs' we will focus on some canonical works of the big six and the cultural and literary contexts which informed the 'period formerly known as Romanticism'. Students will have the opportunity to practise their skills of analysing and interpreting poetry by actively performing close readings. Please note that there will be no regular presentations in class, so students have to participate actively in plenary discussions and smaller study groups. Participants are supposed to hand in a statement of about 300 words by 29 February 2016 in which they suggest one suitable poetic text they would like to deal with in the seminar and give reasons why they think it would be worth considering. The best proposals will be included in the reading list which will be sent to the course's participants in advance. (Students registering for the course in the second LSF-round need to hand in a statement by the start of term) Department III - Anglistik und Amerikanistik B.A.-Nebenfach SLK: Diese Veranstaltung entspricht in WP 2 dem Kurstyp -Begleitkurs zu Themen der Literaturwissenschaft m/n/o/p- (WP 2.0.14/16/18/20). Sie erhalten 3 ECTS, wenn Sie entweder eine Klausur (30-60 Min.) schreiben oder eine mündliche Prüfung (15-30 Min.) ablegen oder ein Thesenpapier (3.000-6.000 Zeichen) oder Übungsaufgaben (3.000-6.000 Zeichen) fertigen. Die Prüfung muss benotet sein. Die Wahl der Prüfungsart liegt beim Dozenten. LMU München SoSe 2016 Dr. Kessler Sabrina Renee