LFU:online

Students will familiarize themselves with methods of the analysis of poetry. They will enhance their ability to perform close readings, select and critically discuss relevant research, and they will train how to combine these tasks to produce a scholarly argument in their research paper.

The Romantic era has decisively shaped cultural norms defining what a quintessential poem should look like. In this course, we will take a close look at well-worn classics (in particular, works by the "Big Six"), but we will also discuss the works of less well-known poets, especially women. We’ll ask which aspects of their form and content makes these poems “Romantic” and how they relate to a larger cultural context. More generally, we will train how to analyze poems – skills that can then be transferred to poems from other periods. 

Discussion, presentations, group work, writing/research assignments, course blog 

Oral (short presentation, active participation in class) and written (short writing assignments during the semester, final paper) 

A reader with the poems and additional mandatory reading material will be available at the start of the semester.

Recommended introductory reading:

Michael Ferber, The Cambridge Introduction to British Romantic Poetry, Cambridge: CUP, 2012.

Tom Furniss/Michael Bath, Reading Poetry: An Introduction, Harlow: Longman, 2007. 

Teacher Training Programme BA 2015: positive completion of compulsory module 13

BA 2015: positive completion of compulsory module 10

BA 2009: positive completion of compulsory modules 3 and 16

Due to substantial differences in the allocation of ECTS-Credits in various curricula (teacher training program - BA/MA English and American Studies), the requirements for this course vary. Information will be provided by the instructor at the beginning of the course.