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Topics in Romanticism I

Topics in Romanticism I (Fall 2025)

ENGL 441
Undergraduate
Fall 2025
3 Units
In-person
6
  • ENGL 200
  • ENGL 290

N/A

one-way Exclusions

Barnard, John, editor. John Keats: The Complete Poems. 2nd ed., Penguin, 1977

The textbook for this course is John Barnard’s excellent edition of Keats’s complete poetry and selected letters; any readings not from this text will be provided. Andrew Motion’s Keats is the authoritative biography, highly recommended but not compulsory.

ENGL 441: Poetry & Poetics of John Keats

This course entails a close study of the work of John Keats (1795-1821). Proceeding more or less chronologically, we will read some of his most popular works (such as the 1819 odes, a selection of sonnets, “The Eve of St Agnes”, and “La Belle Dame sans Merci”) and his long narrative poems (Endymion and the unfinished Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion) in the context of his life and ideas. Setting his letters alongside his poems, we will consider concepts such as negative capability and the “camelion poet”, Keats’s approach to beauty and truth, and influences from classical mythology and medievalism to Dante, Spenser, and Milton.

Learning Outcomes

Example: After completing (course code), students will be able to:

  • Learning outcome 1
  • Learning outcome 2
  • Learning outcome 3
  • Learning outcome 4

Assessments

Grading Components

  • Attendance and participation (10%)
  • Exam (40%)
  • Portfolio of close readings (50%)

**Subject to change**

This course is repeatable for credit under different topic titles.

»ĆÉ«ĘÓƵ Repeatable Courses
With repeatable courses, the course number (e.g., ENGL 466) is repeatable, but the topic is not. You can take as many topics as you like under the same course number, but you can only take each individual topic once. 

Questions? Please email our Undergraduate Assistant