Getting Started

Week 1

If you want to hop into your readings for Week 1 early, keep reading below:

Course Textbook

This is a zero textbook cost course, so there is no need to purchase a textbook. Our course textbook, British Literature II: The Romantic Era to the Twentieth Century and Beyond is available for free online and can be accessed or downloaded by clicking here. 

Week 1 Readings

We are covering a lot of ground this week in Romantic poetry, but don't panic! Most of your readings for the week are short poems with a couple of longer poems thrown in the mix. 

For Week 1, you will be reading the following:

• Introduction to "Romanticism in Literature and Historical Context": Sections 1.1 and 1.2 (pages 1-5)

• Introduction to William Blake and Excerpts from Songs of Innocence and of Experience: Sections 1.6, 1.6.1, and 1.6.2 (pages 18-27)

• Introduction to William Wordsworth: Section 1.7 (pages 37-39)

  • "We are Seven": Section 1.7.1 (pages 39-41)

  • “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey”: Section 1.7.3 (pages 42-46)

  • Preface to Lyrical Ballads: Section 1.7.4 (pages 46-58)

• Introduction to Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Section 1.9 (pages 81-82)

  • “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”: Section 1.9.5 (pages 92-111)

  • Introduction to Lord Byron and Manfred, a Dramatic Poem: Sections 1.10 and 1.10.1 (pages 122-165)

• Introduction to Percy Bysshe Shelley: Section 1.11 (pages 166-167)

  • “England in 1819”: Section 1.11.3 (pages 173-174)

  • “Ode to the West Wind”: Section 1.11.4 (pages 174-176)

• Introduction to John Keats: Section 1.13 (pages 206-208)

  • “Ode to a Nightingale”: Section 1.13.5 (pages 222-224)

  • “Ode on a Grecian Urn”: Section 1.13.6 (pages 224-226)

  • “To Autumn”: Section 1.13.8 (pages 227-228)

Week 1 Assignments

Your assignments for Week 1 will be available to you in Canvas as soon as the class is published the Friday prior to the start of the semester. Be sure to log in early, so you are prepared for your first due dates on the Friday of Week 1.