British Romanticism

The British Romantic era was a time period of cultural and political instability. Revolutions spawned throughout the Old and New Worlds, and social norms were challenged by the antics of poet-personalities like Lord Byron and William Blake. Many other popular poetic and literary names spring from this time period: William Wordsworth, John Keats, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, and many, many others. The Romantic era was a time period of intense reflection on nature and the self, as well as allowing audiences to revel in their innate humanity and all that contained. It was an era of monumental strides in medicine and science. It was a period of revolution, as the beginning of the period marked the emergence of the United States as a separate sovereign nation and included several other nations to follow (the French Revolution, the Greek Revolution [Byron himself fought for Greek independence], etc.). The Romantic era defined the character of the intelligent, passionate, morose rebel (so-called Byronic heroes, named for Lord Byron himself), a character type still used frequently in film and literature today.

The anchor text that is used in this unit is the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the quintessential horror and science-fiction novel (actually the first piece of science-fiction ever written). The class will be reading the 2nd edition of the novel, from 1831, which is the most popular and most available edition. For each chapter that is read from the novel, use the chapter sections provided in the Online Texts section of this site, along with the Reading Element notes for each chapter, to highlight the most important elements of MAJOR THEMEs and author word choice. Use the links for the secondary texts in this unit provided below.