Lit2120 World Literature
Spring 2005
The focus in the Romantic Soul assignment in this class is a very powerful American text of the 19th century, Frederick Douglass’ The Narrative of Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. During the next few weeks, we’ll look at some texts from the time that establish the literary and cultural scheme of the time.
The Romantic period in Literature will comprise weeks 4 and 5 in the Spring Term. Please check the Assignments page for specific due dates and the Discussions Forum for weekly discussions
Week 4: 1 February to 6 February, 2005
Read Jean-Jacques Rousseau Confessions, Book VI (The Year 1736) (677) & William Wordsworth “Tintern Abbey” (792). "The Romantic Ideal" on Discussions.
Week 5: 8 February to 13 February, 2005
Read Frederick Douglass’ Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (923) chapters 1-9. "Rulz O'Pression!" on Discussions.
Participation 1 Grade determined on 13 February, 2005
Week 6: 15 February to 20 February, 2005
Read Frederick Douglass’ Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (923) chapters 10-Appendix. "Banality of Evil" on Discussions (see sidebar below).
Assignment #3 on Douglass due on Sunday, 27 February by 11:55p EST (see Assignments Page)
Over ten years ago, when Tom Hanks won Best Actor at the Academy Awards for his role in Philadelphia (1993), he explained his pride in the film industry. Film, he said, "shines a light on the inequities of the world." That was a revealing statement. Certainly, films & stories can call attention to injustice, but can that attention lead to any meaningful changes?
The questioning of the Enlightenment led to many changes: the fall of the monarchies, the Reformation, and scientific inquiry. Artists became caught up in the questions, and their readers became the educated middle class: bankers, scholars, and merchants. The masses were becoming lliterate, so a whole new market opened up for literary artists. Poets and writers thus began to write and imitate the realities of the social world.
The beginning of the Romantic movement is usually associated with the second edition of Lyrical Ballads, by William Wordsworth in 1800. The Romantic movement is a school of thought held by various poets as to the reason and nature of poetry.
From an Enlightened perspective, "good" poetry imitated classical forms, patterns associated with Homer and other ancient poets. Those forms were seen as the unvarying standard of excellence. "Refined" poetry had complex rhymes and elaborated on perfection & beauty. It showed the superiority of reasoned intellect. Folk tales & songs were considered vulgar, common. Folk songs had simple rhymes & spoke of everyday life.
Specific Discussion Link
For the Discussion on Week 6, I will make mention of Hannah Arendt's concept of the banality of evil. Her comments can be found at
The Hannah Arendt Papers at the Library of Congress
1. Search by Keyword "Scholem"
2. Select Item #1 "Correspondence"
3. Image 37 & 38
Extra Resources
When Wordsworth first released his Lyrical Ballads, it was not well received. In fact, it was received so poorly that he felt obliged to write a preface to the second edition, released two years later. In that Preface, Wordsworth explained the reason he used these poetry forms. Old styles of poetry used "dead" forms, he said. He wrote of the beauty of the common, the everyday. God did not exist in the elaborate, highly ornate churches that stood in the center of town, but in the beauty of the woods, the minds of innocent youth, the simplicity of the country village.
He was not the first to express this image. Rousseau also wrote of the "noble savage." The idea was growing that society did not improve & order people, as the classical and religious mind set of the Middle Ages felt, but rather it stifled and strangled the free spirit. Rather than youth and savages being in need of conversion and religious indoctrination, Romantics felt that they had a special truth, a truth that was lost when individuals were conformed by rigid ritual.
Needless to say, when Wordsworth explained his view on this "new" form of poetry, many poets jumped on the bandwagon. Suddenly, writing about Nature was fashionable.