Module ENGL51930: The Foundations of Romantic Aesthetics

Department: English Studies

ENGL51930: The Foundations of Romantic Aesthetics

Prerequisites

• None

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• to enable students to achieve a more profound understanding and appreciation of literature of the later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries by developing a detailed knowledge of the most important developments in aesthetic theory from the time of Hobbes, Locke and Addison, and reading (or re-reading) a wide range of literary texts in the light of that knowledge.

Content

Learning Outcomes

• Students will gain detailed, first-hand knowledge of the epistemological and aesthetic theories of British empiricist philosophers, and of thw way in which Kant and Coleridge both developed and reacted against empiricist thought.
• Seminars focusing on literary texts (some of which the students are likely to be familiar with, some of which are likely to be new) will alternate with philosophical ones, so that students can identify and explore the literary effects of the theories studied, and so achieve a deeper understanding of the literature.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

One essay (2,000 words maximum).

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University