Lives and works of English Romantic Poets

Lives and works of English Romantic Poets
24 lectures, 30 minutes/lecture
Taught by Willard Spiegelman
Southern Methodist University
Ph.D., Harvard University

The verse of the English Romantic poets is as daunting in its scope and complexity as it is dazzling in its technique and beautiful in its language. Now, Professor Willard Spiegelman illuminates masterpieces of English literature by poets Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats, and Byron, as well as the women Romantic poets.
How to Read and Understand Poetry, his emphasis is on technique, on how a poem accomplishes its objectives, on "how it means." To this end, he meticulously dissects the poems, directing you to points of interest that deserve close observation.
What Is Romanticism?
A much-abused term, Romanticism has at times been shorthand for "wild," "irregular," "gothic," and "modern." It has been associated with: love of the exotic; revolt against reason; vindication and defense of the individual; liberation of the unconscious; reaction against science; worship of the emotions; return to nature and so on.