"Romanticisim"? I'm thinking of taking a studies in romanticism course--can you tell me about it?

Question

Ie. What do you know about the romantics?
What are the major points of the romantics?
Is Romantic literature interesting?/hard?

I'd appreciate whatever you can tell me.

Thanks

Answer 1

I'm assuming you're talking about the period of romanticism in literature--particularly known for the Romantic poets Shelley, Keats, & Byron.

I had one course in the Romantic poets in college (graduate level) and enjoyed it very much. Or professor was interesting in that we would study the lives of the poets in addition to studying their works. We read the poetry of Shelley, Keats, & Byron...and selected others from our textbook...in addition we read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Over the course of the semester you got to know the ins and outs of their lives...their strengths and weaknesses....their interests....their love affairs and illegitimate children and whatnot. Anyway, I found the class interesting. I particularly loved Byron's work DON JUAN. It was great!

I'd recommend it; it's only as hard as you make it. If you read the works, and find sources to help you interpret if you are having trouble "understanding" it then you should be fine. I would read the works, and then find critical articles or analysis to help me understand some of the more confusing pieces of literature. Class discussion helped a lot.

Take good notes. And if your teacher requires you to identify quotes...just be warned enough in advance that you start preparing ahead of time. Maybe make a few notecards of things your teacher stresses during class...

Answer 2

Read M.H. Abrams The Mirror and The Lamp and his other books on Romanticism. Read Northrope Frye Fearful Symmetry,
Read The Romantic Ideology and Rebels, Romantics and Reactionaries. It's generally feeling and intuition over reason, a
reaction against the Enlightenment, industrialism etc. Read the
simple book Introducing Romanticism. Its colloquial English over
the formality of the Augustans such as Pope.

Answer 3

All I remember is that the Romantics were more free-form and expressive than the previous neo-classicists who sought to revive the ideals of the Greeks and Roman. Mostly I like the music of Beethoven and Chopin and the poetry of Byron. Sounds like a great course.
Ps - you look like me with red hair!