Literature 3133 - Shelley and His Circle

Institution:

Bard College

Subject:

Description:

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) was a radical nonconformist in every aspect of his life. At the age of 18, he was expelled from Oxford for distributing his pamphlet, "The Necessity of Atheism." Soon after, he published Queen Mab, a long poem that identified institutionalized religion as the root of all evil and prophesied the emergence of a postmoral utopia. The following year, Shelley (though already married) fell in love and eloped with Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin. The rest of Shelley's dramatically brief life was spent mostly in Italy, almost entirely without an audience. Under these unlikely circumstances, Shelley produced some of the most stunningly crafted and ideologically complex literature ever written in English. In this seminar, students read all of Shelley's major poetry and prose. In order to situate these texts in their historical and intellectual context, students also read works by Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, and Leigh Hunt, as well as Milton's Paradise Lost. In addition, students explore British empirical philosophy, Platonic idealism, the skeptical tradition of David Hume, and foundational and cutting-edge works of Shelley scholarship.

Credits:

4.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.bard.edu

Phone Number:

(845) 758-6822

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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