Engl 325(2000)

Orality, Print Culture and the Literary Marketplace,

1780-1820:

Robert Burns and William Wordsworth

Fall, 2000

Dr. Leith Davis

email: leith@sfu.ca

web site: http://www.sfu.ca/personal/leith

This course will examine the work of the Scottish poet Robert Burns and the English poet William Wordsworth in the light of the changing literary marketplace at the end of the eighteenth century, and, in the case of Wordsworth, the beginning of the nineteenth century. Both Burns and Wordsworth sought to insert their own poetry into the existing market system and also to change the terms of literary exchange and value that constituted that system. Both poets experimented in various ways with using features of oral poetry (ballads and songs) in their published writing. We will consider the consequences of this literary hybridity for the self-construction of each author and for their interventions in the world of belles lettres: Burns experienced a few years of fame, then was relegated to the margins of English literature as an example of failed genius; Wordsworth went on to carve out a place for himself as poet laureate of Britain. At issue throughout the course will be the intersection of the representation of gender and of the nation with the above concerns regarding orality and the literary marketplace.

After an initial consideration of the existing state of ballads, folksongs and the literary market at the end of the eighteenth century, we will turn to an intensive study of Burns's Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (1786) and his songs and letters. We will also consider the work of his female contemporary, Janet Little, "the Scotch Milkmaid." Then, shifting focus to Wordsworth, the course will feature: Lyrical Ballads (1789), Poems in Two Volumes (1807), and the Two-Part Prelude (1799), as well as his Letter to a Friend of Robert Burns (1814), his essay concerning copyright, and some poems and selections from the journal of Dorothy Wordsworth. Because the course is concerned with forms of orality, listening to recordings of ballads, songs and poems will be an important part of our work.

Requirements:

First Essay (7 pages): 25 %

due Oct. 17 at the beginning of class

Final Paper (10 pages): 30 %

due Nov. 30 at the beginning of class

Final exam: 25 %

In-Class Seminar and write-up (3-5 pages): 15%

see instructions below

Participation and attendance: 5%

attendance for all classes is required. Students should inform instructor of reason for absence and supply a note from a doctor in case of illness. Students missing more than two classes without proper notification will be given a "0" for participation.

*NOTE

First Essay (7 pages): 25 %

due Oct. 17 at the beginning of class

Final Paper (10 pages): 30 %

due Nov. 30 at the beginning of class

Final exam: 25 %

In-Class Seminar and write-up (3-5 pages): 15%

see instructions below

Participation and attendance: 5%

attendance for all classes is required. Students should inform instructor of reason for absence and supply a note from a doctor in case of illness. Students missing more than two classes without proper notification will be given a "0" for participation.

*NOTE:

Plagiarism on a paper or exam is subject to penalty ranging from being given a "O" on the particular assignment, to failing the course, to expulsion from the university.

Deferred grades will be granted only in case of severe illness or other emergency.

Texts:

Burns, Robert. Robert Burns: Selected Poems. Ed. Carol McGuirk.

Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1993.

Wordsworth, Dorothy. The Grasmere Journals. Ed. Pamela Woof.

Oxford: Oxford UP, 1993.

Wordsworth, William and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Lyrical Ballads.

Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1999.

Wordsworth, William. Two Part Prelude 1799. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1995.

Plus material on reserve and on the web.

WEEK ONE:

Sept. 7:

Introduction -- Orality and Print Culture in the Eighteenth Century

WEEK TWO:

Sept. 12:

Ballads in the Eighteenth Century

Reading: selections from Catherine Kerrigan, An Anthology of Scottish Women Poets; Elizabeth Wardlaw, "Hardyknute: A Fragment"; Thomas Percy, "On Ancient Minstrels"; "The Battle of Otterbourne".

WEEK THREE:

Sept. 19:

Influences on Burns: English and Scottish

Reading: poems by Allan Ramsay, Robert Fergusson, Thomas Gray and James Macpherson

WEEK FOUR:

Sept. 26: Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect

Reading: "The Twa Dogs," "Scotch Drink," The Author's Earnest Cry and Prayer," "The Death and Dying Words of Poor Mailie," "Poor Mailie's Elegy," "The Cotter's Saturday Night," "A Dream," "Man Was Made to Mourn"; "The Vision"; "On a Scotch Bard Gone to the West Indies"; "A Bard's Epitaph";

WEEK FIVE:

Oct. 3:

Reading: Burns's Epistles: "Epistle to Davie," "Epistle to John Lapraik, An Old Scotch Bard"; "To the Same"; "To William Simson, Ochiltree"; "To James Smith"

Religious satires: "The Holy Fair"; "Holy Willy's Prayer"; "Address to the Unco Good";

Repressed poems: "A Poet's Welcome to His Love-Begotten Daughter"; "The Fornicator"; John Anderson my Jo"; ""Love and Liberty: A Cantata"

WEEK SIX:

Last poems and The Scots Musical Museum and A Select Collection

Reading: "Tam O'Shanter"; "Beyond Yon Hills"; "Mary Morison"; "It was upon a Lammas night"; "Song Composed in August"; "Green Grow the Rashes"; "John Barleycorn"; "Auld lang syne"; "Afton Water"; "Ay Waukin, O"; "The Banks o' Doon"; "Ae Fond Kiss"; "O for Ane and Twenty Tam"; "Lady Mary Anne"; "Logan Water"; "Scots Wha Hae"; "A Red, red Rose"; "Is there for honest poverty";

WEEK SEVEN:

Janet Little

Note: First Essay Due today

Reading: "On a Visit to Mr. Burns"( 111); "Given to a Lady who asked me to write a Poem" (113); "Epistle to Nell, wrote from Loudoun Castle" (117); "Nell's Answer" (120); "Another Epistle to Nell" (122); "An Epistle to Mr. Robert Burns" (160); "To my Aunty"(164).

WEEK EIGHT:

William Wordsworth:

Wordsworth, Lyrical Ballads

WEEK NINE:

Wordsworth, Poems in Two Volumes

WEEK TEN:

Two-part Prelude; "Resolution and Independence"

WEEK ELEVEN:
Letter to a Friend of Robert Burns

"Essay on Copyright"

WEEK TWELVE:

Dorothy Wordsworth: poems and Journal

WEEK THIRTEEN:

Burns and Wordsworth in the Victorian Era

Matthew Arnold

Seminars:

Seminars are intended to encourage students to develop critical and oral presentation skills. Students will work together in pairs or small groups. Each group will present the criticle article for the week to the class and facilitate discussion of the day's reading. The formal part of the presentation should take no more than twenty minutes, allowing plenty of time for discussion.

Read the assigned seminar article.
Present the article to the class, bearing the following points in mind:

what is the main argument of the article?
how does the author develop her/his argument?
what kinds of critical assumptions was the author making in the article?
how convincing was the argument? were there aspects which you disagreed with or found confusing?
what was the main strength of this article in your opinion?

Provide three questions for the class which will allow discussion of the day's reading. At least one question should be based on issues and/or questions raised by the article. You may want to divide the class into smaller groups, arrange a game around the concepts presented, etc. Be creative, but make sure you do justice to the text(s).
Hand in a 3-5 page write-up of the discussion, in which you consider what aspects of the discussion you found most beneficial, how your point of view altered (or didn't), and what questions you were left with at the end of the discussion. This will be due a week after your seminar presentation.

You will receive informal peer reviews on your presentation and a mark from me based on:

presentation of the article: conciseness, comprehension of the ideas, engagement with the ideas, engagement with audience (don't just read out your material), use of audio-visual aids.
choice of questions: engagement with the material, level of challenge.
discussion: effectiveness, time management.
cohesiveness of group and participation of all members
write-up: effective consideration of the discussion of the questions

*Note: material for the seminar presentation is on reserve in the library, either in the books or articles sections of Reserves. Everyone, not just the seminar presenters, is encouraged to read the articles.

Seminar Material:

WEEK TWO: Sept. 14:

Brown, Mary Ellen. "Old Singing Women and the Canons of Scottish Balladry and Song," in A History of Scottish Women's Writing, Douglas Gifford and Dorothy McMillan, eds. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 1997. pp. 44-57.

WEEK THREE: Sept. 21:

Crawford, Robert. "Robert Fergusson's Robert Burns." In Robert Burns and Cultural Authority, ed. Robert Crawford. Iowa City: U. of Iowa P., 1998. pp. 1-22.

WEEK FOUR: Sept. 28: Simpson, Kenneth. "The Many Voices: The Poetry of Robert Burns." Ch. 7 in The Protean Scot: The Crisis of Identity in Eighteenth Century Scottish Literature. Aberdeen: Aberdeen UP, 1988. pp. 185-218.

WEEK FIVE: Oct. 5:

Crawford, Robert. "British Burns." In Devolving English Literature. Oxford: Clarendon P., 1992. 82-110.

WEEK SIX: Oct. 12:

Murphy, Peter. "Robert Burns." Ch. 2 in Poetry as an Occupation and as an Art in Britain 1760-1830. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1993. pp. 49-93.

WEEK SEVEN: Oct. 19:

Ferguson, Moira. "Janet Little and Robert Burns: The Politics of the Heart." In Paula Feldman and Theresa Kelley, eds. Romantic Women Writers: Voices and Countervoices. Hanover: UP of New England,1995. pp. 207-219.

WEEK EIGHT: Oct. 26:

Heffernan, James. "Wordsworth's 'Leveling' Muse in 1798." In Richard Cronin, ed. 1798: The Year of the Lyrical Ballads. Basingstoke: Macmillan UP, 1998. pp. 239-253.

WEEK NINE: Nov. 2:

Rudy, John. "Beyond Vocation and Ego: Self-displacement in Wordsworth's 1803 Memorials," Studies in English Literature 29 (1989): 637-653.

WEEK TEN: Nov. 9:

Ruoff, Gene. "Wordsworth's 'Resolution and Independence.'" In Wordsworth and Coleridge: The Making of the Major Lyrics, 1802-04. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1989. pp. 139-166.

WEEK ELEVEN: Nov. 16:

Eilenberg, Susan. "Mortal Pages: Wordsworth and the Reform of Copyright," English Literary History 56:2 (1989): 351-374.

WEEK TWELVE: Nov. 23: Mellor, Anne. "Writing the Self/Self-Writing: William Wordsworth's Prelude/Dorothy Wordsworth's Journals." Ch. 7 in Romanticism and Gender. Routledge: NY and London, 1993. pp. 144-169.

WEEK THIRTEEN: Nov. 30: Woodring, Carl. "Wordsworth and the Victorians." In Kenneth R. Johnston and Gene Ruoff, eds. The Age of William Wordsworth: Critical Essays on the Romantic Tradition. New Brunswick and London: Rutgers UP, 1987. pp. 261-275 and McGuirk, Carol. "Burns and Nostalgia." In Kenneth Simpson, ed. Burns Now. Edinburgh: Canongate, 1994. pp. 31-69.