Course Details in 2025/26 Session

Module Title	LH Hidden Romanticism
School	Eng, Drama, & Creative Studies
Department	English Literature
Module Code	09 36982
Module Lead	Jessica Fay/Andrew Hodgson
Level	Honours Level
Credits	20
Semester	Semester 1
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions	None
Contact Hours	Lecture-10 hours Seminar-20 hours Guided independent study-170 hours Total: 200 hours
Exclusions
Description	The module provides an opportunity to explore a range of material from the Romantic period—including letters, journals, notebook entries, manuscript drafts, and fragments of abandoned poems—that were hidden from public view. Some texts were withheld from the press for their radical content; some were too personal or painful to be shared; others formed part of a creative exchange between friends. Attending closely to texts that remained unpublished, or were originally circulated privately, will open up discussion of literary coteries, issues of audience and readership, and the significance of interiority and lyric expression. The module will also introduce students to aspects of textual scholarship, encouraging them to think about writing processes and the insights afforded through the study of manuscript revisions. At a time when reviewers had the power to make or destroy a writer’s reputation, and when it was potentially dangerous to make certain utterances publicly, the Romantics produced writings on love, loss, landscape, the imagination, religion, and politics that they kept secret. The module will enable students to study Romantic writing across a range of genres, genders, and geographical locations. Writers covered might include: Jane Austen, Emily Brontë, John Clare, Felicia Hemans, John Keats, the Shelleys, and the Wordsworths.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: Demonstrate knowledge of a range of Romantic writing which remained unpublished in the period and the factors shaping its composition; Analyse the formal workings of Romantic writing across a range of genres and respond in depth to nuances of tone and language; Demonstrate understanding of the Romantic literary and/or historical contexts within which the works covered on the module were written; Construct a persuasive argument about the unpublished writing of the Romantic period, engaging with a substantial range of primary and secondary sources and attending in detail to the personal, stylistic, formal, and conceptual qualities of the writing in question.
Assessment	36982-01 : 4,000 Word Essay : Coursework (100%)
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	Assessment: 4,000 word essay. Reassessment: No resits are permitted in final year. If students miss the assessed task owing to extenuating circumstances, the failed task would be rescheduled at a later date.
Other
Reading List