Course for international guest/part time students

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Organization

BTK Department of English Studies

Code

BBI-ANG17-312E.32

Title

Elective seminar in English literature: The Romantic Aesthetic on the Beat Poets

Usual semester

Spring

ECTS

5

Language

en

Learning outcomes

This seminar aims to discuss and identify the similarities in aesthetics, define the movements, concepts, and features of the British Romantic period. The Beat Generation was highly influenced by such poets as Keats, Blake, Wordsworth, and Shelley namely for their own rebellion against the Enlightenment period. The Beat Poets, rebels in their own right, looked up to the British Romantic poets for their use of certain themes which were then adopted into their work such as individualism and emotional intensity, among others. Both of these periods saw poets who spoke out against society and then become witness to counterculture forming in front of their own eyes.

Course content

1.)  Introduction Information on course requirements; choosing topics for presentations; in-class reading The Romantic Rebels vs. The Beat Generation Discuss & Identify the Similarities in Aesthetics, Define the Movements, Concepts and Features Define the Pre-Romantics, first and second generation 2.) Introduction cont./ Blake and Ginsberg 1 Defining the Beat Poets: The New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco Schools and the Black Mountain Poets Discuss & Identify the Similarities in Aesthetics, Define the Movements, Concepts and Features https://www.beatdom.com/beat-generation-timeline/ https://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/Ginsberg-Blake.php https://ebsn.eu/ “Songs of Innocence and of Experience” by William Blake https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/william-blake-39/blakes-songs-innocence-experience “The Garden of Love” by William Blake https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45950/the-garden-of-love I Went to the Garden of Love by Allen Ginsberg https://youtu.be/OSTpPWc3yok?si=RuOGK8rjI5RtRmMt 3.) Blake and Ginsberg 2 Reception of The Allen Ginsberg/William Blake “Songs of Innocence and Experience” Album https://bq.blakearchive.org/4.3.eaves “The Sick Rose” by William Blake https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43682/the-sick-rose “I went to a Supermarket in California” by Allen Ginsberg https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47660/a-supermarket-in-california 4.) Ginsberg-An Emotional Timebomb “Ginsberg’s Karma” short film https://youtu.be/Cl0iH7xUENo?si=bRTeLRZFDEwCbVZt “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49303/howl “America” by Allen Ginsberg https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49305/america-56d22b41f119fI 5.)  Keats and Shelley “From Endymion” by John Keats https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44469/endymion-56d2239287ca5 “On the Sea” by John Keats https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?volume=71&issue=1&page=45 “Hymn of Pan”by Percy Bysshe Shelley https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45122/hymn-of-pan 6.) Shelley and Kerouac “Art Thou Pale for Weariness” by Percy Bysshe Shelley https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45115/art-thou-pale-for-weariness “Mont Blanc” by Percy Bysshe Shelley https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45130/mont-blanc-lines-written-in-the-vale-of-chamouni “Desolation Peak” by Jack Kerouac https://jackkerouac.com/blogs/news/desolation-kerouac-wrestling-with-demons-in-desolation-peak 7.)  Wordsworth and the Beat Poets “Lines Written in Early Spring” by William Wordsworth https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51001/lines-written-in-early-spring “I Wandered as a Lonely Cloud” by William Wordsworth https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45521/i-wandered-lonely-as-a-cloud “Most Sweet it is” by William Wordsworth https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45530/most-sweet-it-is Wordsworth and the Beat Poets https://www.emptymirrorbooks.com/beat/wordsworth-and-the-beats 8.) Becoming the Face of the Movement: Kerouac “The Bottoms of my Shoes” by Jack Kerouac https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/146979/the-bottoms-of-my-shoes “In my Medicine Cabinet” by Jack Kerouac https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/146980/in-my-medicine-cabinet “Useless!Useless!” by Jack Kerouac https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/146981/useless-useless “Jack Kerouac the Documentary(1997)” https://youtu.be/1RpDphH0EDI?si=fI_VVjVvhm9DO2zX 9.) William’s Influence on The Beat Poets “Foreword to Howl” by William Carlos Williams http://www.everyday-beat.org/ginsberg/poems/intro.txt “From Patterson: Book II” by William Carlos Williams https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?volume=71&issue=1&page=45 “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus” by William Carlos Williams https://poets.org/poem/landscape-fall-icarus 10) O’Hara and the New York School “Room” by Frank O’Hara https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?volume=130&issue=2&page=16 “Why I Am not a Painter” by Frank O’Hara https://allpoetry.com/Why-I-Am-Not-A-Painter “Having a Coke with You” by Frank O’Hara https://allpoetry.com/Having-A-Coke-With-You 11.)  Women of the Beat Generation “Song for Baby-o-Unborne” by Diane Di Prima https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/54971/song-for-baby-o-unborn “The Pigs for Circe in May” by Joanne Kyger https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?volume=108&issue=3&page=33 “Rite” by Anne Waldman https://poets.org/poem/rite Women of the Beat Generation https://www.beatdom.com/women-of-the-beat-generation/ 12.)  In-Class Essay The Romantic Rebels vs. The Beat Generation Discuss & Identify the Similarities in Aesthetics, Define the Movements, Concepts and Features Discuss & Identify the Pre-Romantics, first and second generation Discuss & Identify the New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco Schools and the Black Mountain Poets Summary & evaluation Information For the course schedule and further material, check the Teams group of the course. An Essay Writing checklist can be found at the following link: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/essay_writing/index.html Useful information about the Department of English Studies is available at https://des.elte.hu.

Assessment method

Requirements Reading texts on the course’s reading list before each class. A mini quiz on the reading of the week at the beginning of each class. Regular attendance of classes. 3 absences at maximum. 4 absences may only be allowed by your teacher individually in case of a vis major. More absences are not tolerated. Active participation in class discussions based on the readings. Accomplishing major assignments: a presentation and one in-class essay,  Submit the files of your major assignments in e-mail to miriamg@student.elte.hu. File name format: Your family name_Author’s family name, e.g. Smith_Eliot. For late submissions you receive one point less every day, but you cannot lose more than 4 points for being late with one task. The in-class presentation is 5–10 minutes long. Send your slides (preferably PowerPoint) to the e-mail address provided the day before you give your presentation. In class, do not read the entire text, speak freely. The criteria of the essay: 600 words (+/- 10%), focus on the similarities in aesthetics, define the movements, concepts and features discussed in class and the influence the Romantic poets(Pre-Romantics, first and/or second generation) had on the Beat Poets by emphasing common themes using specific examples. Assessment The final grade results from the following components: Mini quiz: 11 x 2 = 22 points In-class work (1 point for presence, 1 point for active participation): 11 x 2 = 22 points Presentation: 25 points Final essay: 25 points Additional points (because of the short semester): 6 points Total:  100 points (97 points in case of 3 absences) Grade 5: 90 – 100 points Grade 4: 80 – 89 points Grade 3: 70 – 79 points Grade 2: 60 – 69 points Grade 1: 0 – 59 points “In accordance with the relevant Academic Regulations for Students (HKR in Hungarian), students failing (receiving a failing grade:1 (elégtelen) in a seminar course, have to be granted one opportunity during the first two weeks of the exam period to improve it. Instructors should inform students in the syllabus to be distributed at the beginning of the semester that students should indicate their intention to improve a failing mark in due course. The specific manner in which a failing mark can be improved, will be specified by the instructor upon the student’s request.” Those students who receive a failing grade on the last day of the semester will take an online oral exam on the first day of the exam period (TBA). Have a nice semester!

Bibliography

Compulsory Reading https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-introduction-to-british-romantic-poetry/B24B09B9B6566BE57BE453E764119F9E https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/roma/hd_roma.htm https://wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/romantic/welcome.htm https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aesthetics-19th-romantic/ https://thevinylfactory.com/features/radical-poets-the-story-of-the-beat-generation-in-10-rare-records/ Recommended Reading https://romantic-circles.org/ https://wordsworth.org.uk/the-collection/ https://blakearchive.org/

Programmes of the course