Liz Davis

4 Dec. 2016

An Evaluation of American Romanticism

          When I signed up for the course in the Romanticism, I was not quite sure what to expect. I knew we would be reading authors from the literary canon such as Thoreau, Emerson, and Whitman but I was unsure what the definition of Romanticism was. When I looked at the course website, I saw there was a variety of authors on the syllabus, ranging from all different time periods. The variety of authors made me excited because I want to learn as much as possible about all the authors in the genre. However, I discovered the drawback to this experience is that it is a tad bit overwhelming to be exposed to so much literature at once. I learned a lot about myself as a literature student while taking this course, including which authors I enjoy reading and how to improve my studying and writing skills.

          One of my favorite aspects of this course was the periodization of the material. Each week we read a group of texts that were relevant to a particular period or a movement that was within Romanticism. I liked that class was conducted this way because we were able to look at multiple texts and writers from that given period and compare them against one another, then we could compare them against other previously read works. We were able to see how the Romantic genre progressed chronologically through time. It was very helpful for the class to be laid out this way since my undergraduate degree is in a different subject. I am still getting accustomed to technical terms, and the course website is one of my go-to places for information in times of need. In such a short amount of time, I feel like I learned a considerate amount of information about American Romanticism and all of the authors and texts we read throughout the semester.

We read many short stories and poems during this course, and because of this, I was able to decide which styles of American Romanticism I enjoy reading, and which ones I do not enjoy. When I looked at the syllabus, I knew I would be eager to read Edgar Allan Poe, especially The Fall of the House of Usher. I always heard great reviews about that story, but I never actually sat down and read it. I knew I liked reading Gothic literature, but this course exposed and re-introduced me to some new authors that I will probably pursue reading more, including William Faulkner. I had read A Rose for Emily years ago, but during this course, I was able to read it with fresh eyes and a newfound appreciation for the genre of Romanticism. Another section that I enjoyed was the Harlem Renaissance poems, specifically Claude McKay’s Harlem Shadows. I was surprised when we got to the Harlem Renaissance section because I was not looking forward to reading the poems. However, I think I enjoyed this part the most because I was able to read a variety of poems from the time, and while all the lyrics were slightly different, they all were all similar in tone and voice. In contrast, I was looking forward to the Transcendentalist section, and I think I enjoyed that selection the least. I enjoyed reading Thoreau and Emerson in previous years, and though I have the highest respect for their work, I just do not enjoy reading them. The periodization of works was very successful in my opinion because it allows the students to compare the works and authors against the others. Also, if the student does not particularly favor or enjoy one style, the course does not focus on it too heavily.

          I believe that the periodization and the multitude of texts helped me to be more confident when writing my midterms. I feel that my writing is consistently improving with the feedback I receive from all my professors. I felt that the web reviews were the most time-consuming part of the midterms. Though they allow us to teach ourselves through reading others’ work, I feel like I spend too much time worrying about the web review and not focusing on the long essays. I think I have read every previous student's essay submission due to struggling to find essays that fit my theme. I appreciated that there were options for the research term paper. I chose a research journal, and I was very pleased with my research on the topic of “society's obsession with Poe.” As a fan of Poe, I had to examine his work and life to see why society has such an obsession with Poe as a person and why he keeps occurring in pop culture and daily life. I was very confident in my research, but I feel that my delivery was not expressed as I intended. I do not know if my ideas would have been better expressed in a research paper as opposed to a journal, but I do not think my point was conveyed clearly.

          One challenge I had to overcome during the span of this course was to adapt my at-home schedule because the course has a heavy reading load. There is a lot of material to read in one week's time, and I am a full-time student and working full time, like most other graduate students. I also have one setback – that my undergraduate degree is not in literature. I have to set aside extra time when reading because I want to attempt to be on the same level as my peers. Once I finally got my schedule down, I was ready to go. The course can be quite overwhelming, especially if there are more than three readings and a poem that week, or if the texts are exceptionally long that week. I love that there is so much material to choose from, but sometimes it seems that some texts get overlooked or rushed through because we are trying to get to the next one. This issue could be solved by cutting out a few poems or maybe abridging a longer version, as the instructor has done with some texts previously. All of the texts were fantastic to read and expressed a different aspect of Romanticism; it would not be fair to the texts to overlook one of them.

          Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed attending class and reading for this course. I feel that I learned a tremendous amount of information about the subject of Romanticism. My only critique is that the class is overwhelming due to the heavy course load of readings. Personally, I think that I am growing as a writer and literature student, especially in observations of texts and in my writings. Also, I feel will be able to utilize the information learned in this course for my other courses in the future. I have seen some crossover already in my Literary Theory course, and I know I will utilize terms and themes throughout my literary career.