Engl 409:B1; CLit 464:B1. Romantic Travellers. Winter 2005. Instructor:
David S. Miall
Hand in final examination papers: April 21st, 14.00, HC 2-34
Choose one of the following topics, and write an essay of 3 to 3.5
pages (double spaced), i.e., approximately 1000 words (including quotations
-- but avoid using lengthy quotations from the writings you cite). A bibliography
of works cited, if any, should follow on a separate page. Do not repeat writing
that occurs in one of your presentations or commentaries.
- Analyse the main features of the picturesque and to what extent you find
it persisting as a distinctive response to landscape in the period after the
- When you compare the travel writings by the canonical writers (i.e., Ann
Radcliffe, Wordsworth, Goethe, Byron, the Shelleys) with the lesser known
writers, would you argue for the significance of the lesser known writers
or not? On what grounds? Make your case by comparing explicitly a selection
of the two classes of writers.
- In this course we have studied writings published over the period 1770 to
1823. Do you detect any changes in style, focus, or point of view in the writings
across this period?
- Compare and contrast the travel writings of one or more of the European
writers we have considered with one or more of their British counterparts.
What cultural or historical differences do you find, if any?
- Discuss some of the manifestations of the sublime that you have noticed
during your reading for the course. What language, attitudes, or feelings
appear to characterize it? You may refer to natural phenomena, Gothic, or
other texts in your answer.
- What political or cross-cultural implications have you noticed in the travel
writings you have read?
- Is there a feminine style or feminine set of concerns in the writings by
woman that you have studied during the course? Refer to the work of at least
two female writers in your answer.
- Comparing the travel writing of the Romantic period with travel now, what
aspects of modern tourism are anticipated by the Romantic writers? What aspects
of the Romantic travel experience now seem to you overlooked or out of reach
for the modern tourist?
- Define the travel components of the Gothic fictions you have read, and consider
how far such features occur in other travel writing you have read during the
- Choose a specific location that is described in two or more travel texts
you have studied during the course. Compare and contrast the attitudes and
styles of the writers in question.
- Attributing human characteristics to landscape or its features was dismissed
by Ruskin as a sentimental illusion, the "pathetic fallacy." Argue
for or against this position.
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Document created April 14th 2005