Engl 409:B1; CLit 464:B1. Romantic Travellers. Winter 2005. Instructor: David S. Miall

Final Examination

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.

  1. 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 eighteenth century.

  2. 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.

  3. 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?

  4. 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?

  5. 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.

  6. What political or cross-cultural implications have you noticed in the travel writings you have read?

  7. 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.

  8. 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?

  9. 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 course.

  10. 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.

  11. 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