ENGL 2293 Waves, Woods, Wilds: 19th Century British and Irish Environmental Literature

From the rolling heaths of England, to the cliffs of Ireland, the natural world has shaped identity, politics, and ways of life. We often term our surroundings as our " environment." Such environments, natural and constructed, encompass human and nonhuman actors and their relationships; environments are both longstanding and constantly changing. But what constitutes environmental literature? Is it intent? Awareness? Or can any work be read in an environmental context? How has literature helped define the notion of " environment" for us? In this course we will investigate the various ways that environments and their inhabitants are depicted, engaged with, and understood throughout the long nineteenth century in Ireland, Scotland, and England. Tracing from a wide range of poetry and novels, we will examine continuities between texts alongside scientific thought of the time period. The course will feature both close and distant reading while incorporating environmental theories that underlie and inform the literature. How do these texts contribute to a larger understanding of what an " environment" is? Further, this class will discuss how such interpretations of literature are relevant today, especially in the larger scheme of climate change and shifting networks and relations to the world around us. Potential texts include the poetry of W.B. Yeats, Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, and Sir Walter Scott's Waverley. Fulfills pre-1900.