Flowers of Evil: Transreading the French Romantic Poets
French Poetry in the time of Revolt.
‘Ce qu’il y a d’ennuyeux dans l’amour, c’est que c’est un crime où l’on ne peut pas se passer d’un complice.’
‘What is tiresome about love, is it is a crime where we cannot go without an accomplice.’
– Charles Baudelaire.
Romanticism was one of the most momentous eras of western cultural history. This international artistic and philosophical movement fundamentally changed how people thought about themselves and about their world. From the ‘Storm and Stress’ movement in Germany, with Goethe’s Sorrows of Young Werther, to the centralisation of nature in the development of an individual’s character, with Wordsworth and Coleridge’s Lyrical Ballads, the literature of this period was negotiated by the geo-political context in which it was emerging. On this course, we will study, explore and respond to French Romantic poetry.
Within the context of the French Revolution, what poetry emerges when the current social order is being overthrown? What do we write about, and what do we write for, living in the period named ‘La Terreur’ (The Reign of Terror)? We will study a selection of poems by authors such as Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, Charles Baudelaire, Amable Tastu, Victor Hugo, and Elisa Mercoeur.
We will respond to their poems from a formal and thematic perspective, exploring the Romantic notions of the sublime, the picturesque and the beautiful, reflecting on the role of the poet, the favouring of emotion and the importance of landscape. We will complement our understanding of the French Romantic movement with Eugène Delacroix’s paintings, and Rousseau’s essays on the role of the child in Romantic literature. But we will also reflect upon, speak to and write about what it means, and how it looks to write during times of crisis and violence. We will be looking at the ideas that inspired our chosen selected writers, and how they inspired each other. We will speak to them through our writing today, and we will reflect on the pervasive philosophical legacy that Romanticism has left for our own times.
5 fortnightly sessions over 10 weeks, starting 14 May 2025. No live chats. Suitable for UK & International students.
Concessions & Accessibility
To apply for a concessionary rate, please send relevant documentation showing your eligibility for one of our concessions to [email protected]. Conditions of eligibility are detailed here. If you have any questions or wish to be added to the waiting list of a sold-out course, please email [email protected]. For more information visit our Online Courses page.
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About Rosemarie Corlett 
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Dr Rosemarie Corlett is a bilingual author and Associate Lecturer in English and Creative Writing. A versatile professional writer, lecturer, project coordinator, and early career researcher, Rosemarie was recently selected as Plymouth’s Poet Laureate. Her collection Flightless Bird was released in 2022 with Shearsman Books, and her work has been published with several presses including Guardian, Faber, Poetry Wales, Tears in the Fence, and Iota. She works extensively in the community, and recent engagements include The Racial Equality Council, Plymouth Sound National Marine Park, Global Climate Cafe at Theatre Royal Plymouth, The Children’s University, Plymouth Centre for Cultural Diversity, Shekinah Learning Exchange, and ‘The Letters to the Sea’ Planet Ocean exhibition at The Box Museum, Gallery and Archive.
"The online courses have kept me on track with my writing. They have led me to write poems I wouldn’t have otherwise, they invited me into a writing community when I was feeling very solitary."
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