In his essay ‘The Defence of Poetry’, P. B. Shelley famously described poets as ‘the unacknowledged legislators of the World’. In this module you will examine Shelley’s claim by looking at a range of poets (some in translation), from Shelley’s own Romantic period to the present-day. You will examine the contexts in which various poets were working, such as particular national contexts - for instance, W. B. Yeats in Ireland - and ask various questions, such as: What cultural, artistic, and political aims did these poets have? How successful were they in changing their society? What uses does poetry have or serve? How has the role and figure of the poet changed in history from the Romantic period up to the present? And how do you view Shelley’s claim now, in our own post-Romantic era? This module will enable you to read and critically analyse a variety of poems and engage with poetry from the Romantic era to the present. You will become familiar with public debates on poetry in the ‘voices’ of poets across two centuries. You will study poets in their particular contexts, and analyse their political, cultural and artistic aims. The module will introduce you to well-known poets and to lesser known names, to illustrate the ‘politics’ of the ‘public sphere’. Movements like that of Romanticism and Modernism will form a backdrop to our analysis of various poets and their work.