Ross Hamilton

This course was incredible. Professor Ross Hamilton is one of the best professors I’ve ever had. His teaching style is engaging and makes every class enjoyable. He pushes students to think critically and discuss topics that are deeply relevant to the real world.

I have to *strongly* disagree with the two most recent reviews of Dr. Hamilton. Though I was likewise warned by friends and faculty, my worries quickly faded, as I found the course and Dr. Hamilton's teaching style to be enjoyable. Then again, I wasn't caught beating my keyboard texting friends while in class. (Maybe be less obvious next time!) The disdain felt amongst particular students was cumbersome and reeked of snobbishness and entitlement—a chronic affliction of so many at Barnard! One would think that a student body that claims to be left-leaning and "class conscious" (hah!) would applaud a professor like Dr. Hamilton, but we seem to be quite removed from our embodiment of this (because for most at Barnard, there is a profound absence of class consciousness) and are more so attached to the identity and ability to make this hollow claim! Contrary to my classmate's definitively negative statements, I'll offer up something a bit more nuanced. Are Dr. Hamilton's kids causing a ruckus in the background and does he occasionally tell them to hush? Absolutely. Would we be so publicly critical of an AFAB professor whose children were heard? Probably not. During one of my virtual office hours appointments, which I requested amidst a mid-semester semi-emergency, Dr. Hamilton's daughter sat on his lap; he spoke very lovingly and gently reminded her that he was working and could gi…

Overall, this was a very comprehensive course. I expected it to be a class that focused solely on literature and the novels of the time period, but it is evenly balanced with historical aspects of the century, if not more so. The in-class discussions are very helpful for writing the midterm and final exams in class as well as being insightful. Professor Hamilton is hard to schedule meetings with, but will reply to any draft, comment, or question very quickly over email. This is not a very hard class if you work hard to keep up with the readings and papers.

I've taken two classes from Professor Hamilton, and I've loved both of them. He's changed the way that I think about literature, history, culture.. he made me understand the connections between fields, and made me realize the importance of historical knowledge in English studies. It's true what people say, that you work harder in his classes, but it is so worth it, because you really learn things, rather than just hear your classmates fill in the time...

Professor Hamilton is certainly a brilliant man and a very friendly, approachable professor. But if you take this class too seriously it will become a nightmare. The reading load is about a 200 pages a week (no joke, with very very small font from the Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism). The first few meetings of class will be awkward, as he has a tendency to sit at the round table of students and stare in silence, waiting for you to start the discussion. If you are not talking he will call on you, so prepare yourself well with the readings. As the semester goes on things become more relaxed, and I slacked off a great deal on the readings as did the rest of my class. As long as you arm yourself with one point to talk about, you will be fine. Do not stress out about cramming in 200 pages of dry, difficult, technical reading. He will also ruin your weekend, as a three to four page essay is due by midnight EVERY SUNDAY. They are difficult, vague, and frustrating to write. But he is an easy grader. He won't even give you grades on your essays, your grade is an arbitrary sort of assessment of your general effort and intelligence level. If you write interesting, thought provoking essays you will be rewarded, even if you misinterpret all of the basics of post-structuralism. P.S. No midterm, no final.

He's a brilliant guy. His lectures were really remarkable (I say this as a comp-lit major) linking up literature, philosophy, art and science in a way that really made me understand the material and its impact on me. He's also has a funny sense of humor which was a plus for a nine am class. The downside was that the last third of the semester were student presentations and most of them were a waste of time. Plus it was hard to figure out your grade since on most of the assignments he just wrote comments that were difficult to read since his handwriting is illegible. However I did fine. But if you want to have lectures that are both intellectually illuminating and entertaining, its a great course.

I won't rave about Professor Hamilton's teaching, but I won't disparage it either. I found him to be a decent instructor and knowledgable about the Enlightenment, and he seems genuinely interested in what his students have to say. However he expects the class to lead the discussion the entire time, which I think most of us found created a meandering and therefore not-so-helpful examination of the material. He also tends to come across as a literary and social snob, openly putting down popular books that some of us enjoy, throwing french phrases into his speech without explaining them, and mentioning outside materials assuming you have read them. I think he tries to be friendly, but it often comes across awkardly, so his good intentions end up rubbing people the wrong way. Don't expect a life-changing experience in Professor Hamilton's colloquium, but you can count on a pretty good reading list and a moderate and refreshingly creative workload.

Do not take this class with Ross Hamilton. It will age you and make you question everything including but not limited to: your choice of major, sanity, and desire to learn. This was by far the worst class I've ever taken at Barnard. Professor Hamilton is boring, unprepared, and doesn't care about the material or the students he teaches. He would often show up late or make class on Zoom with very little to no warning. Although this was supposed to be a discussion-based seminar, he ended up lecturing about nothing of importance, often going on tangents for the entire two hours. He would ask pointed questions and expected a specific interpretation of the assigned texts. Additionally, he would blatantly disagree with any other interpretations of the text that disagreed with or contradicted his. His choice of texts itself was strange as we read Marx and Elias in a class on Renaissance literature. He was also weirdly obsessed with sex and the human body, bringing it up whenever possible and making outrageous claims to tie any text to sex. While I understand the importance of the role of sexuality in literature (especially when we're studying the effects of good old Catholic repression), it often got uncomfortable with the frequency and detail with which he talked about the subject, especially as a male teacher lecturing at a class of women and non-binary students. I also found him q…

This class was one of the worst experiences I have had in my time at Barnard. I was warned beforehand about Ross Hamilton's conduct by other students but brushed it off. I was told that he was discriminatory, misogynist, and self-centered. All of these were true. I have never felt like a class was such a waste of time as I have with this one. Students teach the class every week, and he never provides any feedback, so I am not really sure what his job or function in this class even is. Also, we are having an additional class when classes have ended solely because he made a mistake in the syllabus and refused to correct it, which happened multiple times throughout the course. Echoing what a fellow student in this course wrote, when I was meeting with him to discuss my initial thesis idea, he left me waiting outside of his office for 20 minutes before telling me that he just did not have the time to meet with me. Following this, he was completely unhelpful and dismissive about anything thesis-related. At the time of writing this, our final draft is due even though we never received feedback on the initial draft. This was such a horrible experience in the English department, and I am frankly shocked that Prof. Hamilton is the head of the department. In addition to all of this, when he did provide commentary or assistance in class with the readings, it was either extremely tangenti…

Where's the nugget? He's an incredible professor. I took his 18th Century Novel class and it was the best English class I took at Barnard. He lectures and asks questions (watch out, he will call on you) but it is all really relevant and interesting. He gave me a clearer reason to study English... it helped in all of my other classes, too. It is unusual because even though it was 18th Novel we also discussed early and later periods. A great experience.