Course Description
British literature from the first Reform Bill (1832) to the death of Queen Victoria (1901), with emphasis on the poetry and non-fiction prose of writers such as Tennyson, Elizabeth and Robert Browning, Arnold, Carlyle, Mill, Ruskin, and Christina and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
Athena Title
Victorian Literature
Prerequisite
Two 2000-level ENGL courses or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 3000-level ENGL course) or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 2000-level CMLT course)
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
At the end of the course, students, having read a substantial body of Victorian literature, will be able to discuss the assigned works (orally and in writing) with a considerable degree of critical sophistication. Students will also be able to: 1. Demonstrate understanding of forms and conventions of a given genre in the context of the Victorian period. 2. Analyze texts through a theoretical, rhetorical, and/or historical framework. 3. Generate a logical argument or article based on evidence from primary and secondary sources. 4. Apply and synthesize appropriate knowledge to produce clear and effective writing. 5. Develop their abilities to think critically, read attentively, argue persuasively, and write incisively.
Topical Outline
Curricula will vary according to individual instructors, but a sample set of topics and readings might include: 1: Britain and/as Empire Prince, The History of Mary Prince Barrett Browning, “The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point,” “A Curse for a Nation” Carlyle, “Occasional Discourse on the Negro Question” Mill, “The Negro Question” Seacole, from Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands Stevenson “Foreign Children” Kipling, “The White Man’s Burden,” “Recessional” Davidson, from The Testament of an Empire Builder 2. British Social Identity – Class and Gender Hood, “Song of the Shirt” Barrett Browning, “Cry of the Children” Mill, from The Subjection of Women, Chapter One Thomas Hood “The Bridge of Sighs” Augusta Webster, “A Castaway” Hossain, “Sultana’s Dream” 3. British Monsters Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Sheridan Le Fanu, Carmilla Christina Rosetti, Goblin Market Stoker, Dracula 4. British Identity – Faith, Doubt, and Death Darwin, from On the Origin of the Species Emily Bronte “No Coward Soul is Mine” Hopkins, “God’s Grandeur,” “Pied Beauty” Matthew Arnold, “Dover Beach” Hardy, “Hap” Tennyson, In Memoriam A.H.H. 5. British Poetic Identity Levy, “London Poets” Eliot, “Oh May I Join the Choir Invisible” Wilde - “To Milton” Barrett Browning, from Aurora Leigh Robert Browning - “Porphyria’s Lover,” “My Last Duchess” Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
Syllabus