Dr. Shurbutt, Knutti 223 Ph: Office 876-5207
SShurbut@Shepherd.edu Office
Hrs: MW-7:00-11:00 a.m., 1:00-3:00p.m.
www.shepherd.edu/englweb/ TR-Appt.,
F-7:00-9:00 a.m.
19th-Century
British Literature
ENGL
341-01
PURPOSE OF THE COURSE: This course explores the
prose and poetry of Britain from the end of the Romantic period (1832) to the
beginning of the Twentieth Century, the period roughly during the reign of
Victoria, when an older age of imagination and hope was fading fast into the
dawning of Modernism and the complexity of a troubling and complex "brave
new world." Consequently, the
literature of the Victorian England is particularly rich and intriguing, paradoxically
looking backward toward Medieval and Renaissance values and forward toward
Modernist propensities. Thus, the
Victorian Age foreshadows both the zeitgeist and the angst of our own
time. Throughout the course, students will
explore the varied prose, dramatic, and poetic works of this age as they reflect
times past and our own time. Critical
thinking will be encouraged through class discussion, written, and
web-associated assignments. Students are
encouraged to participate in all forms of discussion, the quality of which will
impact their grade.
TEXTS: Norton Anthology of British Literature: The
Victorian Age, volume 2B, 1999; Richard Altick's Victorian People and Ideas,
Norton; Charles Dickens' Hard Times, Bantam Classic; George Eliot's Mill
on the Floss, Penguin; Bram Stoker's Dracula, Signet Classic, Robert Morgan’s Topsoil Road ,
Louisiana State UP, 2000. Students
are requested to have and use a Shepherd email address; assignments will be
given via email and web postings.
EVALUATION: Occasional reading analyses, short assignments,
and poetry explication will be administered (average = 1/6), Test #1 &
Essay (1/6), Test #2 & Essay (1/6),
Critical Essay (1/6), and a final examination (2/6). Students are encouraged to contribute both to
classroom and web discussion, and the final course average may rise or fall 1-2
points based upon the quality of that participation. No make-up work will be allowed for any
unexcused absence; students are requested to e-mail or phone the instructor
if an absence occurs, prior to class if possible. Students are also asked to attend class
promptly; latecomers should not interrupt class if more than 5 minutes
tardy.
CONFERENCES: Conferences are encouraged at the student's
and instructor's convenience, when questions about the course arise beyond the
confines of the classroom; conferences and individualized discussions
concerning the course can occur in a variety of settings, either in the
instructor's office, via e-mail, or webpage "bulletin board"
discussions. Students are encouraged to
go to the Writing Center for help in mastering both course content and
composition skills.
CONTENT AND COURSE
CALENDAR:
Aug. 19/*21/26: Introduction to the Period; read Norton
introduction (1043-1065) and Altick (chapters 1-3).
Past
and Present
Aug. 28:
Emily Bronte (1818-1848) - "I'm Happiest When Most Away,"
"Night Wind," "The Prisoner, A Fragment," "No Coward
Soul" (1418)
Sept. 2: Thomas Carlyle
(1795-1881) - "Victoria at Eighteen" (1070), "Coleridge at
Fifty-Three" (1070), "Wordsworth in His Seventies" (1074),
"Alfred Tennyson at Thirty-Four" (1076), Sartor Resartus
("The Everlasting No,” 1077-1082; "The Everlasting Yea,” 1089-1093;
and "Natural Supernaturalism," 1096-1099), Past and Present
("Captains of Industry," 1115-1119)
Sept. 4: John Henry Newman (1901-1890) - The Idea of a
University (1121)
Sept. 9/11:
Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) - "God's Grandeur," "Pied
Beauty," "Hurrahing in Harvest," "Duns Scotus's
Oxford" (1648), Terrible Sonnets #1 ("Carrion Comfort")
Robert Morgan’s Topsoil Road
Sept. 16: John Ruskin (1819-1900) - Modern Painters (1428),
The Stones of Venice (1429)
Sept. 18: Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) - "An
Apple-Gathering," "Winter: My Secret," "Goblin
Market," "When I am dead, my dearest," "In an Artist's
Studio" (1573)
Sept. 23: Dante Gabriel
Rossetti (1828-1882) - "Blessed Damozel" (1573)
William Morris (1834-1896) - "Defense of
Guenevere," "How I Became a Socialist"(1605)
Sept. 25/30: Alfred,
Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) – "Ulysses" & "Tithonus" (1213),
“Mariana" (1202), The Lady of Shalott (1204), "The Lotos-Eaters"
(208), "Locksley Hall" (1219), Selections from The Princess
(1225)
Sept. 29-October 3: North Carolina Novelist and Poet Robert
Morgan’s Residency (Students must attend at least one major event—see residency
webpage for details.)
Oct. 2: Charles Dickens (1812-1870) - Hard Times
Oct. 7: Test & Essay #1
Men
and Women
Oct. 9: Coventry Patmore's Angel in the House
(1723), Harriet Martineau's Autobiography (1725), Anonymous' "The Great
Social Evil (1728); Thomas Hardy’s “The Ruined Maid”; read Altick,
chapters 4-6.
Oct. 14: John Stuart
Mill (1806-1873) - "The Subjection of Women" (1155), Autobiography
(1166)
*Oct. 16/21: Elizabeth
Barrett Browning (1806-1861) - Sonnets from the Portuguese (1179), Aurora
Leigh (1180), "Mother and Poet" (1195)
Oct. 23/28: Robert
Browning (1812-1889) - "Love among the Ruins" (1365), "Porphyia's Lover
(349), "My Last Duchess" (1352), "Fra Lippo Lippi (1373)
Oct. 30: George Eliot
(1819--1880) - "Margaret Fuller and Mary Wollstonecraft (1456), "Silly
Novels by Lady Novelists (1461), Mill on the Floss
Nov. 4: Test & Essay
#2
Angst,
Aestheticism, and le Fin d’Siecle
Nov. 6: Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) - "Culture and
Anarchy," "The Study of Poetry" (1534-1538), "Literature
and Science," "The Forsaken Merman," "Isolation. To
Marguerite," "To Marguerite--Continued," "The Buried life,"
"Lines Written in Kensington Gardens," "Dover Beach"
(1471); read Altick, chapters 7-9.
Nov. 11: Thomas Henry
Huxley (1825-1895) - "Science and Culture" (1565-66), Agnosticism and
Christianity" (1558)
Nov. 13: Edward
Fitzgerald (1809-1883) - "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam" (1304)
Nov. 18: Bram Stoker (1847-1912) - Dracula
Nov. 20: Walter Pater (1829-1894) – The Renaissance
(Preface & "La Gioconda," 1638), Style ("Appreciations,"
1645); Critical Essay due
Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909) – "The Garden of
Proserpine" (1621)
*Dec. 2/4: Oscar Wilde
(1854-1900) - "Impression du Matin," "Helas," "The
Harlot's House," The Importance of Being Earnest (1747), Selections
from "De Profundis"
Dec. 9: Exam