Module Identifier
EN20720
Module Title
NINETEENTH CENTURY LITERATURE
Academic Year
2008/2009
Co-ordinator
Dr Damian Walford Davies
Semester
Semester 1
Other Staff
 

Course Delivery

Delivery Type Delivery length / details
Lecture 20 x 1 hour lecture
Seminars / Tutorials 10 x 1 hour seminar
 

Assessment

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment 1 X 2000 WORD ESSAY  to show knowledge of at least one text taught in the first half of the module.  33%
Semester Exam 3 Hours   2 QUESTION EXAM  Question 1 on a single text from Section A; Question 2 to show knowledge of at least two texts.  67%
Supplementary Assessment Resubmit or resit failed elements and/or make good any missing elements 

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

demonstrate knowledge of a range of literary texts from across the period

locate texts in appropriate cultural and historical contexts

articulate a detailed critical analysis of individual texts from the period that shows an understanding of their distinctive qualities

relate texts from the period either to each other or to a common theme

Content

Seminars and Lectures
1. Introductory Seminar: Romanticism
Lectures: Module Rationale and Outline & Introduction to Romanticism
2. Wordsworth and Coleridge, Lyrical Ballads
Lectures: Lyrical Ballads (1) & (2)
3. Keats, The Odes, Lamia, Eve of St Agnes, Isabella
Lectures: The Odes & Lamia, Eve of St Agnes, Isabella
4. De Quincey, Confessions of an English Opium-Eater
Lectures: Romantic Addictions & Confessions of an English Opium-Eater
5. Jane Austen, Persuasion
Lectures: Persuasion (1) & (2)

6. Introductory Seminar: Victorian Writing
Lectures: Victorian Writing (1) & (2)
7. Dickens, Hard Times
Lecture: Hard Times (1) & (2)
8. Tennyson, Maud
Lectures: Maud & Maud and the Dramatic Monologue
9. Various authors and texts, Victorian Women's Poetry
Lectures: Victorian Women's Poetry (1) & (2)
10. Conan Doyle, Selected Sherlock Holmes stories
Lectures: Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes stories & Fin de Siecle: Degeneracy and Writing

Brief description

This revised module seeks to introduce students to a representative range of writing across the Romantic and Victorian periods. The seminar texts dramatise a number of key social and political issues (the impact of revolution, industrialism, imperialism) and map changing notions of the self, gender, sexuality and identity. The module familiarises students with a range of literary forms: poetry, the novel, periodical literature and the short story.
For each seminar text there will be 2 lectures: one closely focused on the text, and the other locating that text in wider contexts (social, political, biographical, critical, theoretical). Two lectures will also accompany each of the 2 "Introductory" seminars which introduce the 2 periods covered by this module.

Module Skills

Skills Type Skills details
Communication (Written) in essays and examination answers students are encouraged to express their ideas articulately and fluently (Oral) seminars drawn on group discussion and, if the tutor so wishes, brief student presentations
Improving own Learning and Performance Students are encouraged to take more personal initiative in the planning and conduct of their preparation for assignments than at Level 1, and to make use of a broader range of resources; formal feedback on essays and informal feedback on seminar participation help students measure their improvement
Information Technology Substantial use is made of electronic text-databases (EEBO, LION), of electronic journals, and of Blackboard, and students are encouraged to familiarise themselves with these
Personal Development and Career planning Only insofar as the module covers key areas of literature in which students intending to teach English would need to demonstrate competence; or which might be related to future academic research. The module develops transferable analytical skills
Problem solving In essays and examination answers: by formulating and putting into practice a critical approach appropriate to text and topic set
Research skills In preparation for seminars, essays, and exams: by investigation of literary texts, associated critical and scholarly writing, and the relationship of literary texts to historical and cultural contexts
Subject Specific Skills Close reading of literary texts; grasp of generic and intertextual relationships between texts; identification and analysis of appropriate historical and cultural contexts
Team work Informal group work in seminars

Reading List

Should Be Purchased
Austen, Jane (2003.) Persuasion /Jane Austen ; edited with an introduction and notes by Gillian Beer. Penguin Books Primo search De Quincey, Thomas (1998) Confessions of an English opium-eater and other writings /Thomas De Quincey ; edited with an introduction and notes by Grevel Lindop. Oxford University Press Primo search Dickens, Charles (1998) Hard Times, ed Law, Graham Oxford UP Primo search Doyle, Arthur Conan (2001.) The adventures of Sherlock Holmes & the memoirs of Sherlock Holmes /Arthur Conan Doyle ; introduction by Iain Pears ; notes by Ed Glinert. Penguin Primo search Keats, John (1988 (1999 prin) Selected poems /John Keats ; edited with an introduction and notes by John Barnard. Penguin Books Primo search Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson (1991.) Selected poems /Alfred Lord Tennyson ; edited by Aidan Day. Penguin Books Primo search Wordsworth, William (2003.) Lyrical ballads and other poems /Wordsworth & Coleridge, with an introduction and notes by Martin Scofield. Wordsworth Editions Primo search Supplementary Text
(2002.) A companion to Victorian poetry /edited by Richard Cronin, Alison Chapman, and Antony H. Harrison. Blackwell Pub. Primo search (2005.) Romanticism :an Oxford guide /edited by Nicholas Roe. Oxford University Press Primo search Armstrong, Isobel. (1993.) Victorian poetry :poetry, poetics and politics /Isobel Armstrong. Routledge Primo search Barrell, John. (1991.) The infection of Thomas De Quincey :a psychopathology of imperialism /John Barrell. Yale University Press Primo search Blades, John. (c2004.) Wordsworth and Coleridge :lyrical ballads /John Blades. Palgrave Macmillan Primo search Butler, Marilyn (1981.) Romantics, rebels and reactionaries :English literature and its background 1760-1830 /Marilyn Butler. Oxford University Press Primo search Kestner, Joseph. (c1997.) Sherlock's men : masculinity, Conan Doyle, and cultural history /Joseph A. Kestner. Ashgate Primo search Pykett, Lyn (2002.) Charles Dickens /Lyn Pykett. Palgrave Primo search Roe, Nicholas. (1988.) Wordsworth and Coleridge : the radical years /Nicholas Roe. Clarendon Primo search Shaw, Marion. (1988.) Alfred Lord Tennyson /Marion Shaw. Harvester Wheatsheaf Primo search Tanner, Tony. (1986.) Jane Austen /Tony Tanner. Macmillan Primo search Turley, Richard Marggraf (2004.) Keats's boyish imagination /Richard Marggraf Turley. Routledge Primo search

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 5