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EL 405
Victorian Poetry and Prose
Instructor: Dr. Eda DedebasDundar
Email:
Meeting Schedule: TFF 656
Office Hours: T 10:00-12:00 and/or by appointment
Office: TB 425
Course Description
Victorian era has been marked by two major interests: progressive endeavors i.e. colonialism and industrialization and an attention to a mythic past. As colonialism and thirst for adventure signal a forward-looking perspective, the Victorian interest in ancient models underlines a nostalgia for the past. This course will explore major genres (novel, prose, poetry, travelogues, children’s literature, drama)from Victorian literature in relation to the era’s dividedness between progress and nostalgia. The Victorian period was a period of immense changes.On the one hand, the period is fascinated with progress, which is evident in the emergence of industrialization, construction of railroads, colonialist endeavors, women’s emancipation, scientific achievements, the discovery of new lands and cultures, and the building of modern architecture, as seen in the works of Charles Darwin, Rider Haggard, J.S. Mill, Elizabeth Gaskell. On the other hand, despite its forward-looking nature, the era witnesses a nostalgic turn to ancient Greek and Roman culture and celebrates a mythic past. A deliberate attempt to imitate ancient and medieval forms and writing dominates the period. The best examples of this curiosity and inspiration are revealed in the dramatic monologues of Alfred Lord Tennyson, the poems and the paintings of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood and critical works by Matthew Arnold. Subtitled as “The Divided Victorians,” this course addresses the period’s engagement with progressive aspects i.e. the industrial revolution, scientific progress, in line with its infatuation with the classical period and the feeling of nostalgia.Our class discussions will include - but are not limited to - the Woman Question, industrialism, colonialism, travel writing, scientific progress, and the ways in which the Victorians balance the idea of progressand nostalgia.
Course Requirements
Class Participation (15%): Weekly reading assignments and in-class participation
Students are required and expected to read weekly assignments and to participate in class discussions (both physically and mentally!).
Response paper (20 %):A double spaced 3-4 page response paper on Gaskell’s North and South due on November 15
Your response paper should tackle with one major question from the novel and state an argument and support it with examples from the text.
Midterm Exam (25%): an in-class midterm exam on the assigned readings on December 2
The exam will consist of some short answer questions and one essay question.
Final Exam (40%): a take-home final exam due on December 29 by 5 pm
You will receive two exam questions on Monday, December 26 at 9 am and will choose one question and turn in one long essay on Thursday, December 29. Your take-home exam has to include a strong main argument and specific quotations from the texts to support your thesis.
Readings
North and South is available at BU Bookstore and a course packet that include other readings is available at DogaKirtasiye.
Course Schedule
Week 1:Introduction
20 SepTueIntroduction
23 Sep FriIntroduction
Week 2:The Woman Question
27SepTueCoventry Patmore’s “The Angel in the House”and Sarah Stickney Ellis’s “The Woman of England: Their Social Duties and Domestic Habits”
30 Sep FriJ.S. Mill’s “The Subjection of Women”
Week 3:The Woman Question
4 Oct Tue excerpts from Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Aurora Leigh
7 Oct Fri Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market
Week 4:An Era of Progress
11 OctTueexcerpts from Friedrich Engels’s The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844
14 Oct Friexcerpts from Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species and The Descent of Man
Week 5:An Era of Progress
18 Oct TueRobert Browning’s “Caliban upon Setebos” and Thomas Macaulay’s “Minute on
Indian Education
21 Oct Friexcerpts from Julia Sophia Pardoe’s TheBeauties of the Bosphorus
Week 6:Victorian novel
25 OctElizabeth Gaskell North and South
28 Oct Republic Holiday – no class
Week 7:Victorian novel
1 NovElizabeth Gaskell North and South
4 NovElizabeth Gaskell North and South
Week 8: Victorian novel
8 NovElizabeth Gaskell North and South
11 NovElizabeth Gaskell North and South
Week 9:The Golden Age of Children’s Literature
15 Nov TueShort paper on North and South due – lecture on Victorian Children’s Literature
18 Nov FriChristina Rossetti’sSpeaking Likenesses
Week 10:Victorian poetry: Dramatic monologue
22 Nov TueAlfred Lord Tennyson’s “The Lotos-Eaters”
25 Nov FriAugusta Webster’s “Medea” and “Circe”
Week 11:Midterm Week
29 Nov TueNo class
2 Dec FriMidterm exam
Week 12:Victorian drama: Oscar Wilde
6 Dec TueOscar Wilde’sSalome
9 Dec FriOscar Wilde’s Salome
Week 13:Victorian painting and visual arts
13 Dec TuePre-Raphaelite painting and poetry: Dante Gabriel Rossetti “Soul’s Beauty,” and “Body’s Beauty,” John Everett Millais “Ophelia,” William Holman Hunt “The Lady of Shalott” and “The Awakening Conscience”
16 Dec FriNeo-Victorianism and Wrap-up