ENGL203: Cultural and Literary Expression in the 18th and 19th Centuries « Saylor.org

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Cultural and Literary Expression in the 18th and 19th Centuries

Purpose of Course show close

Scholars tend to label the period between the Renaissance and the Modern Era the “long” 18^th and 19^th centuries, meaning that they span from around 1680-1830 and 1775-1910, respectively, and that so many literary movements and cultural changes took place during these interim years, a narrower title is difficult to come by. In this course, we will examine these formative cultural and literary developments chronologically, dividing the syllabus into four (roughly sequential) periods: The Enlightenment and Restoration Literature; The Rise of the Novel; Romanticism; and the Victorian Period. We will identify and contextualize the principal characteristics of each of these movements/developments, reading representative texts and examining their relationship to those texts that preceded or were contemporaneous with them.

Learning Outcomes show close

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

Identify the major literary trends of the 18th and 19th century, from Restoration comedy and satires through Victorian poetry and prose
Outline the major developments in philosophical thought during the Enlightenment and identify these strains of thought in works like Voltarie’s Candide
Identify the factors that led to the rise of the novel as a literary form
Identify the specific traits that characterize early sentimental, Gothic, and picaresque novels
Describe the political factors that led to the popularity of Romanticis;
Describe the shift in thought that led to the split between Romanticism and Enlightenment
Identify the themes, conventions, and tropes of Romantic poetry
Define and explain the significance of the term/concept of “the Romantic imagination”
Define the political, social, and economic factors that led to the surge in popular Victorian fiction
Explain the significance of poetic experimentation in the 19th century works of writers like Tennyson, Hopkins, and Browning

Course Requirements show close

In order to take this course you must:

√ Have access to a computer.

√ Have continuous broadband Internet access.

√ Have the ability/permission to install plug-ins or software (e.g., Adobe Reader or Flash).

√ Have the ability to download and save files and documents to a computer.

√ Have the ability to open Microsoft files and documents (.doc, .ppt, .xls, etc.).

√ Be competent in the English language.

√ Have read the Saylor Student Handbook.

Unit Outline show close

1 The Enlightenment and Restoration Literature
1.1 What Is the Enlightenment?
1.1.1 Origins of the Term
1.1.2 The Concept of a Rational Universe
1.1.3 Truth and Empirical Observation
1.1.4 Conceptualization of History as Progress
1.1.5 René Descartes, Father of the Enlightenment
1.2 Historical and Social Contexts
1.2.1 Absolutist Rule and the Divine Right of Kings
1.2.2 The Glorious Revolution, the Emergence of Parliamentary Democracy, and the Restoration
1.2.3 The Scientific Revolution and Its Impact on Western Thought
1.2.4 Deism Versus Traditional Religious Perspectives
1.2.5 Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s “Social Contract” and Other Understandings of Socio-Political Relations
1.3 The French Enlightenment Travels to Great Britain
1.3.1 The Philosophes: Key Figures and Concepts
1.3.2 Categorizing Human Knowledge: The Encyclopedia
1.3.3 Voltaire’s Tenets of Empirical Thought and Religious Tolerance
1.3.4 English Counterparts: John Locke, David Hume, and the Origins of Moral Relativism
1.4 Trends in Restoration Literature
1.4.1 Coffeehouse Culture: the Spectator and Men of Letters
1.4.2 Satire: Horation Roots and Enlightenment Applications
1.4.3 Wit and Satire in Political Writing
1.4.4 Comedies of Manners

2 The Rise of the Modern Novel
2.1 Early Versions of and Contexts for the Modern Novel
2.1.1 Spanish Picaresque, the French Romance, and other Precursors to the Novel
2.1.2 The Merging of Fact and Fiction in Early 18th Century Writings
2.1.3 “Popular” Fiction: The Middle Class and the Novel
2.1.4 Representations of Everyday Life in the Novel
2.2 The Gothic Novel
2.2.1 What is “The Gothic?” Issues of Genre, Trope, and Form
2.2.2 Antiquarianism and the Gothic Novel
2.2.3 Terror, Horror, and the Supernatural
2.2.4 The Sublime
2.2.5 Internal and External Landscapes: Psychology and Architectural Space in Gothic Fiction
2.2.6 Sexuality and Gender in the Gothic Novel
2.3 Sentimentality and the Novel of Sensibility
2.3.1 Sentimentality and Sensibility: Key Themes, Tropes, and Styles
2.3.2 A Reaction to Neoclassical/Enlightenment Austerity and Logic
2.3.3 Elements of Sentimentality in Richardson’s Pamela

3 Romanticism
3.1 Social and Economic Contexts
3.1.1 The French Revolution and Concepts of Political and Social Reformation
3.1.2 Changes in Social Relations: The Industrial Revolution and the Emergence of the Bourgeoisie
3.1.3 The Rise of Nationalism and the Renewed Interest in Native Folklore Traditions
3.1.4 “The Spirit of the Age”: A Sense of Literary Renewal
3.2 Romantic Poetics
3.2.1 A New Understanding of Poetry: the Poem as a “Spontaneous Overflow of Powerful Feelings”
3.2.2 The Role of the Romantic Poet in the Creation of Poetry
3.2.3 The Lyric Poem Takes Center-Stage
3.2.4 Poet as a “Chosen Son” or “Bard”
3.2.5 The Centrality of Individual Experience
3.3 Romantic Poetic Conventions and Tropes
3.3.1 Relationship between Man and Nature
3.3.2 Everyday Language and the Common Man
3.3.3 The Ballad and Questions of Form
3.3.4 The Figure of the Outcast in Romantic Poetry
3.3.5 Apocalypse in Romantic Poetry
3.4 Other Romantic-Era Literature
3.4.1 The Familiar Essay / Review and the Rise of the Modern Periodical
3.4.2 Lamb, Hazlitt, and De Quincey: the Era’s Great Essayists and Their Rhetorical Strategies and Styles
3.4.3 Developments in Drama
3.4.4 The Persistence of the Novel: Key Titles and Their Impact

4 The Victorian Period
4.1 The Reign of Queen Victoria
4.1.1 Early Victorian Economic and Social Difficulties: Strikes, Chartist Demonstrations, and the Corn Laws
4.1.2 The Expansion of the Empire and British Missionaries
4.1.3 Religious Debate at Home: Divisions in the Church
4.1.4 Characteristic Victorian Values—and Their Decline at the Turn of the Century
4.1.5 Literacy in the Victorian Period
4.1.6 The Role of Women in Victorian Society
4.2 The Victorian Novel
4.2.1 The Serialized Novel, the “Three-Decker,” and Other Publication Contexts
4.2.2 Depictions of Victorian Society: Class Stratification and Material Conditions
4.2.3 Sub-Genres on the Rise: the Detective Novel, Mysteries, and Science Fiction
4.2.4 Female Novelists and “Female Literature”
4.3 Poetry in the Victorian Period
4.3.1 Narrative Experiments in Verse
4.3.2 Relationship between Romantic Poetry and Victorian Poetry
4.3.3 Experiments in Form and Style: New Directions in Dramatic Monologues and Lyric Verse
4.3.4 The Sound of Victorian Poetry

5 Final Exam

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Unit 1: The Enlightenment and Restoration Literature

During the Enlightenment, key thinkers like Voltaire believed that one could use reason and rational thought to combat the forces of ignorance, tyranny, and repression that had come to be associated with the Church and the absolutist monarchic government. In this unit, we will begin by thinking critically about these (and other) Enlightenment principles, acquainting ourselves with the socio-historical context in which they were developed and then exploring the way in which this “Enlightened” frame of mind gave rise to the period’s major literary trends—from political satire to Alexander Pope’s famous mock-epic, The Rape of the Lock.

Unit 1 Time Advisory show close

Unit 1 Learning Outcomes show close

1.1 What Is the Enlightenment?

1.1.1 Origins of the Term

Reading: Immanuel Kant’s “What Is Enlightenment?” and The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “Introduction to the Restoration and the Eighteenth-Century”
Links: Immanuel Kant’s “What is Enlightenment?” (PDF) and The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s "Introduction to the Restoration and the Eighteenth-Century” (HTML)

Instructions: Please read through both Kant’s “What is Enlightenment?” for an introduction to how the enlightenment period developed out of 18^th-century thought. Also, read The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “Introduction” to The Restoration and Eighteenth-Century for an overview of the period’s significant events and changes.

Terms of Use: The material above was provided by the Modern History Sourcebook. Permission has been granted for electronic copying, distribution in print form for educational purposes and personal use, but not commercial use. You can find the original version here (HTML).
See a broken link? Please let us know!

1.1.2 The Concept of a Rational Universe

Reading: The History Guide: Dr. Steven Kreis’s “Ecrasez l’infame!: The Triumph of Science and the Heavenly City of the 18th Century Philosophe” Lecture
Link: The History Guide: Dr. Steven Kreis’s “Ecrasez l’infame!: The Triumph of Science and the Heavenly City of the 18^thCentury Philosophe”(HTML) Lecture

Instructions: Please read the full text of Lecture #9, “Ecrasez l’infame!: The Triumph of Science and the Heavenly City of the 18^thCentury Philosophe” for more information on developing concepts of ration and truth in 18^th-century understandings of the universe.

About the link: The History Guide is a collection of lectures developed by Dr. Steven Kreis, and functions as an online textbook of European history.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
See a broken link? Please let us know!

1.1.3 Truth and Empirical Observation

Reading: Washington State University: The European Enlightenment’s “Rene Descartes” and “Blaise Pascal”
Links: Washington State University: The European Enlightenment’s "Rene Descartes" (HTML) and “Blaise Pascal”(HTML)

Instructions: Please read both essays on “Rene Descartes” and “Blaise Pascal” for information on two 18^th-century philosophical writers who depended on scientific observation and study for their research.

About the link: The European Enlightenment is learning module designed to resemble a textbook on the 18^th-century. The website is hosted by Washington State University.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
The Saylor Foundation does not yet have materials for this portion of the course. If you are interested in contributing your content to fill this gap or aware of a resource that could be used here, please submit it here.
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1.1.4 Conceptualization of History as Progress

Reading: Marie Jean Antonie Nicolas Caritat’s “The Future Progress of the Human Mind” and Marxists.org’s version of Immanuel Kant’s “Idea for a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View”
Link: Marie Jean Antonie Nicolas Caritat’s "The Future Progress of the Human Mind" (PDF) and Marxists.org’s version of Immanuel Kant’s "Idea for a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View" (HTML)

Also available in: (Kant's Universal History)
PDF
iBooks ($0.99)

Instructions: Please read through both of these essays, which serve as primary source examples of the eighteenth-century focus on using analysis and observation in the pursuit of truth. These readings demonstrate a shift in thinking about the relationship between man and his historical context. To view Kant's essay in PDF format, please follow the "PDF" link above; just above the book summary, select the link "Excerpts". Kant's essay is made available by Yale University Press as a sample chapter.

Terms of Use: The material above was provided by the Modern History Sourcebook. Permission has been granted for electronic copying, distribution in print form for educational purposes and personal use, but not commercial use. You can find the original version here (HTML).
See a broken link? Please let us know!

1.1.5 René Descartes, Father of the Enlightenment

Reading: The History Guide: Dr. Steven Kreis’s “The New Intellectual Society: Man, Nature and Society” Lecture
Link: The History Guide: Dr. Steven Kreis’s “The New Intellectual Society: Man, Nature and Society”(HTML) Lecture

Instruction: Please read the first section of Lecture #8, “The New Intellectual Society: Man, Nature and Society,” as well as the section under the heading “Rene Descartes, 1596-1650.”

About the link: The History Guide is a collection of lectures developed by Dr. Steven Kreis, and functions as an online textbook of European history.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
See a broken link? Please let us know!
Reading: Excerpts from Rene Descartes’ Discourse on Method
Link: Excerpts from Rene Descartes’ Discourse on Method (PDF)
Also available in:

Google Books
iBooks ($5.99)

Instructions: Please read parts I, IV, and V of Discourse on Method to get a sense for Descartes and his revolutionary thinking.

Note on the text: In Discourse on Method, we find the famous Cartesian axiom “Cogito, ergo sum” or “I think, therefore I am,” a concept that would literally revolutionize Western thought by making subjective truth more epistemologically significant than objective truth.

Terms of Use: Discourse on Method is available for viewing in the Public Domain,
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1.2 Historical and Social Contexts

1.2.1 Absolutist Rule and the Divine Right of Kings

Reading: Washington State University: The European Enlightenment’s “Absolute Monarchy and Enlightened Absolutism”
Link: Reading: Washington State University: The European Enlightenment’s “Absolute Monarchy and Enlightened Absolutism” (HTML)

Instructions: Please read the entire essay “Absolute Monarchy and Enlightened Absolutism.”

About the link: The European Enlightenment is a learning module designed to resemble a textbook on the 18^th-century. The website is hosted by Washington State University.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
The Saylor Foundation does not yet have materials for this portion of the course. If you are interested in contributing your content to fill this gap or aware of a resource that could be used here, please submit it here.
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1.2.2 The Glorious Revolution, the Emergence of Parliamentary Democracy, and the Restoration

Reading: The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “Summary” of the Restoration and the 18th Century and Washington State University: The European Enlightenment’s “The Eighteenth Century”
Link: The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s "Summary"(HTML) of the Restoration and the 18^thCentury and Washington State University: The European Enlightenment’s “The Eighteenth Century” (HTML)

Instructions: Please look over this brief “Summary” of the Restoration and the 18^thCentury for a historical overview, and also read the essay on “The Eighteenth Century” for more information on the Glorious Revolution, the development of Parliamentary Democracy, and the factors contributing to the Restoration.

About the link: The European Enlightenment is a learning module designed to resemble a textbook on the 18^th-century. The website is hosted by Washington State University.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
The Saylor Foundation does not yet have materials for this portion of the course. If you are interested in contributing your content to fill this gap or aware of a resource that could be used here, please submit it here.
Submit Materials

1.2.3 The Scientific Revolution and Its Impact on Western Thought

Reading: The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “The Plurality of Worlds” and accompanying illustrations; Washington State University: The European Enlightenment’s “The Scientific Revolution”
Link: The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “The Plurality of Worlds”(HTML) and accompanying Illustrations(HTML); Washington State University: The European Enlightenment’s “The Scientific Revolution”(HTML)

Instructions: Please read both “The Plurality of Worlds” and “The Scientific Revolution.” Also look through the illustrations that accompany the former essay, paying particular attention to #15-22, which illustrate viewpoints on the scientific revolution.

About the link: The European Enlightenment is a learning module designed to resemble a textbook on the 18^th-century. The website is hosted by Washington State University.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
The Saylor Foundation does not yet have materials for this portion of the course. If you are interested in contributing your content to fill this gap or aware of a resource that could be used here, please submit it here.
Submit Materials

1.2.4 Deism Versus Traditional Religious Perspectives

Reading: Matthew Tindal’s Christianity as Old as the Creation and The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy’s “English Deism”
Link: Matthew Tindal’s Christianity as Old as the Creation (PDF) and The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy’s “English Deism” (HTML)

Instructions: Please read the Tindal piece prior to taking a look at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy’s entry on English Deism for an overview. Please pay special attention to the section on Matthew Tindal.

Note on the texts: In 1730, Matthew Tindal, a Deist theologian, published Christianity as Old as the Creation, which is often considered “The Deist’s Bible.” In it, Tindal argues that the essential truths of Christianity have always been known, and that any claims to mystical or divine “revelations” must be tested by the rational mind.

About the links: The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy is a non-profit, peer-reviewed compendium intended to provide open access to scholarly information on key topics and philosophers. The site is currently edited by Dr. James Fieser of the University of Tennessee at Martin and Bradley Dowden of California State University, Sacramento.

Terms of Use: The material above "Chirstianity as Old as the Creation" is available for viewing in the Public Domain. Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
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1.2.5 Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s “Social Contract” and Other Understandings of Socio-Political Relations

Reading: John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government and Excerpts from Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s The Social Contract; Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy’s “Jean-Jacques Rousseau” and “John Locke.”
Link: Excerpts from Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s The Social Contract (PDF)

Also available in
iBooks ($0.99)
Google Books

John Locke’s Second Treatise (HTML)
Also available in
PDF (in a version by Jonathan Bennett via www.earlymoderntexts.com)
Google Books

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy’s “Jean-Jacques Rousseau” and “John Locke” (HTML)

Instructions: Read Book I and Book V of Rousseau’s The Social Contract and Chapters 1-3 of Locke’s Second Treatise for an introduction to the idea of the “social contract.” Also read the essays from the Internet Encyclopedia on Rousseau and Locke for a brief introduction to both philosophers.

About the text: In Second Treatise (1689), John Locke articulates his theories of natural law and natural right, arguing that government is natural and necessary, as long as it maintains popular consent. Rousseau’s The Social Contract articulates similar propositions, insisting that a government is only legitimate when it is controlled by the general will of its citizens.

About the link: The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy is a non-profit, peer-reviewed compendium intended to provide open access to scholarly information of key topics and philosophers. The site is currently edited by Dr. James Fieser of the University of Tennessee at Martin and Bradley Dowden of California State University, Sacramento.

Terms of Use: The material above "The Social Contract" is available for viewing in the Public Domain. Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
The Saylor Foundation does not yet have materials for this portion of the course. If you are interested in contributing your content to fill this gap or aware of a resource that could be used here, please submit it here.
Submit Materials

1.3 The French Enlightenment Travels to Great Britain

1.3.1 The Philosophes: Key Figures and Concepts

Reading: Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy’s “French Deism”
Link: Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy’s “French Deism” (HTML)

Instructions: Please read the entirety of the entry above for an introduction to the emergence of Enlightenment ideals in France. The article also provides introductory background of the major thinkers and concepts, (including Rousseau and Voltaire) that dominated 18^th-century French thought.

About the link: The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy is a non-profit, peer-reviewed compendium intended to provide open access to scholarly information of key topics and philosophers. The site is currently edited by Dr. James Fieser of the University of Tennessee at Martin and Bradley Dowden of California State University, Sacramento.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
The Saylor Foundation does not yet have materials for this portion of the course. If you are interested in contributing your content to fill this gap or aware of a resource that could be used here, please submit it here.
Submit Materials

1.3.2 Categorizing Human Knowledge: The Encyclopedia

Reading: The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy’s “Denis Diderot”
Link: The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy’s "Denis Diderot"(HTML)

Instructions: Please read the entry on “Denis Diderot” for information on his development of the Encyclopedia, as well as his concept of what function the Encyclopedia served in terms of contributing to the 18th-century organization of society

About the link: The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy is a non-profit, peer-reviewed compendium intended to provide open access to scholarly information of key topics and philosophers. The site is currently edited by Dr. James Fieser of the University of Tennessee at Martin and Bradley Dowden of California State University, Sacramento.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
The Saylor Foundation does not yet have materials for this portion of the course. If you are interested in contributing your content to fill this gap or aware of a resource that could be used here, please submit it here.
Submit Materials

1.3.3 Voltaire’s Tenets of Empirical Thought and Religious Tolerance

Reading: Excerpts from Voltaire’s Candide
Link: Excerpts from Voltaire’s Candide (PDF)

Also available in
PDF
Google Books
Kindle($0.95)
iBooks (free)

Instructions: Please read through Chapters I-X of Candide as well as the brief “Introduction” at its outset.

About the text: Candide, Voltaire’s famous 1759 novel, explores a number of 18^thcentury Enlightenment concerns, including whether human progress is possible and whether the world is rational (especially in the face of terrible natural disasters).

Terms of Use: The material above is available for viewing in the Public Domain. Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
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Reading: The Saylor Foundation's "Voltaire’s Tenets of Empirical Thought and Religious Tolerance"
Link: The Saylor Foundation's "Voltaire’s Tenets of Empirical Thought and Religious Tolerance" (PDF)

Instructions: Please complete the reading on Voltaire and complete the discussion questions.
See a broken link? Please let us know!

1.3.4 English Counterparts: John Locke, David Hume, and the Origins of Moral Relativism

Reading: Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy’s “The Political Philosophy of John Locke” and “David Hume’s Life and Writings”
Links: Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy’s “The Political Philosophy of John Locke” (HTML) and “Hume: Life and Writings” (HTML)

Instructions: Please read the entries on both philosophers, paying special attention to the mention of their respective ideas about moral relativism.

About the link: The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy is a non-profit, peer-reviewed compendium intended to provide open access to scholarly information of key topics and philosophers. The site is currently edited by Dr. James Fieser of the University of Tennessee at Martin and Bradley Dowden of California State University, Sacramento.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
The Saylor Foundation does not yet have materials for this portion of the course. If you are interested in contributing your content to fill this gap or aware of a resource that could be used here, please submit it here.
Submit Materials
Lecture: Yale University: John Merriman’s “The Enlightenment and the Public Sphere” Lecture
Link: Yale University: John Merriman’s “The Enlightenment and the Public Sphere” (YouTube) Lecture

Instructions: Please view the entirety of “The Enlightenment and the Public Sphere” lecture from John Merriman’s “European Civilization, 1648-1945” course at Yale University.

About the link: Yale University offers a variety of free, open educational materials online, including the above lecture.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
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1.4 Trends in Restoration Literature

1.4.1 Coffeehouse Culture: the Spectator and Men of Letters

Reading: Excerpts from Spectator, Volume 1 as well as The Internet Modern History Sourcebook's “The First English Coffee Houses” and “Salon Life”
Link: Excerpts from Spectator, Volume 1 (1711) (PDF)

Also available in
PDF
Google Books

as well as The Internet Modern History Sourcebook's “The First English Coffee-Houses” (PDF) and “Salon Life” (PDF)

Instructions: Please read the “Preface” and entry “No. 1” from the Spectator, an 18^th-century periodical intended to promote Enlightenment thought by circulating ideas in a periodical that could be read by the masses. Also read both texts in their entirety for a background on the social atmosphere of the time.

About the link: The Internet Modern History Sourcebook is a collection of public domain primary sources intended to serve the needs of college students. In 1997, the project was developed and sources were compiled by Fordham University professor Paul Halsall.

Terms of Use: The materials above are available for viewing in the Public Domain.
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1.4.2 Satire: Horation Roots and Enlightenment Applications

Reading: Project Gutenberg’s version of Alexander Pope’s Rape of the Lock; VictorianWeb’s “Rape of the Lock: An Introduction”; and The Norton Anthology of Literature’s “A Day in Eighteenth Century London.”
Link: Project Gutenberg’s version of Alexander Pope’s Rape of the Lock (HTML); VictorianWeb’s “Rape of the Lock: An Introduction” (PDF), and The Norton Anthology of Literature’s “A Day in Eighteenth Century London” (HTML)

Also available in: (Rape of the Lock, Project Gutenberg)
Google Books
iBooks (free)

Instructions: Read the Rape of the Lock in its entirety, as well as the introduction on the VictorianWeb. To view in PDF format, please follow the "PDF" link above; the text is found via the first link. In “A Day in Eighteen Century London,” please pay close attention to the second paragraph, which focuses on the “Rape of the Lock” as a depiction of eighteenth-century everyday life.

Note on the text: In his famous mock-epic, The Rape of the Lock, Alexander Pope satirizes a frivolous quarrel between two wealthy families, poking fun but also astounding readers with his metrical finesse and creativity.

About the links:The material on the VictorianWeb comes from a number of different academic contributors, but the site itself is the brainchild of Brown University’s George P. Landow; this particular page features an essay by Professor David Cody of Hartwick University.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above. The article above has been reposted by the kind permission of George Landow from Brown University, and can be viewed in its original form here. Please note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder.
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Lecture: Indira Gandhi National Open University’s “Alexander Pope”
Link: Indira Gandhi National OpenUniversity’s “Alexander Pope” (YouTube)

Instructions: Please listen to the entire lecture for an introduction to Pope’s use of satire, as well as other prominent themes that surface in his work.

About the link: Indira Gandhi National Open University is a national university founded in New Delhi, India with the intention of providing a means for open, distance learning. The lecture has been made available through the University’s YouTube channel.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
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Reading: The Saylor Foundation's "Satire: Horation Roots and Enlightenment Applications"
Link: The Saylor Foundation's "Satire: Horation Roots and Enlightenment Applications" (PDF)

Instructions: Please answer the discussion questions related to this lesson.
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1.4.3 Wit and Satire in Political Writing

Reading: Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”
Link: Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” (PDF)

Also available in
PDF
Google Books
iBooks (free)

Instructions: Please read all of Swift’s short essay “A Modest Proposal,” an example of political satire directed at the British upper class.

Terms of Use: The material above "A Modest Proposal" is available for viewing in the Public Domain. Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
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Web Media: Northwestern Library’s “Politics and Print” Exhibition from “William Hogarth and 18th-Century Print Culture”
Link: Northwestern Library’s Politics in Print (HTML) Exhibition from “William Hogarth and 18^th-Century Print Culture”

Instructions: Please scroll through the images on the bottom of the screen, and read the accompanying blurbs.

About the link: Northwestern Library’s Special Collections page has made available an exhibition entitled “William Hogarth and 18^thCentury Print Culture.” The prints themselves are in the public domain.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
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Lecture: Montgomery County Community College: Dr. Catherine Carsley’s “Swift, Satire, and the Enlightenment”
Links: Montgomery County Community College: Dr. Catherine Carsley’s "Swift, Satire, and the Enlightenment"(iTunes U)

Instructions: Please listen to all of Dr. Carsley’s “Swift, Satire, and the Enlightenment.”

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
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1.4.4 Comedies of Manners

Reading: William Congreve’s The Way of the World and Theater History’s “Restoration Drama”
Link: William Congreve’s The Way of the World (PDF)

Also available in
Google Books
iBooks (free)
Kindle($2.79)

Theater History’s “Restoration Drama” (HTML)

Instructions: Please read the full text of The Way of the World, as well as Theater History’s entry on Restoration Drama for more information about the development of 18^th-century theater out of the Restoration political context, as well as a thorough background on Restoration Comedy. Please read the entire entry, but focus on the sections titled “Nature of Restoration Comedy.”

Note on the text: “The Way of the World,” William Congreve’s witty comedy-of- manners play, features a startlingly complex plot and memorable, epigrammatic dialogue as it explores the related issues of love, power, and money.

Terms of Use: The material above "The Way of the World" is available for viewing in the Public Domain.
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Reading: The Saylor Foundation's "Comedies of Manners"
Link: The Saylor Foundation's "Comedies of Manners" (PDF)

Instructions: Please complete the discussion questions relating to this lesson.
See a broken link? Please let us know!

Unit 2: The Rise of the Modern Novel

While clearly not a literary “period,” the rise of the novel (as we know it) took place over the course of the 18^thcentury; though prose fiction had existed since ancient times, the modern novel—a serious form with mass, popular appeal—was born at some point in the early 1700s. In this unit, we will trace its emergence and maturation, seeking to understand the reasons for its popularity while exploring and defining a number of its features and sub-genres.

Unit 2 Time Advisory show close

Unit 2 Learning Outcomes show close

2.1 Early Versions of and Contexts for the Modern Novel

2.1.1 Spanish Picaresque, the French Romance, and other Precursors to the Novel

Reading: Washington State University’s “The Early American Novel” and CUNY-Brooklyn: Dr. Lilia Melani’s essay on “The Novel”
Link: Washington State University: Donna M. Campbell's "The Early American Novel" (PDF) and CUNY-Brooklyn: Dr. Lilia Melani’s “The Novel” (PDF)

Instructions: Please on the read the section of “The Early American Novel” on picaresque, which traces the origins of the form, as well as the entire text of Dr. Melani’s “The Novel” which also speaks about the development of the modern novel out of the earlier genres.

Terms of Use: "The Early American Novel" has been reposted by the kind permission of Donna M. Campbell, and can be viewed in its original form here. Please note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder. The article above "The Novel" has been reposted by the kind permission of Dr. Lilia Melani from CUNY Brooklyn, and can be viewed in its original form here. Please note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder.
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2.1.2 The Merging of Fact and Fiction in Early 18th Century Writings

Reading: Excerpts from Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko and The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s "Slavery and the Slave Trade in Britain"
Link: Excerpts from Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko (PDF)
Also available in
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Google Books
iBooks ($0.99)
Kindle($7.77)

The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s "Slavery and the Slave Trade in Britain"(HTML)

Instructions: Read the first few pages of Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko. Please also read through the entire essay on “Slavery and Slave Trade in Britain” as a background to Oroonoko.

Note on the texts: Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko blends fact and fiction, presenting readers with a hybrid narrative style that combines memoir, travel writing, and biography.

Terms of Use: The material above "Oroonoko" is available for viewing in the Public Domain. Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
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2.1.3 “Popular” Fiction: The Middle Class and the Novel

Reading: The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “Summary of the Restoration and the 18th Century” ; Washington State University: The European Enlightenment’s “The Eighteenth Century”; CUNY-Brooklyn: Dr. Lilia Melani’s “Daniel Defoe,” “Henry Fielding,” and “Laurence Sterne.”
Link: The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s "Summary of the Restoration and the 18^thCentury"(HTML) ; Washington State University: The European Enlightenment’s “The Eighteenth Century”(HTML) ; CUNY Brooklyn: Dr. Lilia Melani’s "Daniel Defoe," (PDF) "Henry Fielding," (PDF) and "Laurence Sterne" (PDF)

Instructions: Please reread these summaries of the Restoration and the 18^thCentury, this time focusing on mentions of increased literacy in the middle class found in the penultimate paragraph. Also read the three essays on “Daniel Defoe,” “Henry Fielding,” and “Laurence Sterne” for overviews of the some of the popular, commercial literature of the time.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above. The CUNY Brooklyn articles above have been reposted by the kind permission of Dr. Lilia Melani from CUNY Brooklyn, and can be viewed in its original form here (HTML), here (HTML), and here (HTML), respsectively. Please note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder.
The Saylor Foundation does not yet have materials for this portion of the course. If you are interested in contributing your content to fill this gap or aware of a resource that could be used here, please submit it here.
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2.1.4 Representations of Everyday Life in the Novel

Reading: Excerpts from Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded and The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “A Day in Eighteenth-Century London”
Link: Excerpts from Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, Or Virtue Rewarded (PDF)

Also Available in:
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Google Books
Kindle($1.05)
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The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “A Day in 18^th-Century London”(HTML)

Instructions: Please read Letters X-XII and Letter XXX from Richardson’s Pamela, Or Virtue Rewarded as well as The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “A Day in 18^th-Century London.”

About the text: Epistolary in form, Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded, is the story of a maid and her romantic affairs with an upper-class gentleman. Along with Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, it is often considered one of the first modern novels. Richardson’s close attention to the feelings and motives of his characters contributed significantly to the emergence of a new sub-genre, the sensibility novel, later in the century.

Terms of Use: The material above "Pamela" is available for viewing in the Public Domain. Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
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2.2 The Gothic Novel

Reading: The Saylor Foundation's "What Is “The Gothic?” Issues of Genre, Trope, and Form"
Link: The Saylor Foundation's "What Is “The Gothic?” Issues of Genre, Trope, and Form" (PDF)

Instructions: Pleas complete the reading related to the Gothic novel.
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2.2.1 What is “The Gothic?” Issues of Genre, Trope, and Form

Reading: The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “The Gothic: Overview”
Link: The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “The Gothic: Overview”(HTML)

Instructions: Please read all of “The Gothic: Overview” as an introduction to the genre of the novel.

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2.2.2 Antiquarianism and the Gothic Novel

Reading: Horace Walpole’s Castle of Otranto as well as the The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “Introduction to the Castle of Otranto”
Link: Horace Walpole’s “Castle of Otranto” (HTML) as well as The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s "Introduction to The Castle of Otranto" (HTML)

Instructions: Please read the entire text of Walpole’s Castle of Otranto as well as the brief “Introduction” to the text from The Norton Anthology of English Literature.

Note on the texts: The Castle of Otranto is considered the first of the Gothic novels. Its antiquarianism and supernatural happenings would become hallmarks of the genre.

Terms of Use: The material above "Castle of Otranto" is available for viewing in the Public Domain.
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2.2.3 Terror, Horror, and the Supernatural

Reading: CUNY-Brooklyn: Dr. Lilia Melani’s “Terror and Horror”; Anna Aikin and John Aikin’s “On Pleasure Derived from Objects of Terror”
Link: Professor Lilia Melani’s article “Terror and Horror” (PDF) from her website “The Gothic Experience”; Anna Aikin and John Aikin’s "On Pleasure Derived from Objects of Terror" (PDF)

Instructions: Please read through both essays in their entirety for an introduction to the distinctions between terror, supernatural, and horror. Also read “On Pleasure Derived from Objects of Terror” for an 18^th-century opinion of why Gothic literature appealed to readers, and therefore explains the popularity of the form

About the link: The Gothic Experience is a course based website developed by Dr. Lilia Melani from CUNY-Brooklyn College.

Terms of Use: The "Terror and Horror" article above has been reposted by the kind permission of Dr. Lilia Melani from CUNY Brooklyn, and can be viewed in its original form here (HTML). Please note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder. The material above "On Pleasure Derived from Objects of Terror" is available for viewing in the Public Domain.
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2.2.4 The Sublime

Reading: Edmund Burke’s “A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful” ; VictorianWeb’s “Edmund Burke’s On the Sublime”
Links: Edmund Burke’s "A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful" (PDF) and VictorianWeb’s "Edmund Burke's On the Sublime" (PDF)

Instructions: Please read both the primary and secondary texts in their entirety for an introduction to the concept of the sublime

Terms of Use: The excerpt from Edmund Burke is available in the public domain. The VictorianWeb article above has been reposted by the kind permission of George Landow from Brown University, and can be viewed in its original form here (HTML). Please note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder.
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Web Media: The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s Illustrations of the Sublime
Links: The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s "Illustrations"(HTML) of the Sublime

Instructions: Please look through all the illustrations, paying particular attention to #12, J.M.W. Turner’s “The Passage of St. Gothard” (1804), which provides an excellent visualization of the concept of the sublime.

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2.2.5 Internal and External Landscapes: Psychology and Architectural Space in Gothic Fiction

Reading: Excerpt from Anne Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho; CUNY-Brooklyn: Dr. Lilia Melani’s “The Gothic Experience” and “Anne Radcliffe”
Link: Excerpt from Anne Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho (PDF) and CUNY-Brooklyn: Dr. Lilia Melani’s "The Gothic Experience" (PDF) and "Anne Radcliffe" (PDF)

Also available in:
Google Books
iBooks (free)

Instructions: Please read Volume II, Chapters 5-6 from The Mysteries of Udolpho, paying particular attention to the creation of a Gothic architectural place in the descriptions of the castle. Also, please read Dr. Lilia Melani’s short essays on “The Gothic Experience” and “Anne Radcliffe” for more context on the novel.

About the text: Another archetypical Gothic novel, The Mysteries of Udolpho features a complex plot that features the misfortunes of a damsel-in-distress heroine, a number of supernatural and mysterious occurrences, and the classic Gothic space: an old castle.

About the link: The Gothic Experience is a course based website developed by Dr. Lilia Melani from CUNY-Brookyln College.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpages above. The articles above "Gothic Defined" and "Anne Radcliffe" have been reposted by the kind permission of Dr. Lilia Melani from CUNY Brooklyn, and can be viewed in its original form here (HTML) and here (HTML), respectively. Please note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder. The material above "The Mysteries of Udolpho" is available for viewing in the Public Domain.
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2.2.6 Sexuality and Gender in the Gothic Novel

Reading: Excerpts from Matthew Lewis’s The Monk; The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “Matthew Gregory Lewis, from The Monk”; and University of Virginia’s website, “The Female Gothic”
Links: Matthew Lewis’s The Monk (PDF)

Also available in:
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Kindle ($2.40)
iBooks (free)

The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s "Matthew Gregory Lewis, from The Monk" (HTML); and University of Virginia’s “The Female Gothic ” (PDF)

Instructions: Please read chapters 1-2 of The Monk, as well as the excerpts and introduction provided by The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Also read the introduction found on The University of Virginia’s “The Female Gothic” site, which provides an overview of the gender politics found in Gothic novels, and the brief secondary excerpts under the sections entitled “Virgins in Distress and Demons in Disguise” and “The Inner Space.”

About the text: In Matthew Lewis’ highly-charged and densely-plotted novel The Monk, lust and sexual misconduct take place amongst members of religious orders. The book, which also features stereotypically Gothic elements like demonic pacts, the figure of the Wandering Jew, ruined castles, and so on, was widely criticized for this shocking portrayal of the religious.

Terms of Use: "The Monk" is available for viewing in the Public Domain. "The Female Gothic" has been reposted by the kind permission of Ami Berger, and can be viewed in its original form here. Please note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder.
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2.3 Sentimentality and the Novel of Sensibility

2.3.1 Sentimentality and Sensibility: Key Themes, Tropes, and Styles

Reading: Washington State University: Donna M. Campbell's “The Early American Novel”
Link: Washington State University: Donna M. Campbell's "The Early American Novel" (PDF)

Instructions: Please look again at “The Early American Novel” section on sentimentalism, which traces the development of the sentimental novel in 18^th-century England.

Terms of Use: The linked material above has been reposted by the kind permission of Donna M. Campbell, and can be viewed in its original form here. Please note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder.
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2.3.2 A Reaction to Neoclassical/Enlightenment Austerity and Logic

Reading: The History Guide: Dr. Steven Kreis’s “The Age of Ideologies” (HTML) Lecture
Link: The History Guide: Dr. Steven Kreis’s "The Age of Ideologies"(HTML) Lecture

Instructions: Please read all of Lecture #23, “The Age of Ideologies,” which provides an overview of reactions to the Enlightenment, including the emergence of counter-ideas such as a return to emotional, sentimental literature.

About the link: The History Guide is a collection of lectures developed by Dr. Steven Kreis, and functions as an online textbook of European history.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
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2.3.3 Elements of Sentimentality in Richardson’s Pamela

Reading: Additional excerpts of Richardson’s Pamela and CUNY-Brooklyn: Dr. Lilia Melani’s “Samuel Richardson; Reputation of Clarissa”
Link: Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, Or Virtue Rewarded (PDF) and CUNY-Brooklyn: Dr. Lilia Melani’s "Samuel Richardson; Reputation of Clarissa" (PDF)

Also available in: (Pamela, Or Virtue Rewarded)
PDF
Google Books
Kindle($1.05)
iBooks (free)

Instructions: Read letters I-IV of Richardson’s Pamela, Or Virtue Rewarded. Please also read the entire essay on “Samuel Richardson; Reputation of Clarissa” for more information on the sentimental novel.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above. The "Samuel Richardson; Reputation of Clarissa" article above has been reposted by the kind permission of Dr. Lilia Melani from CUNY Brooklyn, and can be viewed in its original form here (HTML). Please note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder. The material above "Pamela, Or Virtue Rewarded" is available for viewing in the Public Domain.
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Unit 3: Romanticism

Like authors of the sentimental novel, Romantic poets and authors rebelled against what they considered the stifling intellectualism and rigid logic of the Enlightenment thinkers. In this unit, we will examine various social and economic contexts that fostered Romanticism, while attempting to define the movement in terms of themes, styles, and tropes.

Unit 3 Time Advisory show close

Unit 3 Learning Outcomes show close

3.1 Social and Economic Contexts

3.1.1 The French Revolution and Concepts of Political and Social Reformation

Reading: The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “Introduction” to The Romantic Period
Link: The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “Introduction” to The Romantic Period (HTML)

Instructions: Please read the “Introduction” to the Romantic Period for background on the social, economic, and political context that shaped the era’s literature

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Reading: The History Guide: Dr. Steven Kreis’s “The Origins of the French Revolution” and “The Romantic Era” Lectures
Link: The History Guide: Dr. Steven Kreis’s “The Origins of the French Revolution”(HTML) and "The Romantic Era"(HTML) Lectures

Instructions: Please read all of Lecture #11, “The Origins of the French Revolution,” and Lecture #16, “The Romantic Era,” which provide an excellent overview of the period, as well as an excellent sense of the ways in which the Romantic period grew out of the Enlightenment.

About the link: The History Guide is a collection of lectures developed by Dr. Steven Kreis, and functions as an online textbook of European history.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
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3.1.2 Changes in Social Relations: The Industrial Revolution and the Emergence of the Bourgeoisie

Reading: The History Guide: Dr. Steven Kreis’s “The Origins of the Industrial Revolution in England” Lecture and Western New England College: Dr. Gerhard Rempel’s “The Industrial Revolution”
Reading: The History Guide: Dr. Steven Kreis’s “The Origins of the Industrial Revolution in England”(HTML) Lecture and Western New England College: Dr. Gerhard Rempel’s "The Industrial Revolution"(HTML)

Instructions: Please read all of Lecture #17, “The Origins of the Industrial Revolution in England” and all of Lecture #19, “The Industrial Revolution,” both of which trace the development and the significant changes resulting from the rise of industry

About the link: The History Guide is a collection of lectures developed by Dr. Steven Kreis, and functions as an online textbook of European history. The lecture on “The Industrial Revolution” is part of a series of lectures and resources developed by Professor Gerhard Rempel of Western New England College.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
The Saylor Foundation does not yet have materials for this portion of the course. If you are interested in contributing your content to fill this gap or aware of a resource that could be used here, please submit it here.
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3.1.3 The Rise of Nationalism and the Renewed Interest in Native Folklore Traditions

Reading: Washington State University Dr. Paul Brians' “Romanticism” and as well as excerpt from The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s version of Richard Price’s “A Discourse on the Love of Our Country”
Link: Washington State University: Dr. Paul Brians' "Romanticism" (PDF) and The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s version of Richard Price’s “A Discourse on the Love of Our Country” (HTML)

Instructions: From Dr. Brian’s “Romanticism”, please read the material under the heading “Origins,” especially the sections on “Folklore and Popular Art,” “Nationalism,” and “Nature” for more information of how literature developed out of national myths. Then read Richard Price’s “A Discourse on the Love of Our Country” for an 18^th-century essay loaded with nationalist thought.

About the link: The essay on “Romanticism” was developed by Dr. Paul Brians, a Professor at Washington State University, as part of his series of course materials on 18^thand 19^thcentury European Classics.

Terms of Use: "Romanticism" has been reposted by the kind permission of Dr. Paul Brians, and can be viewed in its original form here. Please note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder. Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
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Web Media: Web Gallery of Art’s version of John Martin’s “The Bard”
Link: Web Gallery of Art’s version of John Martin’s "The Bard"(HTML)

Instructions: Please take a look at Martin’s painting, which provides a visualization of the ways in which folklore and national myth became part of the Romantic world, before read the brief description beneath the image

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3.1.4 “The Spirit of the Age”: A Sense of Literary Renewal

Reading: Reading: The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “Summary of the Romantic Era”
Link: The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s "Summary of the Romantic Era” (HTML)

Instructions: Please look over this brief “Summary” of the Romantic Era. Please pay special attention to the first three paragraphs, which speak about the concept of the “Spirit of the Age” and serve as an excellent transition into the following unit on Romantic Poetics.

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3.2 Romantic Poetics

3.2.1 A New Understanding of Poetry: the Poem as a “Spontaneous Overflow of Powerful Feelings”

Reading: VictorianWeb’s "Emotionalist Moral Philosophy: Sympathy and the Moral Theory that Overthrew Kings" and Dr Lilia Melani's “Introduction to Romanticism”
Link: VictorianWeb’s "Emotionalist Moral Philosophy: Sympathy and the Moral Theory that Overthrew Kings" (PDF) and Dr Lilia Melani's "Introduction to Romanticism" (PDF)

Instructions: Please start by reading both short summaries of Romanticism, taking special note of the phrase “spontaneous overflow of emotion.”

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above. The VictorianWeb article above has been reposted by the kind permission of George Landow from Brown University, and can be viewed in its original form here (HTML). The "Introduction to Romanticism" article above has been reposted by the kind permission of Dr. Lilia Melani from CUNY Brooklyn, and can be viewed in its original form here (HTML). Please note that these materials are under copyright and cannot be reproduced in any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder.
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3.2.2 The Role of the Romantic Poet in the Creation of Poetry

Reading: The Poetry Foundation’s “Introduction” to Thomas Love Peacock’s “The Four Ages of Poetry” and The Poetry Foundation’s version of Percy Shelley’s “A Defence of Poetry”
Links: The Poetry Foundation’s “Introduction to Thomas Love Peacock’s‘ The Four Ages of Poetry’" (HTML) and The Poetry Foundation’s version of Percy Shelley’s A Defence of Poetry (HTML)

Instructions: Please read the Poetry Foundation’s short “Introduction” to each text before reading the first few paragraphs of Peacock’s and Shelley’s essays on poetry. You needn’t read the full text of either. Please pay attention to both poet’s concepts of the poet’s role in creating art.

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Lecture: UCDavis: Dr. Timothy Morton’s “William Wordsworth: Radical Poetics”
Link: UCDavis: Dr. Timothy Morton’s "William Wordsworth: Radical Poetics"(iTunes U)

Instructions: Please listen to all of Lecture #11, “William Wordsworth: Radical Poetics”

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3.2.3 The Lyric Poem Takes Center-Stage

Reading: The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “Summary” of the Romantic Era as well as CUNY-Brooklyn’s “On Reading Lyric Poetry”
Link: The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s "Summary"(HTML) of the Romantic Era and CUNY-Brooklyn College’s “On Reading Lyric Poetry” (PDF)

Instructions: Please read through this short “Summary” of the Romantic Era once more, this time focusing on the mentions of the rise of lyric poetry; also read CUNY-Brooklyn College’s “On Reading Lyric Poetry.”

Terms of Use: The linked material "On Reading Lyric Poetry" above has been reposted by the kind permission of Dr Lilia Melani from CUNY-Brooklyn College, and can be viewed in its original form here (HTML). Please note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder.
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3.2.4 Poet as a “Chosen Son” or “Bard”

Reading: Excerpts from William Wordsworth’s “The Prelude”; The Poetry Foundation’s "Selections from of John Keats’ Letters"; Poets.org’s “Biography of John Keats”
Links: Excerpts from William Wordsworth’s "The Prelude" (PDF); The Poetry Foundation’s "Selections from John Keats’ Letters" (HTML); and Poets.org’s "Biography of John Keats" (HTML)

Also available in:
Google Books ("The Prelude")

Instructions: Please read the following excerpts from “The Prelude” for a reflection on Wordsworth’s concept of himself as a “chosen son”: Book I, lines 47-59 and Book III, 278-323. Then read selections from Keats’ letters and Poets.org’s biography of John Keats, which also speak to the poet’s idea of the poet as chosen to do his work.

Terms of Use: The material above "The Prelude" is available for viewing in the Public Domain. Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
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3.2.5 The Centrality of Individual Experience

Reading: Excerpts from William Wordsworth’s “The Prelude” as well as Poets.org’s “Biography of William Wordsworth”
Links: Excerpts from William Wordsworth’s “The Prelude” (PDF) as well as Poets.org’s "Biography of William Wordsworth"(HTML)

Instructions: Please read the following portions of Wordsworth’s “The Prelude”: Book I: Childhood and Schooltime; Book III: Residence at Cambridge; Book VII: Residence in London; and Book VIII: Love of Nature Leading to Love of Man. In addition, please look at the “Biography” of Wordsworth found on Poets.org. Please notice Wordsworth’s inclusion of personal, individual experiences within his work.

Note on the text: “The Prelude” is William Wordsworth’s largely autobiographical, epic-length poem about self-formation and the ways in which experience shapes the individual.

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3.3 Romantic Poetic Conventions and Tropes

3.3.1 Relationship between Man and Nature

Reading: William Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey”; Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Frost at Midnight” and “Dejection”; Percy Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind”; John Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale”; The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “Tintern Abbey, Tourism, and Romantic Landscape” and VictorianWeb’s “Wordsworth and Coleridge on Nature”
Links: William Wordsworth’s "Tintern Abbey" (PDF)

Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s "Frost at Midnight" (PDF); "Dejection" (PDF)
Also available in:
PDF "Dejection: An Ode" (Scroll down list of authors to Coleridge)

Percy Shelley’s "Ode to the West Wind" (PDF)

John Keats’ "Ode to a Nightingale" (PDF)
Also available in:
PDF (Scroll down to link)

The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s "Tintern Abbey, Tourism, and Romantic Landscape" (HTML)

VictorianWeb's "Wordsworth and Coleridge on Nature" (PDF)

Instructions: Please read through the poems “Tintern Abbey,” “Frost at Midnight,” “Dejection,” “Ode to the West Wind,” and “Ode to a Nightingale” before reading the essays on “Tintern Abbey, Tourism, and Romantic Landscape” and “Wordsworth and Coleridge on Nature,” which will provide you with more information about the poems.

Terms of Use: The materials above "Frost at Midnight", "Dejection: An Ode", "Ode to the West Wind", "Ode to a Nightingale", and "Tintern Abbey" are available for viewing in the Public Domain. The VictorianWeb article above has been reposted by the kind permission of George Landow from Brown University, and can be viewed in its original form here (HTML). Please note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder.
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Lecture: UCDavis: Dr. Timothy Morton’s “Percy Shelley: Remaining Nature” and “Ecological Coleridge: It Happens”
Link: UCDavis: Dr. Timothy Morton’s “Percy Shelley: Reimagining Nature"(iTunes U) and "Ecological Coleridge: It Happens"(iTunes U)

Instructions: Please listen to all of Lecture #23, “Percy Shelley: Reimagining Nature” and all of Lecture #15, “Ecological Coleridge: It Happens”

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Reading: The Saylor Foundation's "Elements of Sentimentality in Richardson’s Pamela"
Link: The Saylor Foundation's "Elements of Sentimentality in Richardson’s Pamela" (PDF)

Instructions: Please complete the discussion questions related to this lesson.
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Reading: The Saylor Foundation's "Relationship Between Man and Nature"
Link: The Saylor Foundation's "Relationship Between Man and Nature" (PDF)

Instructions: Please complete the reading dealing with the relationship between man and nature.
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3.3.2 Everyday Language and the Common Man

Reading: Wordsworth’s “The Preface to Lyrical Ballads” and various poems from Lyrical Ballads and Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Biographia Literaria
Link: Wordsworth’s “The Preface to Lyrical Ballads” (PDF) and various poems from Lyrical Ballads (PDF) ; an excerpt from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Biographia Literaria (PDF)

Instructions: Please read through Wordsworth’s “Preface” and the linked portion of Coleridge’s Biographia Literaria, which discuss the use of everyday language in poetry, before reading the following poems from Lyrical Ballads: “The Foster Mother’s Tale,” “Lines Left Upon A Seat in A Yew Tree,” “The Nightingale,” “The Female Vagrant,” “Goody Blake and Harry Gill “ “Lines Written at A Small Distance from My House,” “Simon Lee, ” and “Anecdote for Fathers.” Please concentrate on the “everyday language” and representation of the “common man” while reading these poems.

Note on the texts: Lyrical Ballads contains poems by William Wordsworth and Samuel T. Coleridge. Using everyday language and representing “humble and rustic life,” the poems were a radical departure from canonical poetry at the time, which tended to be more formal and elevated in tone and subject.

Terms of Use: The materials above are available for viewing in the Public Domain.
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3.3.3 The Ballad and Questions of Form

Reading: Additional poems from Lyrical Ballads as well as the Poetry Foundation’s “Ballad”
Link: Lyrical Ballads (PDF) as well as the Poetry Foundation’s “Ballad” (HTML)

Instructions: Please read the following poems from Lyrical Ballads: “We Are Seven,” “Lines Written in Early Spring,” “The Thorn” “The Last of the Flock,” “The Dungeon,” “The Mad Mother,” “The Idiot Boy,” and “Lines Written Near Richmond.” Then read the Poetry Foundation’s definition of “the ballad” to get a sense for the form’s tradition.

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3.3.4 The Figure of the Outcast in Romantic Poetry

Reading: Lyrical Ballads
Link: Lyrical Ballads (PDF)

Instructions: Please read the following poems from Lyrical Ballads: “Expostulation and Reply,” “The Tables Turned,” “Old Man Travelling,” “The Complaint of the Forsaken Indian Woman,” “The Convict,” and “Tintern Abbey.” Please notice the reoccurring appearance of outcast figures—or, those outside the social mainstream such as wandering, lonely characters—in these poems.

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3.3.5 Apocalypse in Romantic Poetry

Reading: William Blake’s “Prophetic Books”; Poets.org’s “Biography of William Blake”; and The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “The French Revolution—Apocalyptic Expectations”
Links: William Blake’s "Book of Thel," (PDF)
"America: A Prophecy," (PDF)
"Europe: A Prophecy," (PDF)
"The Book of Urizen," (PDF)

all from his “Prophetic Books”; Poets.org’s "Biography of William Blake"; The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “The French Revolution—Apocalyptic Expectations”(HTML)

Instructions: Please read through each of Blake’s prophetic books, and be sure to read the footnotes for more context on them. Then take a look at Poets.org’s “Biography” as well as the essay on “The French Revolution—Apocalyptic Expectations” for additional historical context.

About the text: In his dense “Prophetic Books,” William Blake explores millennial concerns in his treatment of “The Fall” and “The Redemption,” imagining a recovery of things “as they truly are.

Terms of Use: The materials above from 'Prophetic Books" are available for viewing in the Public Domain.
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Lecture: UCDavis: Dr. Timothy Morton’s “William Blake: What Is Coexistence”
Link: UCDavis: Dr. Timothy Morton’s "William Blake: What Is Coexistence?"(iTunes U)

Instructions: Please listen to all of Lecture #6, “William Blake: What Is Coexistence”

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3.4 Other Romantic-Era Literature

3.4.1 The Familiar Essay / Review and the Rise of the Modern Periodical

Reading: The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “Summary” of the Romantic Era and Project Gutenberg’s version of De Quincey’s “To the Reader” from his Confessions of An Opium Eater
Link: The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s "Summary" of the Romantic Era and De Quincey’s “To the Reader” from his Confessions of An Opium Eater (PDF)

Instructions: Please reread the “Summary” of the Romantic Era, paying particular attention to the mentions in the penultimate paragraph on the increase in circulation of nonfiction essays and periodicals. Also, read the short “To the Reader” from De Quincey’s popular essay Confessions of an Opium Eater, an example of a familiar essay.

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3.4.2 Lamb, Hazlitt, and De Quincey: the Era’s Great Essayists and Their Rhetorical Strategies and Styles

Reading: Excerpts from The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s version of William Hazlitt’s Lectures on the English Poets
Link: Excerpt from The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s version of William Hazlitt’s "Lectures on the English Poets" (HTML)

Instructions: Please read the entirety of the above link for an example of a Romantic era essay on poetry.

Note on the text: In his essay “On the Living Poets,” William Hazlitt reviews contemporary contributions to the poetic field in his characteristic forthright style.

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Lecture: Georgetown University: Professor Duncan Wu’s “William Hazlitt: The First Modern Man”
Link: Georgetown University: Professor Duncan Wu’s "William Hazlitt: The First Modern Man" (iTunes U)

Instructions: Please listen to this lecture on William Hazlitt, which corresponds with his “Lectures on the English Poets.”

About the link: The lecture is made available on iTunes U through Georgetown University.

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3.4.3 Developments in Drama

Reading: The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “Summary of the Romantic Era"; Bartleby's “Preface” to Percy Shelley’s The Cenci; and Rutgers’ version of Shelley’s “Preface” to Prometheus Unbound
Link: The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s "Summary of the Romantic Era"; Bartleby's "Preface" (HTML) to Percy Shelley’s The Cenci; and Rutgers’ version of Shelley’s "Preface" (HTML) to Prometheus Unbound

Instructions: Please read through Norton’s brief overview of the Romantic Era, focusing on the final paragraph. Next, read the prefaces to The Cenci and Prometheus Unbound for a sense of the drama of the time.

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3.4.4 The Persistence of the Novel: Key Titles and Their Impact

Lecture: UC-Davis: Dr. Timothy Morton’s “Frankenstein: Monsters Are Us” and “Jane Austen: Novels and Interiority”
Link: UC-Davis: Dr. Timothy Morton’s "Frankenstein: Monsters Are Us"and “Jane Austen: Novels and Interiority”(iTunes U)

Instructions: Please listen to all of Lecture #25, “Frankenstein: Monsters Are Us” (Part 1) as well as all of Lecture #7, “Jane Austen: Narrative and Interiority” (Part 1), both of which provide examples of alternate Romantic era prose and novel writing

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Unit 4: The Victorian Period

We will begin by tracing the chronological arc of the Victorian Period—from early socio-economic unrest to the height of the British Empire and on to the erosion of Victorian values at the end of the century. We will then turn to literature from the period, situating major texts within the dynamic range of attitudes that accompanied the period’s historical developments, while attempting to define some of the period’s principal characteristics.

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4.1 The Reign of Queen Victoria

4.1.1 Early Victorian Economic and Social Difficulties: Strikes, Chartist Demonstrations, and the Corn Laws

Reading: VictorianWeb’s “Victorian and Victorianism”; The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “Introduction” to The Victorian Age; and PBS’s “Queen Victoria: The Changing Empire” Timeline
Link: Victorian Web’s “Victorian and Victorianism” (PDF); The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “Introduction” to The Victorian Age (HTML), and PBS’s "Queen Victoria: The Changing Empire" Timeline (HTML)

Instructions: Please read VictorianWeb’s “Victorian and Victorianism,” The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “Introduction” to the Victorian Age, and PBS’s “Queen Victoria: The Changing Empire” Timeline. Please read these for an introduction to the major economic and social events and changes that occurred in the Victorian period. In particular, pay attention to the focus on the idea of a new urban economy, which lent itself to the rise of problems for the workers composing the urban poor.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above. The VictorianWeb article above has been reposted by the kind permission of George Landow from Brown University, and can be viewed in its original form here (HTML). Please note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder.
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Reading: Western New England College: Dr. Gerhard Rempel’s “Dicken’s London” Lecture
Link: Western New England College: Dr. Gerhard Rempel’s "Dicken's London"(HTML) Lecture

Instructions: Please read all of Lecture #23, “Dicken’s London” for an introduction to the social, economic, and political factors that shaped the work of Victorian authors. Although Dr. Rempel bases his study on Dickens, this article should be read more generally as a basic overview of the 19^thcentury.

About the link: The lecture on “Victoria’s London” is part of a series of lectures and resources developed by Professor Gerhard Rempel of Western New England College.

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4.1.2 The Expansion of the Empire and British Missionaries

Reading: The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “Victorian Imperialism: Overview” as well as brief excerpts from The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s version of Thomas Macaulay’s "Minute on Indian Education" (1835) and Rudyard Kipling’s poem “The White Man’s Burden.”
Link: The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “Victorian Imperialism: Overview” (HTML) as well as brief excerpts from The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s version of Thomas Macaulay’s "Minute on Indian Education" (1835) (HTML) and Rudyard Kipling’s poem “The White Man’s Burden.” (PDF)

Instructions: Please read this brief overview of the increase in imperial thought in the 19^thcentury, as well as the rise of an expanded, colonial empire

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Web Media: PBS’ “Victoria: The Changing Empire” Interview with Lawrence James
Link: PBS’ "Victoria: The Changing Empire"(HTML) Interview with Lawrence James

Instructions: Please read the transcript of the interview.

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4.1.3 Religious Debate at Home: Divisions in the Church

Reading: PBS’s “The Moral Crusade” and VictorianWeb’s “The Warfare of Conscience with Theology”
Link: PBS’s "The Moral Crusade" and Victorian Web’s “The Warfare of Conscience with Theology” (HTML)

Instructions: Please read through both essays, which provide an overview of the religious state of affairs in the Victorian era, including divisions between different Churches and new concepts on religion itself

About the links: The material on the VictorianWeb comes from a number of different academic contributors, but the site itself is the brainchild of
Brown University’s George P. Landow. The essay on “The Warfare of Conscience with Theology” was written by Josef Althoz, a Professor of History at the University of Minnesota.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above. The VictorianWeb article above has been reposted by the kind permission of George Landow from Brown University, and can be viewed in its original form here (HTML). Please note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder.
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4.1.4 Characteristic Victorian Values—and Their Decline at the Turn of the Century

Reading: Western New England College: Dr. Gerhard Rempel’s “Victoria’s London” Lecture
Link: Western New England College: Dr. Gerhard Rempel’s “Victoria’s London” Lecture (HTML)

Instructions: Please read all of Lecture #22, “Victoria’s London” focusing on the section “Character of the Victorian Age” for information on the rise of morality, family, and other values in Victoria’s time

About the link: The lecture on “Victoria’s London” is part of a series of lectures and resources developed by Professor Gerhard Rempel of Western New England College.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
The Saylor Foundation does not yet have materials for this portion of the course. If you are interested in contributing your content to fill this gap or aware of a resource that could be used here, please submit it here.
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4.1.5 Literacy in the Victorian Period

Reading: VictorianWeb’s “Finding the Popular Audience”
Links: VictorianWeb’s "Finding the Popular Audience" (PDF)

Instructions: Please read all of VictorianWeb’s “Finding the Popular Audience” for information on literacy and reading, especially the rise in popular texts, in the 19^th-century

About the links: The material on the VictorianWeb comes from a number of different academic contributors, but the site itself is the brainchild of Brown University’s George P. Landow. This particular essay is found on the VictorianWeb page of Sally Mitchell, a Professor of English at Temple University.

Terms of Use: The VictorianWeb article above has been reposted by the kind permission of George Landow from Brown University, and can be viewed in its original form here (HTML). Please note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder.
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4.1.6 The Role of Women in Victorian Society

Reading: The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “The Woman Question”; Helen Taylor’s “The Claim of Englishwomen to the Suffrage Constitutionally Considered”; and WomHist's version of Barbara Bodichon’s “A Brief Summary in Plain Language of the Most Important Laws Concerning Women.”
Link: The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “The Woman Question”; Helen Taylor’s “The Claim of Englishwomen to the Suffrage Constitutionally Considered” (PDF); and WomHist's version of Barbara Bodichon’s "A Brief Summary in Plain Language of the Most Important Laws Concerning Women" (HTML)

Instructions: Please read “The Woman Question” as well as the primary sources from Helen Taylor’s “The Claim of Englishwomen to the Suffrage Constitutionally Considered” and Barbara Bodichon’s “A Brief Summary in Plain Language of the Most Important Laws Concerning Women,” for two 19^th-century examples of contemporary thought of women’s rights

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4.2 The Victorian Novel

4.2.1 The Serialized Novel, the “Three-Decker,” and Other Publication Contexts

Reading: VictorianWeb’s essay "Why Read the Serialized Versions of Victorian Novels?" as well as University of Michigan’s "Dickens and the Victorian Serial Novel" and "Great Expectations as a Victorian Serial Novel”
Links: VictorianWeb’s essay "Why Read the Serialized Versions of Victorian Novels?" (PDF) as well as the University of Michigan’s "Dickens and the Victorian Serial Novel"and "Great Expectations as a Victorian Serial Novel" (HTML)

Instructions: Please read through the entire essay of “Why Read the Serialized Versions of Victorian Novels?” while focusing on the material under the header “The Place of the Serial Text in the Work’s Critical History.” Next, read the two short essays for a case study of the serialized novel.

About the links: The material on the VictorianWeb comes from a number of different academic contributors, but the site itself is the brainchild of Brown University’s George P. Landow. The essay mentioned here was written by Philip V. Allingham, a contributing editor to the VictorianWeb. The essays from the University of Michigan are part of a hypertext edition of Dickens’s Great Expectations called “Pip’s World.”

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpages above. The VictorianWeb article above has been reposted by the kind permission of George Landow from Brown University, and can be viewed in its original form here (HTML). Please note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder.
The Saylor Foundation does not yet have materials for this portion of the course. If you are interested in contributing your content to fill this gap or aware of a resource that could be used here, please submit it here.
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4.2.2 Depictions of Victorian Society: Class Stratification and Material Conditions

Reading: Excerpts from Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre; VictorianWeb’s sitemap for Charlotte Bronte, specifically “Class Attitudes in The Westminster Review and Jane Eyre” and “The Position of Middle Class Women as Context from Bronte’s Jane Eyre”
Link: Excerpts from Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre (PDF), VictorianWeb’s Charlotte Bronte (HTML), and the articles on “Class Attitudes in The Westminster Review and Jane Eyre” (PDF) and “The Position of Middle Class Women as Context from Bronte’s Jane Eyre” (PDF)

Also available in:
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Instructions: Please read the Chapters 17 and 23 Jane Eyre, paying particular attention to Jane’s analysis of his own social position in relation to her class standing. Next, look through the VictorianWeb’s Charlotte Bronte page for context, focusing specifically on the articles mentioned under the “Social Context” section.

About the links: The material on the VictorianWeb comes from a number of different academic contributors, but the site itself is the brainchild of Brown University’s George P. Landow. The essay on “Class Attitudes in The Westminster Review and Jane Eyre” was written by Mary Schwingen and “The Position of Middle Class Women as Context from Bronte’s Jane Eyre” by Mark Jackson, both of Brown University.

Terms of Use: The VictorianWeb material above "Charlotte Bronte" has been reposted by the kind permission of George Landow from Brown University. Please note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder. The material above "Jane Eyre" is available for viewing in the Public Domain.
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Reading: The Saylor Foundation's "Depictions of Victorian Society: Class Stratification and Material Conditions"
Link: The Saylor Foundation's "Depictions of Victorian Society: Class Stratification and Material Conditions" (PDF)

Instructions: Please complete the discussion questions relating to this lesson.
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4.2.3 Sub-Genres on the Rise: the Detective Novel, Mysteries, and Science Fiction

Reading: VictorianWeb’s short introduction to Charles Darwin’s Voyage of the Beagle and “Richard Jefferies and Victorian Science Fiction”; VictorianWeb’s “Collins’s Detective Business”
Link: VictorianWeb’s Introduction to Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, (PDF) "Richard Jefferies and Victorian Science Fiction", (PDF) and “Collins's ‘Detective Business': The Moonstone as a Detective Novel,” (PDF) "Detection and Disruption Inside and Outside the 'Quiet English Home' in The Moonstone," (PDF) "Detection and Surveillance of the Colonial 'Other' in The Moonstone," (PDF) and "Dispersal of 'Detective Business' in Collins's Surveillance Society" (PDF)

Instructions: Please read the excerpts above, including VictorianWeb’s four-part essay on the detective in Wilkie Collins’s The Moonstone titled “Collins’s Detective Business” for an introduction to the development and function of the detective novel in the Victorian period, especially the ways in which this genre reacted to social and political issues

About the links: The material on the VictorianWeb comes from a number of different academic contributors, but the site itself is the brainchild of Brown University’s George P. Landow. The essay on “Richard Jefferies and Victorian Science Fiction” was written by Jacqueline Banerjee, a contributing editor to Victorian Web; the four part series on Wilkie Collins was written by Dr. Rashmi Sahni, from the University of New Delhi, India.

Terms of Use: The VictorianWeb articles above have been reposted by the kind permission of George Landow from Brown University, and can be viewed in its original form here, here, here, here, here, and here, respectively. Please note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder.
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4.2.4 Female Novelists and “Female Literature”

Reading: Excerpt from Eliza Lynn Linton’s The Girl of the Period and VictorianWeb’s “Women in Literature—A Literary Overview”
Link: Excerpt from Eliza Lynn Linton’s The Girl of the Period (PDF)

Also available in:
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VictorianWeb’s "Women in Literature—A Literary Overview" (HTML)

Instructions: Please read Linton’s The Girl of the Period, a seminal 19^th-century text that attacked modern women, including “New Women” for their behavior. Also read the essay on “Women in Literature—A Literary Overview” for an introduction to some of the popular “New Women” writers.

Terms of Use: The material above "The Girl of the Period" is available for viewing in the Public Domain.
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4.3 Poetry in the Victorian Period

4.3.1 Narrative Experiments in Verse

Reading: Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Maud"; Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “Aurora Leigh”; VictorianWeb’s “Maud”
Links: Alfred Lord Tennyson’s "Maud"; (PDF)

Elizabeth Barret Browning’s "Aurora Leigh"; (PDF)
Also available in:
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VictorianWeb’s “Maud” (PDF)
Also Available in:
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Instructions: Please read all of Tennyson’s “Maud” and all of Browning’s “Aurora Leigh”

Terms of Use: The first two materials above "Maud" and "Aurora Leigh" are available for viewing in the Public Domain. The VictorianWeb article "Maud" above have been reposted by the kind permission of George Landow from Brown University, and can be viewed in its original form here. Please note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder.
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Reading: VictorianWeb’s “Gerard Manley Hopkins and the Difficulty of Victorian Poetry” and “Representations of the Female Voice in Victorian Poetry”
Link: VictorianWeb’s “Gerard Manley Hopkins and the Difficulty of Victorian Poetry,” (PDF) and "Representations of the Female Voice in Victorian Poetry" (PDF)

Instructions: Please read the VictorianWeb article on “Gerard Manley Hopkins and the Difficulty of Victorian Poetry,” paying particular attention to the sections on Browning and Tennyson. Read the essay on “Representations of the Female Voice in Victorian Poetry” in conjunction with Browning’s “Aurora Leigh.”

About the links: The material on the VictorianWeb comes from a number of different academic contributors, but the site itself is the brainchild of Brown University’s George P. Landow.

Terms of Use: The VictorianWeb articles above have been reposted by the kind permission of George Landow from Brown University, and can be viewed in their original forms here and here, respectively. Please note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder.
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4.3.2 Relationship between Romantic Poetry and Victorian Poetry

Reading: Excerpt from Arthur Henry Hallum’s "On Some of the Characteristics of Modern Poetry, and on the Lyrical Poems of Alfred Tennyson"
Link: Excerpt from Arthur Henry Hallum’s "On Some of the Characteristics of Modern Poetry, and on the Lyrical Poems of Alfred Tennyson" (PDF)

Instructions: Please read through Henry Hallum’s 1831 review of Tennyson’s poetry, focusing on the connections between Wordsworth and Tennyson.

Terms of Use: The material above is available for viewing in the Public Domain. Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
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4.3.3 Experiments in Form and Style: New Directions in Dramatic Monologues and Lyric Verse

Reading: Samples from Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s and Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poetry; the Poetry Foundation's Definitions of “Lyric” and “Dramatic Monologue”; The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s Excerpt from Arthur Henry Hallum’s "On Some of the Characteristics of Modern Poetry, and on the Lyrical Poems of Alfred Tennyson"
Links: Tennyson’s "In Memoriam: A.H.H.,"(PDF)
Also available in:
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Kindle($0.95)
iBooks ($0.99)

“Ulysses” (PDF)

"Break, Break, Break"(PDF)
Also available in:
PDF (Scroll down alphabetical listing to poem title)

Browning’s "Mother and Poet" (PDF)
Also available in :
Google Books

“Sonnet 43” (PDF)

The Poetry Foundation’s Definitions of “Lyric”and “Dramatic Monologue”; (HTML) The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s Excerpt from Arthur Henry Hallum’s "On Some of the Characteristics of Modern Poetry, and on the Lyrical Poems of Alfred Tennyson" (HTML)

Instructions: Please start this unit by looking over the definitions of “Lyric” and “Dramatic Monologue” provided by The Poetry Foundation’s Glossary of Terms. Read the poems “In Memoriam: A.H.H.” and “Ulysses” by Tennyson and “Mother and Poet” and “Sonnet 43” by Browning, all of which provide examples of dramatic monologues and lyric poetry. Finally, read Hallum’s review of Tennyson for more information about Tennyson’s use of these forms.

Terms of Use: The materials above "In Memoriam: A.H.H.", "Ulysses", "Mother and Poet", and "Sonnet 43" are available for viewing in the Public Domain. Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
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Lecture: Professor Terry Meyers’s Lecture “Swinburne, Tennyson, and Matters Funeral”
Link: Professor Terry Meyer’s Lecture "Swinburne, Tennyson, and Matters Funeral"(iTunes U)

Instructions: Please listen to the entire lecture

About the link: The lecture is made available on iTunes U through Georgetown University. This particular lecture features as speaker Dr. Terry Meyers from The College of William and Mary.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
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4.3.4 The Sound of Victorian Poetry

Reading: Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Ulysses” and “The Charge of the Light Brigade” as well as Gerard Manley Hopkins “The Windhover” and “Spring and Fall”
Links: Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Ulysses” (PDF) and "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (PDF) as well as Gerard Manley’s Hopkins’s “The Windhover” (PDF) and “Spring and Fall” (PDF)

Instructions: Please read the linked poems above

Terms of Use: The materials above are available for viewing in the Public Domain.
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Web Media: The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s Audio Readings of Tennyson’s “Ulysses” and “The Charge of the Light Brigade” as well as Hopkins’s “The Windhover” and “Spring and Fall”
Links: The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s Audio Readings(HTML)

Instructions: Please listen to the audio versions of all four poems, paying attention to the ways in which the poem’s sound contributes to their meanings by creating a more dynamic poem

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Final Exam

Final Exam: The Saylor Foundation's "ENGL203 Final Exam"
Link: The Saylor Foundation's "ENGL203 Final Exam"

Instructions: You must be logged into your Saylor Foundation School account in order to access this exam. If you do not yet have an account, you will be able to create one, free of charge, after clicking the link.
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