Introduction to British Literature
English 121.4
11:00-12:30 T&Th; GL 304
Fall 2013
Joseph Viscomi [email protected]
Office: 504 GL, tele: 962 8764
hrs. 12:30-1:30 Tues., Thurs. &by appt.
http://english.unc.edu/faculty/viscomij.html
TEXTS:
The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 9th ed., volume 2. W.W. Norton and
Company, 2012.
Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist. Ed. Kathleen Tillotson. Oxford University Press, 1999.
8/20
Introduction to English 121
ROMANTIC PERIOD (Introduction, timeline, Literary Terminology)
WILLIAM BLAKE, intro and letters (images and biography in blakearchive.org, Works, About Blake)
8/22
Intro to Blake’s prints and art
8/27
Songs of Innocence
8/29
Songs of Experience
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, introduction, poems, prose
9/3
selections from Lyrical Ballads
9/5
selections from Preface to the Lyrical Ballads
9/10
selections from Coleridge’s Biographia Literaria: chap. 14
sonnets; Intimations of Immortality
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE, introduction, poems, prose
9/12
Conversation poems: Eolian Harp, Lime Tree Bower, Frost at Midnight,
9/17
Dejection, an Ode; selections from Biographia Literaria, chaps. 4, 17
JOHN KEATS, introduction, poems, and letters
9/19
poems: 904-06, 922-33;
Ode to Psyche, Ode to a Nightingale,
9/24
Ode to a Grecian Urn, Ode to Indolence, Ode on Melancholy
9/26
Romantic Period Exam
VICTORIAN PERIOD (Introduction, timeline)
ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON, introduction and poems
10/1
The Lady of Shalott, The Lotos-Eaters, Ulysses, Tithonus
10/3
Idylls of the King: The Coming of Arthur; The Passing of Arthur
ELIZABETH BROWNING, ROBERT BROWNING, introductions and poems
10/8
EB: sonnets from the Portuguese; selections from Aurora Leigh, Mother & Poet
10/10
RB: Porphyria’s Lover, Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister, My Last Duchess
10/15
The Bishop Orders His tomb, Fra Lippo Lippi, Andrea del Sarto
10/17
FALL BREAK
CHARLES DICKENS, introduction in Tillotson
10/22-24
Oliver Twist
JOHN CARDINAL NEWMAN, JOHN STUART MILL, MATTHEW ARNOLD, THOMAS HUXLEY
introductions
10/29-31, 11/5 Newman: selections from The Idea of a University
Mill: What is Poetry, On Liberty, Subjection of Women
Arnold: selections from Culture and Anarchy
Huxley, selections from Science and Culture, and Agnosticism and Christianity
11/7
Victorian Period Exam
TWENTIETH CENTURY (Introduction, timeline)
BERNARD SHAW, introduction and the Woman Question
11/12-14
Mrs. Warren’s Profession
WORLD WAR I POETS:
11/19
poetry of Brooke, Sassoon, Owen
WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, introduction and poems
11/21
Lake Isle of Innisfree, Wild Swans at Coole, A Prayer for My Daughter
The Second Coming, Leda and the Swan, Sailing to Byzantium, Byzantium, Crazy Jane
JAMES JOYCE, introduction
11/26
The Dead
T. S. ELIOT, introduction
12/3
Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
12/12
Final Exam: 12pm
ASSIGNMENTS: There may be spot quizzes on the readings, exams on the Romantic and Victorian periods, and a final
exam covering all three periods studied. You are responsible for two papers, one on a work from the Romantic Period, and
the second on a work from either the Victorian or Modern Period. The papers should be five or more pages long, follow
MLA or your Freshman writing handbooks). The topics are open and can be taken from anything we read or discuss in class,
or from “Explorations” in Norton online. The topic must be cleared with me at least one week in advanced of the due
date; length of the papers should be appropriate to the topic and argument, though four pages are usually too few and ten too
many. N.B. All papers should include a works cited page and at least two secondary sources; all web sources must be from
vetted sites or refereed electronic journals. Most secondary works should be in hand by the time you discuss your topic with
me. If you or I am not happy with your first paper, you will have one week to revise it for a change of grade.
Paper I
Blake
Wordsworth
Coleridge
Keats
topic/paper due
9/10, 17
9/10, 17
9/24, 10/1
9/24, 10/1
Paper II
Tennyson, Brownings,
Dickens, essayists
Shaw, WWI Poets, Yeats
Joyce, Eliot
topic/paper due
10/15, 22
11/1, 7
11/19, 26
12/5, 12
GRADES: Do not confuse the class with the course! You are responsible for the works assigned on the syllabus, and not only those
works discussed in class. The exams are worth 12.5 points each (25 points), the final exam is worth 25 points, and the papers are worth 25
points each. Attendance and class participation make up the rest. Three unexcused absences are grounds for dismissal from the course.
PAPERS: I encourage you to discuss your papers with your classmates and anyone else you want to, including the Writing
Center. The crucial thing to remember is that you must give citations for ideas and words that are not your own. The honor code
is in effect in this class.
For critical works on the Romantics, see The English Romantic Poets; A Review of Research and Criticism, ed. Frank Jordan, 4th
edition. MLA, l985. [Davis Reference Shelf, PR590.E5.1985], the Romantic Circles at http://www.rc.umd.edu.; for Romantics,
Victorians, and Moderns, see the Norton Anthology web site at www.wwnorton.com/nael, Voice of the Shuttle,
http://vos.ucsb.edu/browse.asp?id=3, Literary Resources, http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Lit/, and Google Scholar at
http://www.scholar.google.com/. See also http://www.lib.unc.edu/ for UNC’s Article Databases (e.g., MLA International
Bibliography [1963-2009]), E-Journal Finder, and Print Journals (Catalog Search). For articles online, see the Scholarly Journal
Archive at http://www.jstor.org/. Also helpful is the Introduction to Library Research, http://www.lib.unc.edu/instruct/tutorial/.