William Wordsworth first portrait by Benjamin Robert Haydon painted in 1842; image from Web Gallery of Art
[click on image to link to more Wordsworth-related images]
Click for a rap video of Wordsworth's "Daffodils"
English 314: Major British Writers 1800-Present
Fall 2006
Line #14229 10:00-10:50 MWF 108 Fraser
Professor Dorice Elliott
Office: 3126 Wescoe or 3116A Wescoe
864-2527 864-2521
Office hours: Wed. 1-2:30 (in 3126) or most afternoons (in 3116A)
E-mail: delliott@ku.edu
Class e-mail distribution list: TBA
Class website: http://www.people.ku.edu/~delliott
Required texts: The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vols. D,E,F (8th ed.)
Austen, Emma (Norton)
Dickens, Hard Times (Broadview)
Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway (Harcourt Brace)
Recommended texts: The Everyday Writer (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 3rd ed.)
CAL (KU English Dept)
Useful resource: Norton Literature Online offers a variety of resources to help you in studying or acquiring additional background on the texts and periods we will cover in class. Explore the website at http://www.wwnorton.com/nael/.
Description: English 314 is designed to introduce English majors and other interested students to some of the major authors, works, and issues of the four literary periods beginning in roughly 1800. Though our primary focus will be on the literary texts themselves, we will be reading them in the context of the literary, social, economic, and political history of nineteenth- and twentieth-century England, considering questions of class, race, gender, nationalism, and high versus popular culture. Therefore, in addition to reading the assigned literary texts, you should also read the introductions to each period and author in the Norton Anthology. You will be responsible for this material, as well as the literary texts assigned.
Prerequisites (from University timetable): Admission to English courses numbered 300 and above is limited to students who have completed the freshman-sophomore English requirements or their equivalents. All students are required to enroll in ENGL 101 and to remain continuously enrolled in ENGL 101 or ENGL 102 until ENGL 102 (or ENGL 105) has been completed.
Attendance: Attendance is mandatory in this course and will be counted in your grade. Missing more than the equivalent of two weeks (six hours of class) is reason for failure. If you must be absent, you should make arrangements to turn in your assignments; absence will not be considered an excuse for missed or late assignments. Quizzes and in-class exercises can be made up only if you present a verified written excuse.
Participation: Your participation is an essential part of this class. Your insights, ideas, and opinions are welcomed and expected. In order to participate intelligently, of course, you will need to come to class prepared, whether the assignment involves writing, reading, or both. Both participation and preparation will be considered in your grade.
Grading: Your grade in this course will be based on the following:
40% Papers
20% Midterm exam
25% Final exam
15% Quizzes, short assignments, attendance, and participation
Papers: You will be required to write two major papers (5-6 pages) for this course. Suggestions for paper topics will be handed out about two weeks before the due date. You are also welcome to devise your own topic, but you must have it approved in advance.
All drafts and final papers, except those written in class, must be typed, double-spaced, with 1" margins. Revisions will be accepted on all papers, if they are completed within one week after the return of the graded paper.
A paper is considered LATE if it is not turned in at the beginning of class when papers are collected. A late paper will be penalized at the rate of one full letter grade for each day it is late (this penalty will remain in force even if you rewrite your paper). However, failure to complete both papers will result in failing the course, so papers should be handed in even if they are too late to receive a passing grade. If you foresee a problem with getting a paper in on time, talk to me in advance.
Plagiarism: Stealing and passing off as your own someone else’s ideas or words or using information from another’s work without crediting the source is called “plagiarism.” Some specific examples of actions that constitute plagiarism include pasting together uncredited information from the Internet or published sources, submitting an entire paper written by someone else, submitting a paper written for another class (and thus not original work), and copying another student’s work (even with the student’s permission). In order to avoid unintentional plagiarism and to represent your work honestly, you will need to be meticulous about giving credit to any and all sources, including the anthology or text used in class, whether directly quoted (even a few words) or paraphrased.
Because one of the goals of this course is to help you improve your writing, plagiarism hurts you as much as it does anyone. If you plagiarize another’s work, you will not be receiving the needed feedback to improve your own writing. There will be a zero tolerance policy for any type of plagiarism in this class. All incidents of plagiarism will be penalized, reported, and kept on file in the English Department and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Writing help: For help with your writing, I strongly encourage you to contact the KU Writing Center. At the Writing Center, you can talk about your writing with trained tutors or consult reference materials in a comfortable working environment. You may ask for feedback on your papers, advice and tips on writing (for all your courses), or for guidance on special writing tasks. Please check the website at http://www.writing.ku.edu/ for current locations and hours. The Writing Center welcomes both drop-ins and appointments, and there is no charge for their services. For more information, please call 864-2399 or send an e-mail to writing@ku.edu. The website is loaded with helpful information about writing of all sorts, so even if you consider yourself a good writer, check it out!
Exams: The midterm and final exams will include both short answer and essay questions. Your answers should reflect both careful reading of the assigned texts and understanding of the issues, concepts, and facts discussed in class and covered in the introductory materials. The exams will be discussed in more detail later.
Quizzes: Because the success of this course depends so much on your preparation for class, there will be frequent reading quizzes. These will take various forms, from brief identification of characters to short essays, and may be given in either written or oral form. The quizzes will be easy to pass if you have done the reading. They will normally be given at the beginning of class and may not be made up (without a verified written excuse), so you are advised to BE ON TIME.
Note: All readings should be completed on the day for which they are listed.
E-mail List: I have set up a distribution list of e-mail addresses for the class, to which I will post announcements, additional ideas or information, and responses to your questions or ideas. I also invite all students to contribute any questions or ideas you may have. You may sometimes earn extra credit for e-mail postings. The easiest way to send a message to the group is to hit “Reply to all” on a message I have sent you. Be careful, though--if you want to send a private message to me, address a new message to my e-mail address, not to the list.
Film viewings: Two viewings of films made from novels read in class will be scheduled outside of class (during the evening). These will be held either on campus or at my home (near campus). Extra credit (10 pts.) will be given for attendance. Since attendance is not required, however, no makeup work will be given if you are unable to attend.
IMPORTANT: Please feel free to talk to me whenever you have any questions, problems, or just ideas you'd like to bounce around. My office hours are listed above; if you cannot reach me at my office, send me an e-mail message.
Students with disabilities that may interfere with completing your course work should consult with me as soon as possible to discuss accommodating your needs. You should also contact the Office of Disability Resources in 22 Strong Hall or contact them at 785-864-2620 (v/tty) or consult the website at http://www.achievement.ku.edu/disability/.
If you are having trouble succeeding in the course, it is especially important that you consult with me so that we can develop a plan of action that may enable you to complete the course. If you decide to drop this class, please refer to the Website below:
http://www.registrar.ku.edu/timetable/add_drop.shtml
Policy on Student Academic Creations: Since one of the aims of this course is to teach students to write for specific audiences, ungraded student-authored work may be shared with other class members during the semester in which you are enrolled in the class. Please do not submit materials on sensitive subjects that you would not want your classmates to see or read, unless you inform the instructor in advance that you do not want your work shared with others.
Other uses of student-authored work are subject to the University’s Policy on Intellectual Property and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. If your instructor desires to use your work outside of this class (e.g. as a sample for another class or future classes), you will be asked to fill out and sign a written form authorizing such use.
*Click on any image to see more related images.
F 8/18 Introduction to the course
I. The Romantic Period
William Wordsworth
first portrait by Benjamin Robert Haydon painted in 1842; image from Web Gallery of Art
[click on image to link to more Wordsworth-related images]
Click for a rap video of Wordsworth's "Daffodils"
M 8/21 How to read poetry
William Wordsworth, “We Are Seven,” Vol. D, p. 248
W 8/23 Introduction to Romantic Period, pp. 1-25
Wordsworth, “Preface to Lyrical Ballads," pp. 262-274
F 8/25 Wordsworth, “Tintern Abbey," p. 258
“Nutting,” p. 279
“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” p. 305
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Portrait of Coleridge by Pieter Van Dyke painted in 1795
Image from Today in Literature
[click on image for links to more images related to Keats and his poetry]
M 8/28 Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison,” p. 428
“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” p. 430
“Kubla Khan,” p. 446
W 8/30 Dorothy Wordsworth, selections from The Grasmere Journals, p. 392
“Grasmere--A Fragment,” p. 402
Joanna Baillie, pp. 212-223
Felicia Hemans, pp. 864-872
F 9/1 George Gordon, Lord Byron, “She walks in Beauty,” p. 612
Manfred, p. 635 --Click here to see a pre-raphaelite painting of Manfred by Ford Madox Brown.
Lord Byron in Albanian dress
painted by Thomas Phillips c. 1834
[click on image to link to more images]
M 9/4 Labor Day–no class
John Keats - Portrait by Charles Brown (1819)
Image from Wikipedia
[click on image to link to more images of Keats]
W 9/6 John Keats, "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer," p. 880
"La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad,” p. 899
"Ode on a Grecian Urn," p. 905
F 9/8 Jane Austen, Emma (at least through Vol. I)
Jane Austen
(silhouette--believed to be Austen, though not known with certainty to be hers)
Image from The Republic of Pemberley
[click on silhouette to see more images and information related to Austen]
M 9/11 Emma (through Vol. II)
W 9/13 Emma (through Vol. III)
F 9/15 Continued discussion of Emma
First paper due
*Consider testing yourself against the Nortion Romantic Period Quiz
II. The Victorian Period
M 9/18 Introduction to Victorian Period, Vol. E, pp. 979-1001
Matthew Arnold, “Dover Beach,” p. 1368
Matthew Arnold
Photograph by Napoleon Sarony (1821-1896)
Image from Matthew Arnold by G.W.E. Russell available on The Project Gutenberg
[Click on image for links to "Dover Beach" images and commentary]
T 9/19 Evening film viewing of Emma (half of class)
Alfred Tennyson
Image from a photograph by Elliot and Fry found in Great Britain and her Queen by Anne Keeling available on The Project Gutenberg
[Click on image for Tennyson visuals]
W 9/20 Alfred Tennyson, "Mariana," p. 1112
"The Lady of Shalott," p. 1114
“Ulyssses," p. 1123
From In Memoriam A.H.H., p. 1138 (read sample passages; at least stanzas 1-15)
Evening film viewing of Emma (other half of class)
F 9/22 Elizabeth Barrett Browning, pp. 1077-1109
Robert Browning
Oil painting by Gordigiani c.1860
Image from The Letters of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Barrett available on The Project Gutenberg
[Click on the image for more pictures]
M 9/25 Robert Browning, "My Last Duchess," p. 1255
“Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came,” p. 1266
W 9/27 The Pre-Raphaelites: 
photograph of Dante Gabriel Rossetti by Lewis Carroll
Image from Library of Foreign Literature
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, “The Blessed Damozel,” p. 1443
“Jenny,” 1449
William Morris, “The Defense of Guenevere,” p. 1483
F 9/29 Christina Rossetti, Poems, 1459-1481
Charles Dickens
Image from The Life of Charles Dickens by Frank T. Marzials available on The Gutenberg Project
[click on image for more useful Dickens webpages]
M 10/2 Charles Dickens, Hard Times (Book the First)
W 10/4 Hard Times (Book the Second)
F 10/6 Hard Times (Book the Third)
M 10/9 Industrialism:
Friedrich Engels, From The Great Towns, p. 1565
Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, p. 1576
Thomas Carlyle, From Past and Present, “Captains of Industry,” p. 1029
Check out Norton's overview of Industrialism
W 10/11 The Woman Question:
Sarah Ellis, “The Women of England,” p. 1581-1585
Coventry Patmore, “The Angel in the House,” p. 1586
Florence Nightingale, from Cassandra, p. 1598
John Stuart Mill, from The Subjection of Women, p. 1060-1070
Check out Norton's overview of The Woman Question
F 10/12 Fall Break–no class
M 10/16 Evolution:
Charles Darwin, pp. 1538-1557
Edmund Gosse, p. 1553
*Consider testing yourself against the Nortion Victorian Age Quiz
W 10/18 Midterm Exam
III. The Modern Period
F 10/20 The Aesthetes and Decadents:
Walter Pater, From The Renaissance, Preface, Vol. E, pp. 1505-1513
Oscar Wilde, Preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray, p. 1697--Check out: Oscar Wilde on the Web
Michael Field, Poems, pp. 1635-1641
M 10/23 Introduction to the Twentieth Century and After, Vol. F, pp. 1827-1850
Gerard Manley Hopkins, “God’s Grandeur,” Vol. E, p. 1516
“The Windhover,” p. 1518
“Pied Beauty,” p. 1518
Thomas Hardy
Photograph of Hardy from The Victorian Web
[Click on image for more Thomas Hardy related pages]
W 10/25 Thomas Hardy, “Hap,” Vol. F, p. 1868
“Neutral Tones,” p. 1869
“Drummer Hodge,” p. 1870
“The Darkling Thrush,” p. 1871
“Channel Firing,” p. 1877
“In Time of ‘The Breaking of Nations,’” p. 1884
Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad at age 66; photo source:
http://204.185.19.89/aela/literature/conrad_pictures.htm
[click on image for more Conrad-related pages]
F 10/27 Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, p. 1890
M 10/30 Heart of Darkness continued
Chinua Achebe, from An Image of Africa, p. 2709
W 11/1 William Butler Yeats, “The Wilde Swans at Coole,” p. 2033 --Check out Yeats on the Web
“September 1913,” p. 2030
“Easter 1916,” p. 2031
“Sailing to Byzantium,” p.2046
“The Second Coming,” p. 2036
“Crazy Jane Talks with the Bishop,” p. 2045
F 11/3 James Joyce, “The Dead,” p. 2172 --check out Joyce on the web
From Ulysses, pp. 2200
From Finnegan’s Wake, pp. 2239
Virginia Woolf
Image Source: Modern Humanities
[click on image for more links to Virginia woolf on the web]
M-F 11/6-10 Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
M 11/13 T. S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” p. 2289 --check out Eliot on the web
“The Hollow Men,” p. 2309
“Tradition and the Individual Talent, p. 2319
T 11/14 Evening film viewing of Mrs. Dalloway
W 11/15 W. H. Auden, “Musée des Beaux Arts,” p. 2428
Breughel painting upon which Auden based his MuseÉ des Beaux Artes and also see MuseÉ Des beaux artes, brussels
“In Memory of W. B. Yeats,” p. 2429
“The Unknown Citizen,” p. 2431
“September 1, 1939,” p. 2432
Dylan Thomas, pp. 2544-2450 --check out Dylan thomas on the web
Second Paper Due
F 11/17 Doris Lessing, "To Room Nineteen," p. 2543
M 11/20 Nadine Gordimer, p. 2574
Derek Walcott, p. 2586
W-F 11/22-24 Thanksgiving Break–no class
M 11/27 Seamus Heaney, p. 2822 --check out Seamus heaney on the web
Paul Muldoon, p. 2868
W 11/29-M 12/4 Tom Stoppard, Arcadia, p.2752 --check out Tom Stoppard on the web
*Consider testing yourself against the Nortion 20th Century quiz
W 12/6 Review for Final Exam
F 12/15 Final Exam
7:30-10:00 a.m.