English 314: British Literature from 1800
Spring
2000
*
T-Th 7-8:20
*
4008 Wescoe
Course website: http://eagle.cc.ukans.edu/~kconrad/314home3.html
(last modified 4-25-00)
On this page:
[Professor Office Hours and Contact Info]
[Course Description] [Requirements]
[Link
to Discussion Forum (id and password are both britlit) ] [Online
resources] [Syllabus]
Professor Office Hours and Contact Information:
Professor Katie Conrad
e-mail: kconrad@ukans.edu
homepage: http://eagle.cc.ukans.edu/~kconrad
office address: 2035 Wescoe Hall
office hours: TR 1:30-3 and by appointment
office phone: 864-2572
real mail address:
3114 Wescoe Hall
Department of English
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66045-2115
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Description:
This course is a survey of British literature of the Romantic, Victorian,
Modernist, and contemporary periods. We will be concerned in this course
not only with literary form but also with some of the political and social
issues that serve as context for the literature. Our readings will include
essays, poetry, drama, short fiction, and novels.
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Requirements:
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Participation (20%)
Attendance will be taken in this course. More than 5 unexcused absences,
counting from the first day of your enrollment in this course, will result
in failure of this course. Work in other classes, away games, hangovers,
vacations, and sniffles do not count as excused absences. If you are in
doubt, ask me. Excused absences require either notification of me on or
before class date (by e-mail, preferably, or by a message on my office
voicemail), or official documentation shortly after the absence. Students
will be allowed one unexcused absence; after that, the attendance portion
of your participation grade (50%) will fall by one full letter grade. 50%
of your participation grade will be based on in-class participation, including
short writing assignments and group work. Students are encoruaged
to participate in the online
forum. Userid is britlit, password is britlit. If you want
people to know who you are (especially me, so you'll get credit), don't
forget to post your name and/or initials.
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Two 4-5 pp. essays (50%)
You will have some choice of topics and texts from those studied in
the course. At least one paper must be on a close reading of (one or two)
poems. Essay topics will be provided, but you are encouraged to come up
with your own topics and discuss your topics and papers with me. By 4 pages,
I mean 4 full double-spaced pages with one-inch margins.
When paper topics are ready, there will be links below:
Topics for
paper 1
Topics for
paper 2
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Midterm (15%)
The midterm examination will cover the first half of the course. It
will consist of identification questions and essay questions.
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Final (15%)
The final examination will cover the second half of the course. The
format will be similar to the midterm. The final examination will take
1 ½ hours at the scheduled final examination time for the course.
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Related online resources:
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Writing resources:
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Romantic:
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Victorian and fin-de-siecle:
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Modern and contemporary:
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General/miscellaneous:
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Syllabus:
This reading and assignment schedule is subject to change. Changes will
be announced in class. Major changes will be posted to this course website.
Page numbers are in the SEVENTH EDITION of the Norton; there will be a
few things missing from the Sixth.
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T 2/1 "Preface
to Lyrical Ballads" and Wordsworth poems: "Expostulation
and Reply," "The Tables
Turned," Sonnets (pp. 296-299: "Composed
upon Westminster Bridge, Sept. 3, 1802," "It
is a beauteous evening,""London,
1802," "The World
is too much with us," "Surprised
by joy," "Mutability,"
"Steamboats, Viaducts,
and Railways,"), "Lines"
(Tintern Abbey), "I
travelled among unknown men," "I
wandered lonely as a cloud," "Ode:
Intimations of Immortality," "Ode
to Duty".
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Th 2/3 Finish with Wordsworth. Coleridge poem:
"The
Aeolian Harp," Coleridge talks about taking opium
(laudanum)--a letter (from Virginia website).
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T 2/15 Mary Robinson: "To the Poet Coleridge" (p.98-99).
Shelley, "Defense of Poetry" and poems: "To Wordsworth," Mutability,"
"Ozymandias,"
"England
in 1819," "To Sidmouth and Castlereagh," "Ode
to the West Wind." Keats: letters: "To Benjamin Bailey,"
"To George and Thomas Keats," and "To John Hamilton Reynolds"; poems: "La
Belle Dame Sans Merci," "Ode
to Psyche," "Ode to a
Nightingale," "Ode on
a Grecian Urn," "Ode
on Melancholy." Paper
topics handed out.
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Th 2/17 Discussion, "Ode on a Grecian Urn" and "Ode to the
West Wind."
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T 2/22 Wollstonecraft, selections from Vindication of the Rights
of Women.
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Th 2/24 Bronte, Jane Eyre (through Ch. 9/IX).
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T 2/29 Jane Eyre (through Ch. 16/XVI)
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Th 3/2 Jane Eyre.
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M 3/13 Papers due.
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T 3/14 Finish discussion of Jane Eyre. VICTORIANISM:
Rossetti, "Goblin Market,""'No, Thank You, John'," "Promises Like Pie Crusts."
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Th 3/16 VICTORIANISM: Rossetti, "Goblin Market,""'No, Thank You,
John'," "Promises Like Pie Crusts." Darwin, selections from The
Descent of Man.
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SPRING BREAK
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T 3/28 Arnold poems and essays. "The Function of Criticism"
(pp. 1514-1528), poems: "The Scholar Gypsy," "Dover Beach." See also
Hecht's poem "The
Dover Bitch." Elizabeth Barrett Browning poems, Robert Browning poems.
EBB: pp. 1174-1180 (The Cry of the Children, Sand poems, sel. From
Sonnets from the Portugese)
RB: "Porphyria's Lover," "Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister," "My Last
Duchess," "A Grammarian's Funeral." In-class discussion questions:
http://eagle.cc.ukans.edu/~kconrad/314s00dq.html.
Study for the midterm with each other on the discussion
forum!
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Th 3/30 MIDTERM EXAMINATION. Bring empty bluebook
OR paper.
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T 4/25 Mrs. Dalloway.
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Th 4/27 Mrs. Dalloway.
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T 5/2 Mrs. Dalloway. (Recommended: Katherine
Mansfield, "The Garden Party.")
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Th 5/4 Last day. CONTEMPORARY: Heaney: "Digging,"
"Punishment," "The Skunk," "The
Tollund Man" and "Bogland"
(these last two online, not in Norton; sites include, at top, a link to
him reading the poem). Walcott: "A Far Cry from Africa,"
"Nights in the Gardens of Port of Spain," "The Glory Trumpeter," "Midsummer."
Boland: "That the Science of Cartography is Limited," "The Dolls
Museum in Dublin."
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M 5/8 (by 4:30 pm) Paper due, 3114 Wescoe (hand to staff) or under my
office door, 2035 Wescoe.
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Final examination either Th May 11 or T May 16 (your choice).
Bring bluebook or paper.
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