Introduction to British Literature                                                       Joseph Viscomi jsviscom@email.unc.edu

English 121.7                                                                                    Office: 504 GL, tele: 962 8764

2:00 T&Th; GL 319                                                                         hrs. 1-2 Tues., Thurs. &by appt.

Spring 2005                                                                                     http://english.unc.edu/faculty/viscomij.html

 

TEXTS:         The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 7th ed., volume 2. W.W. Norton and
                     Company, 2000.

                     Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist. Ed. Kathleen Tillotson. Oxford University Press, 1982.

Handouts:

                    Hints for explicating a poem

                    Useful terms for literary analysis

                    More useful terms for literary analysis

 

1/13               Introduction to English 121

 

ROMANTIC PERIOD (pages 1-21, + timeline, pages 22-23, + Poetic Forms and Literary Terminology, 2928-44)

 

WILLIAM BLAKE, introduction and letters (bio and images in Blakearchive.org)

1/18               Songs of Innocence

1/20               Songs of Experience

1/25               Book of Thel

 

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, introduction, poems, prose

1/27                selections from Lyrical Ballads (222-238)

2/1                  selections from Preface to the Lyrical Ballads (238-250)

2/3                  selections from ColeridgeÕs Biographia Literaria, chap. 14
                      poems, pages 251-258, 284-292, 296-98; Intimations of Immortality

 

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE, introduction, poems, prose

2/8                  poems: 419-462;
                      Conversation poems: Eolian Harp, Lime Tree Bower, Frost at Midnight,

2/10                Dejection, an Ode; selections from Biographia Literaria, chaps. 4, 17

 

JOHN KEATS, introduction, poems, and letters

2/15                poems: 826-34, 844-56;

                      Ode to Psyche, Ode to a Nightingale,

2/17                Ode to a Grecian Urn, Ode to Indolence, Ode on Melancholy

 

2/22                Romantic Period Exam

 

VICTORIAN PERIOD (pages 1043-1062, + timeline, 1064-65)

 

ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON, introduction and poems

2/24                poems: 1201-19, 1282-1304

                      The Lady of Shalott, The Lotos-Eaters, Ulysses, Tithonus

3/1                  Idylls of the King: The Coming of Arthur; The Passing of Arthur

 

ELIZABETH BROWNING, ROBERT BROWNING, introduction, poems

3/3                  EB: sonnets from the Portuguese; selections from Aurora Leigh, Mother & Poet

3/8                  RB:Porphyria's Lover, Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister, My Last Duchess

3/10                The Bishop Orders His tomb, Fra Lippo Lippi, Andrea del Sarto

 

3/15-17            SPRING BREAK

 

CHARLES DICKENS, introduction in Tillotson

3/22-24            Oliver Twist

 

JOHN CARDINAL NEWMAN, JOHN STUART MILL, MATTHEW ARNOLD, introductions

3/29-31            Newman: selections from The Idea of a University

                       Mill: What is Poetry, On Liberty, Subjection of Women

                       Arnold: Preface to Poems, selections from The Function of Criticism, selections from
                       Culture and Anarchy

 

4/5                  Victorian Period Exam

 

TWENTIETH CENTURY (1897-1913, + timeline, 1914-15)

 

BERNARD SHAW, introduction and the Woman Question (1719-1739)

4/7, 12             Mrs. Warren's Profession

 

WORLD WAR I POETS:

4/14                poetry of Brooke, Sassoon, Owen

 

WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, introduction and poems (2092-2124)

4/19, 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

4/26                The Dead

 

T. S. ELIOT, introduction (2364-67)

4/28                Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,

 

5/7                  Final Exam: 2pm

 

ASSIGNMENTS: There will 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 four or more pages long, follow MLA style (see your Freshman writing handbooks), and include at least two secondary sources; topics and writing strategies will be discussed in class.

 

Paper I                                                       due                            Paper II                                                     due

Blake or Wordsworth                              2/15                            Tennyson, Brownings,                            3/22

Coleridge or Keats                                   3/1                              Dickens, Arnold, Mill, Newman            4/12

                                                                                                         Shaw, Yeats                                               4/26

         Eliot, Joyce                                                5/2

                                     

The quizzes are worth 3 points each (6 points), exams are worth 12 points each (24 points), the final exam is worth 20 points, and the papers are worth 25 points each.

 

Papers: I encourage you to discuss your papers with your classmates and anyone else you want to. 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.

 

Critical works on the Romantics: The English Romantic Poets; A Review of Research and Criticism, ed.   Frank Jordan, 4th edition. MLA, l985. [Davis Reference Shelf, PR590.E5.1985]; See also http://www.lib.unc.edu/ for UNCÕs Article Databases (e.g., MLA International Bibliography [1963-2004]), E-Journal Finder, and Print Journals (Catalog Search); the Romantic Circles at http://www.rc.umd.edu., the Norton Anthology web site at www.wwnorton.com/nael, Voice of the Shuttle, http://vos.ucsb.edu/browse.asp?id=3, Romantic Literary Resources, http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Lit/romantic.html, and Google Scholar at http://www.scholar.google.com/ 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/.