UH West Oahu

Literature 463:  The Victorian Period

Syllabus for Spring 2004

 

 

Instructor:  Rebecca Lee

Telephone:  (808) 454-4736

Office Hours:  10 – 11 a.m. T/Th

Email:  rebecca@hawaii.edu

Office:  A 102, UH-West Oahu

Fax:  (808) 453-6176

Web Site: http://webct.hawaii.edu

WebCT Category:  UH West Oahu

WebCT LinK:  Lit463 Victorian Period

Username:  rebecca

 

UH – West Oahu Writing Center

 

Telephone

(808) 454-4737

Email

writing@homepages.uhwo.hawaii.edu

Web Site

http://homepages.uhwo.hawaii.edu/~writing

 

Course Description

 

In this course we will read literature written by some of  the great authors of the Victorian Period in Great Britain:  Tennyson, Emily Bronte, the Brownings, Arnold, Dickens, the Rossettis, Hopkins, Hardy, and Yeats.  We will examine how the poetry and fiction of these authors represents the cultural and political values of the period.  We will also see if there are themes and stylistic characteristics that can be identified among the writers as particularly Victorian.

 

Course Objectives

 

Students who complete LIT 463 should be able to:

 

·        identify the major themes in Victorian literature (CC1, HUM1, HUM3, HUM5);

·        identify significant events in lives of major Victorian authors (HUM5);

·        identify the main literary contributions of major Victorian authors (HUM5);

·        identify the various kinds of poems written during the Victorian period (CR2, CR4, HUM1, LIT1);

·        analyze poetry by identifying theme, symbol, and poetic devices (CR!, CR2, CR4, HUM2, HUM3, HUM4, LIT2);

·        analyze fiction by identifying theme, plot, character, symbol, and stylistic devices (CR!, CR2, CR4, HUM2, HUM3, HUM4, LIT2);

·        write a clear, concise, and specific topic sentence for a paragraph (W3, W4, CR3);

·        develop a paragraph with sufficient examples and details (W3, W4, CR3;

·        use transitional expressions effectively to write a coherent paragraph (W3, W4, CR3;

·        cite quotations from poetry and fiction (W4, R6);

·        paraphrase sections from poetry and fiction (W4) ; and

·        revise and edit their work and the work of others (W6).

 

These objectives are design to correspond to institutional, divisional, and specialization objectives developed at UH West Oahu.  The numbers for these corresponding objectives are in parentheses following the course objectives.  These objectives are printed on pages 4 and 5 of the UH West Oahu General Catalog 2003-2005 or may be accessed on the web at http://www.uhwo.hawaii.edu/catalog/mission.pdf.

 

Course Requirements

 

Students are expected to read all assigned works before they access the weekly lessons on the WebCT Calendar.   Students each week are also expected to participate in the question and answer sessions posted in the Peer Groups on the Bulletin Board, as well as to help write, revise, and edit the weekly group assignments to be posted on the Bulletin Board. In addition, students are expected to take all tests posted on the WebCT throughout the semester. Students should use the WebCT "Private Mail" function to send all messages and written assignments to the instructor.

 

Literature 463 online is a writing-intensive (WI) course.  Students will participate in weekly collaborative writing assignments.  All writing assignments will require students to draft, rewrite, and edit papers in stages.    In addition, students will write individual final essay exams.  Students will also take three tests posted in the "Tests" section of the WebCT.  Tests will be available for one week from the time they are posted.

 

All papers should be completed by their respective due dates listed in this syllabus and in the "Calendar" section of the WebCT.  Late papers will be penalized by one point for each day they are late.  Students are encouraged to consult the UH West Oahu Writing Center through email.  Online tutoring is available through the web site of the UH West Oahu Writing Center, listed above.  Students should also visit the web site to receive updates and to retrieve handouts on various writing problems.

 

Class participation is important.  Since this is an online course, participation will be measured by the quantity and quality of student participation in online group work on the WebCT.  Students are expected to participate regularly and thoughtfully in Peer Group sessions in the "Bulletin Board" section of the WebCT.  Individual grades for the weekly papers will reflect each person's participation in the process.  In addition, chat sessions will be periodically arranged for the "Chat" section of the WebCT, and students are expected to participate.

 

Grading

 

Assignment

Points

  Peer Group Papers

   60

  Tests

   30

  Final Essay Exam

   10

       Total

  100

 

Texts

 

Karlin, Daniel, ed.  The Penguin Book of Victorian Verse.  New York:  Penguin Books,

1997.

Dickens, Charles.  Bleak House.  New York:  Penguin Books, 1971.

 

Schedule

 

The dates listed below are the dates on which the lessons are posted on the WebCT Calendar.  Assignments are due by those dates.  The online work listed in the column on the far right should be completed between the date the assignments are listed and the next week.   Except for the days devoted to Dickens' Bleak House, all reading assignments are from The Penguin Book of Victorian Verse.

 

Dates

 

Lesson Topics

Assignments

Related Online Work

M 1/12

Orientation to Lit 463:  the Victorian Period

 

 

T 1/13

Introduction to the Victorian Period

 

 

T 1/20

Alfred Tennyson

·        "The Lady of Shalott," p. 134

·        "'Break, break, break,'" p. 139

·        "Ulysses," p. 140

·        "Morte d'Arthur," p. 147

After reading the week's assignments and listening to the week's lecture, students should check the Bulletin Board to:

·        determine their weekly Peer Group,

·        answer the question posted in the Peer Group,  and

·        help to write, revise, and edit one paragraph answering the question.

When the paper has been completed, it should be posted on the Main Bulletin Board.

M  1/26

Tennyson

 

Selections from In Memoriam, p. 157

Peer Group Work.  (See instructions for 1/20.  Each week will follow the same practice.)

 

M 2/02

·        Emily Bronte

·        Elizabeth Barrett Browning

·        "'High waving heather,'" p. 290

·        "'The night is darkening,'" p. 291

·        "'I'm happiest,'" p. 291

·        "'No coward soul,'" p. 293

·        Sonnet VI, p. 74

·        Sonnet XIV, p. 78

·        Sonnet XXII, p. 82

·        Sonnet XXIX, p. 85

·        Sonnet XXXVIII, p. 90

·        Sonnet XLIII, p. 92

Peer Group Work

M 2/09

Robert Browning

·        "My Last Duchess," p. 207

·        "The Bishop Orders his Tomb at Saint Praxed's Church," p. 216

·        "'Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came,'" p. 234

·        "Andrea del Sarto," p. 241

Peer Group Work

T 2/17

Matthew Arnold

·        "To Marguerite," p. 372

·        "Resignation," p. 373

·        "Dover Beach," p. 380

·        "Lines Written in Kensington Gardens," p. 381

·        Peer Group Work

·        Chat sessions (times and dates to be determined)

·        Test #1 (posted 2/19)

 

M 2/23

Charles Dickens, Bleak House

Pages 13-165

Peer Group Work

M 3/01

Dickens

Pages 165-366

Peer Group Work

M 3/08

Dickens

Pages 366-570

Peer Group Work

M 3/15

Dickens

Pages 570-778

Peer Group Work

3/22-3/26

SPRING

BREAK

 

M 3/29

Dickens

Pages 778-989

·        Peer Group Work

·        Chat sessions (times and dates to be determined)

·        Test #2 (posted 4/01)

 

 

 

 

T 4/05

·        Dante Gabriel Rossetti

·        Christina G. Rossetti

·        "The Blessed Damozel," p. 458

·        "A Superscription," p. 463

·        "Goblin Market," p. 473

·        "In an Artist's Studio," p. 510

·        "Introspective," p. 511

·        "'The Heart Knoweth,”  p. 514

·        "An 'Immurata' Sister," p. 517

Peer Group work

 

M 4/12

Gerard Manley Hopkins

·        "Spring and Fall," p. 650

·        "The Windhover," p. 651

·        "Pied Beauty," p. 651

Peer Group Work

 

M 4/19

Hopkins

·        "'As kingfishers catch fire,'" p. 653

·        "That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire and of the Comfort of the Resurrection," p. 653

·         "'No worst, there is none,'" p. 654

Peer Group work

 

M 4/26

·        Thomas Hardy

·        Oscar Wilde

·        William Butler Yeats

·        "Neutral Tones," p. 628

·        "The Darkling Thrush," p. 634

·        "Symphony in Yellow," p. 696

·        "The Harlot's House," p. 697

·        "The Lake Isle of Inisfree," p. 756

·        Peer Group work

·         Chat sessions (times and dates to be determined)

·        Test #3 posted (4/29)

 

 

 

 

M 5/03

Writing Essay Exams

Final Essay Exam due on Monday (5/10) by 10 a.m.

Questions for Final Essay Exam posted (5/03)