AJL24074 Victorian Poetry

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 6 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
doc. Michael Matthew Kaylor, PhD. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. Michael Matthew Kaylor, PhD.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Supplier department: Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 20 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/20, only registered: 0/20
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
This course will engage the texts and contexts of the English Victorian Poets, namely Tennyson, Browning, Arnold, the Pre-Raphaelites, the Aesthetes, and Hopkins. Special attention will be paid to considering how various poetical forms are employed for biographical, political, social, cultural, and religious ends. This period - often referred to as the "Second English Renaissance" - is particularly memorable for its masterful novels (culminating in the grandeur of James), though its poetry is no less deserving of praise (culminating, as it does, in the grandeur of the Jesuit Hopkins and the Irish Yeats). One consideration of this course will be to trace the unbroken poetical line that reaches from Romanticism to Modernism, from Blake to Yeats (who edited the first standard edition of Blake's poetry).
Learning outcomes
By completing this course, students will acquire a greater familiarity with the texts and contexts of the English Victorian period, as well as be able to trace the unbroken poetical line that reaches from Romanticism to Modernism.
Syllabus
  • Week 1: Introduction to the Victorians (Norton 891). Weeks 2-3: Introduction to Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1052), Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "The Lady of Shalott" (1059), Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "St. Simeon Stylites" (photocopy), Arthur Hallam, "On Some of the Characteristics of Modern Poetry" (photocopy), Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "Ulysses" (1067). Weeks 4-5: Introduction to Robert Browning (1182), Robert Browning, "My Last Duchess" (1190), Robert Browning, "Fra Lippo Lippi" (1211), Robert Browning, "Andrea del Sarto" (1222), Robert Browning, "Essay on Shelley" (photocopy). Week 6: Introduction to Matthew Arnold (1344), Matthew Arnold, Preface to First Edition of Poems (1379), Matthew Arnold, "Dover Beach" (1366), Matthew Arnold, "Stanzas from the Grande Chartreuse" (1367), Matthew Arnold, "The Scholar Gypsy" (1359). Week 7: Submit an essay on one of the following: Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "Mariana" (1057), Robert Browning, "Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister" (1188), Matthew Arnold, "The Buried Life" (1354). Student-led discussion about these poems. Weeks 8-9: Introduction to the Pre-Raphaelite Poets (1453, 1460, 1472, 1494), George Meredith, From Modern Love (1454), Dante Gabriel Rossetti, "The Blessed Damozel: (1461), Dante Gabriel Rossetti, "My Sister's Sleep" (1464), Dante Gabriel Rossetti, "The Sea-Limits" (1466), Dante Gabriel Rossetti, "The Orchard-Pit" (1471), Christina Rossetti, "Goblin Market" (1479), William Morris, Apology from The Earthly Paradise (1507). Week 10: Introduction to the Aesthetic Movement (1526, 1612, 1616), Walter Pater, Conclusion to The Renaissance (1532), Oscar Wilde, Preface to Dorian Gray (1627), Oscar Wilde, "Impression du Matin" (1618), Oscar Wilde, "The Harlot's House" (1619), Oscar Wilde, "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" (photocopy). Weeks 11-12: Introduction to Gerard Manley Hopkins (1543, photocopy), Gerard Manley Hopkins, "God's Grandeur" (1546), Gerard Manley Hopkins, "The Windhover" (1548), Gerard Manley Hopkins, "Carrion Comfort" (1551), Gerard Manley Hopkins, "No Worst, There is None" (1552), Gerard Manley Hopkins, Letters (photocopy), Optional resubmission of first essay, both improved and with earlier version. Week 13: Submit an essay on one of the following: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, From The House of Life, Sonnets 49-52 (1467), Lionel Johnson, "The Dark Angel" (photocopy), Gerard Manley Hopkins, "I Wake and Feel the Fell of Dark" (1552), Student-led discussion about these poems.
Literature
  • A Companion to Victorian Poetry (Oxford: Blackwell, 2002)
  • The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 6th edn., vol. 2 (New York: Norton, 1993)
Assessment methods (in Czech)
Grading To augment and deepen our discussion of Victorian poetry, students will be expected to write two essays (for weeks 7 and 13). Each essay (4 pages, typed, double-spaced) should have a well-crafted thesis, should be scholarly in tone, and should endeavor to support all claims textually through the materials listed below. At the end of the course (week 12), students will have the option to resubmit the first essay after my corrections, though substantial changes (in more than grammar and such technicalities) will be needed to raise the earlier grade. Students will also be expected to lead discussions on weeks 7 and 13, navigating their fellow students through the poems they engaged in their essays. There will be no final exam. Final grades will be divided in the following proportions: 30% for attendance and class participation; 30% for the first essay; 40% for the second essay. A final grade of 70% will be necessary to receive credit for this course.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught: every week.
Information on course enrolment limitations: Předmět si nemohou zapsat studenti Bc. studia AJ
Teacher's information
http://www.phil.muni.cz/elf/course/view.php?id=666
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2023, Spring 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2025/AJL24074