We will begin by tracing the chronological arc of the Victorian Period—from early socio-economic unrest to the height of the British Empire and on to the erosion of Victorian values at the end of the century. We will then turn to literature from the period, situating major texts within the dynamic range of attitudes that accompanied the period’s historical developments, while attempting to define some of the period’s principal characteristics.
Unit 4 Time Advisory closeThis unit should take you 27 hours to complete.
☐ Subunit 4.1: 3 hours
☐ Subunit 4.2: 12 hours
☐ Subunit 4.3: 12 hours
Upon successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
Link: Victorian Web’s “Victorian and Victorianism” (PDF); The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “Introduction” to The Victorian Age (HTML), and PBS’s "Queen Victoria: The Changing Empire" Timeline (HTML)
Instructions: Please read VictorianWeb’s “Victorian and Victorianism,” The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s
“Introduction” to the Victorian Age, and PBS’s “Queen Victoria: The
Changing Empire” Timeline. Please read these for an introduction to the
major economic and social events and changes that occurred in the
Victorian period. In particular, pay attention to the focus on the idea
of a new urban economy, which lent itself to the rise of problems for
the workers composing the urban poor.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on
the webpage above. The VictorianWeb article above has been reposted by
the kind permission of George Landow from Brown University, and can be
viewed in its original form here (HTML). Please
note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in
any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder.
See a broken link? Please let us know!
Link: Western New England College: Dr. Gerhard Rempel’s "Dicken's London"(HTML) Lecture
Instructions: Please read all of Lecture #23, “Dicken’s London” for an
introduction to the social, economic, and political factors that shaped
the work of Victorian authors. Although Dr. Rempel bases his study on
Dickens, this article should be read more generally as a basic overview
of the 19thcentury.
About the link: The lecture on “Victoria’s London” is part of a series
of lectures and resources developed by Professor Gerhard Rempel of
Western New England College.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
The Saylor Foundation does not yet have materials for this portion of the course. If you are interested in contributing your content to fill this gap or aware of a resource that could be used here, please submit it here.
Link: The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “Victorian Imperialism: Overview” (HTML) as well as brief excerpts from The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s version of Thomas Macaulay’s "Minute on Indian Education" (1835) (HTML) and Rudyard Kipling’s poem “The White Man’s Burden.” (PDF)
Instructions: Please read this brief overview of the increase in imperial thought in the 19thcentury, as well as the rise of an expanded, colonial empire
Terms of Use: The material above 'The White Man's Burden" is available for viewing in the Public Domain.
See a broken link? Please let us know!
Link: PBS’ "Victoria: The Changing Empire"(HTML) Interview with Lawrence James
Instructions: Please read the transcript of the interview.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
See a broken link? Please let us know!
Link: PBS’s "The Moral Crusade" and Victorian Web’s “The Warfare of Conscience with Theology” (HTML)
Instructions: Please read through both essays, which provide an overview
of the religious state of affairs in the Victorian era, including
divisions between different Churches and new concepts on religion itself
About the links: The material on the VictorianWeb comes from a number of
different academic contributors, but the site itself is the brainchild
of
Brown University’s George P. Landow. The essay on “The Warfare of
Conscience with Theology” was written by Josef Althoz, a Professor of
History at the University of Minnesota.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on
the webpage above. The VictorianWeb article above has been reposted by
the kind permission of George Landow from Brown University, and can be
viewed in its original form here (HTML). Please
note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in
any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder.
See a broken link? Please let us know!
Link: Western New England College: Dr. Gerhard Rempel’s “Victoria’s London” Lecture (HTML)
Instructions: Please read all of Lecture #22, “Victoria’s London”
focusing on the section “Character of the Victorian Age” for information
on the rise of morality, family, and other values in Victoria’s time
About the link: The lecture on “Victoria’s London” is part of a series
of lectures and resources developed by Professor Gerhard Rempel of
Western New England College.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
The Saylor Foundation does not yet have materials for this portion of the course. If you are interested in contributing your content to fill this gap or aware of a resource that could be used here, please submit it here.
Links: VictorianWeb’s "Finding the Popular Audience" (PDF)
Instructions: Please read all of VictorianWeb’s “Finding the Popular
Audience” for information on literacy and reading, especially the rise
in popular texts, in the 19th-century
About the links: The material on the VictorianWeb comes from a number of
different academic contributors, but the site itself is the brainchild
of Brown University’s George P. Landow. This particular essay is found
on the VictorianWeb page of Sally Mitchell, a Professor of English at
Temple University.
Terms of Use: The VictorianWeb article above has been reposted by the
kind permission of George Landow from Brown University, and can be
viewed in its original form here (HTML). Please
note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in
any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder.
See a broken link? Please let us know!
Link: The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s “The Woman Question”; Helen Taylor’s “The Claim of Englishwomen to the Suffrage Constitutionally Considered” (PDF); and WomHist's version of Barbara Bodichon’s "A Brief Summary in Plain Language of the Most Important Laws Concerning Women" (HTML)
Instructions: Please read “The Woman Question” as well as the primary
sources from Helen Taylor’s “The Claim of Englishwomen to the Suffrage
Constitutionally Considered” and Barbara Bodichon’s “A Brief Summary in
Plain Language of the Most Important Laws Concerning Women,” for two 19th-century examples of contemporary thought of women’s rights
Terms of Use: The material above "The Claim of Englishwomen to Suffrage
Constitutionally Considered" is available for viewing in the Public
Domain. Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the
webpages above.
See a broken link? Please let us know!
Links: VictorianWeb’s essay "Why Read the Serialized Versions of Victorian Novels?" (PDF) as well as the University of Michigan’s "Dickens and the Victorian Serial Novel"and "Great Expectations as a Victorian Serial Novel" (HTML)
Instructions: Please read through the entire essay of “Why Read the
Serialized Versions of Victorian Novels?” while focusing on the material
under the header “The Place of the Serial Text in the Work’s Critical
History.” Next, read the two short essays for a case study of the
serialized novel.
About the links: The material on the VictorianWeb comes from a number of
different academic contributors, but the site itself is the brainchild
of Brown University’s George P. Landow. The essay mentioned here was
written by Philip V. Allingham, a contributing editor to the
VictorianWeb. The essays from the University of Michigan are part of a
hypertext edition of Dickens’s Great Expectations called “Pip’s World.”
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on
the webpages above. The VictorianWeb article above has been reposted
by the kind permission of George Landow from Brown University, and can
be viewed in its original form here (HTML). Please
note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in
any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder.
The Saylor Foundation does not yet have materials for this portion of the course. If you are interested in contributing your content to fill this gap or aware of a resource that could be used here, please submit it here.
Link: Excerpts from Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre (PDF), VictorianWeb’s Charlotte Bronte (HTML), and the articles on “Class Attitudes in The Westminster Review and Jane Eyre” (PDF) and “The Position of Middle Class Women as Context from Bronte’s Jane Eyre” (PDF)
Also available in:
PDF
Google Books
Kindle($0.95)
iBooks (free)
Instructions: Please read the Chapters 17 and 23 Jane Eyre,
paying particular attention to Jane’s analysis of his own social
position in relation to her class standing. Next, look through the
VictorianWeb’s Charlotte Bronte page for context, focusing specifically
on the articles mentioned under the “Social Context” section.
About the links: The material on the VictorianWeb comes from a number of
different academic contributors, but the site itself is the brainchild
of Brown University’s George P. Landow. The essay on “Class Attitudes
in The Westminster Review and Jane Eyre” was written by Mary Schwingen and “The Position of Middle Class Women as Context from Bronte’s Jane Eyre” by Mark Jackson, both of Brown University.
Terms of Use: The VictorianWeb material above "Charlotte Bronte" has
been reposted by the kind permission of George Landow from Brown
University. Please note that this material is under copyright and cannot
be reproduced in any capacity without explicit permission from the
copyright holder. The material above "Jane Eyre" is available for viewing in the Public Domain.
See a broken link? Please let us know!
Link: The Saylor Foundation's "Depictions of Victorian Society: Class Stratification and Material Conditions" (PDF)
Instructions: Please complete the discussion questions relating to this lesson.
See a broken link? Please let us know!
Link: VictorianWeb’s Introduction to Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, (PDF) "Richard Jefferies and Victorian Science Fiction", (PDF) and “Collins's ‘Detective Business': The Moonstone as a Detective Novel,” (PDF) "Detection and Disruption Inside and Outside the 'Quiet English Home' in The Moonstone," (PDF) "Detection and Surveillance of the Colonial 'Other' in The Moonstone," (PDF) and "Dispersal of 'Detective Business' in Collins's Surveillance Society" (PDF)
Instructions: Please read the excerpts above, including VictorianWeb’s four-part essay on the detective in Wilkie Collins’s The Moonstone
titled “Collins’s Detective Business” for an introduction to the
development and function of the detective novel in the Victorian period,
especially the ways in which this genre reacted to social and political
issues
About the links: The material on the VictorianWeb comes from a number of
different academic contributors, but the site itself is the brainchild
of Brown University’s George P. Landow. The essay on “Richard Jefferies
and Victorian Science Fiction” was written by Jacqueline Banerjee, a
contributing editor to Victorian Web; the four part series on Wilkie
Collins was written by Dr. Rashmi Sahni, from the University of New
Delhi, India.
Terms of Use: The VictorianWeb articles above have been reposted by the
kind permission of George Landow from Brown University, and can be
viewed in its original form here, here, here, here, here, and here,
respectively. Please note that this material is under copyright and
cannot be reproduced in any capacity without explicit permission from
the copyright holder.
See a broken link? Please let us know!
Link: Excerpt from Eliza Lynn Linton’s The Girl of the Period (PDF)
Also available in:
Google Books
VictorianWeb’s "Women in Literature—A Literary Overview" (HTML)
Instructions: Please read Linton’s The Girl of the Period, a seminal 19th-century
text that attacked modern women, including “New Women” for their
behavior. Also read the essay on “Women in Literature—A Literary
Overview” for an introduction to some of the popular “New Women”
writers.
Terms of Use: The material above "The Girl of the Period" is available for viewing in the Public Domain.
See a broken link? Please let us know!
Links: Alfred Lord Tennyson’s "Maud"; (PDF)
Elizabeth Barret Browning’s "Aurora Leigh"; (PDF)
Also available in:
PDF
Google Books
iBooks ($0.99)
VictorianWeb’s “Maud” (PDF)
Also Available in:
Google Books
Instructions: Please read all of Tennyson’s “Maud” and all of Browning’s “Aurora Leigh”
Terms of Use: The first two materials above "Maud" and "Aurora Leigh"
are available for viewing in the Public Domain. The VictorianWeb article
"Maud" above have been reposted by the kind permission of George Landow
from Brown University, and can be viewed in its original form here. Please
note that this material is under copyright and cannot be reproduced in
any capacity without explicit permission from the copyright holder.
See a broken link? Please let us know!
Link: VictorianWeb’s “Gerard Manley Hopkins and the Difficulty of Victorian Poetry,” (PDF) and "Representations of the Female Voice in Victorian Poetry" (PDF)
Instructions: Please read the VictorianWeb article on “Gerard Manley
Hopkins and the Difficulty of Victorian Poetry,” paying particular
attention to the sections on Browning and Tennyson. Read the essay on
“Representations of the Female Voice in Victorian Poetry” in conjunction
with Browning’s “Aurora Leigh.”
About the links: The material on the VictorianWeb comes from a number
of different academic contributors, but the site itself is the
brainchild of Brown University’s George P. Landow.
Terms of Use: The VictorianWeb articles above have been reposted by the
kind permission of George Landow from Brown University, and can be
viewed in their original forms here and here,
respectively. Please note that this material is under copyright and
cannot be reproduced in any capacity without explicit permission from
the copyright holder.
See a broken link? Please let us know!
Link: Excerpt from Arthur Henry Hallum’s "On Some of the Characteristics of Modern Poetry, and on the Lyrical Poems of Alfred Tennyson" (PDF)
Instructions: Please read through Henry Hallum’s 1831 review of
Tennyson’s poetry, focusing on the connections between Wordsworth and
Tennyson.
Terms of Use: The material above is available for viewing in the Public
Domain. Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the
webpage above.
See a broken link? Please let us know!
Links: Tennyson’s "In Memoriam: A.H.H.,"(PDF)
Also available in:
Google Books
Kindle($0.95)
iBooks ($0.99)
“Ulysses” (PDF)
"Break, Break, Break"(PDF)
Also available in:
PDF (Scroll down alphabetical listing to poem title)
Browning’s "Mother and Poet" (PDF)
Also available in :
Google Books
“Sonnet 43” (PDF)
The Poetry Foundation’s Definitions of “Lyric”and “Dramatic Monologue”; (HTML) The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s Excerpt from Arthur Henry Hallum’s "On Some of the Characteristics of Modern Poetry, and on the Lyrical Poems of Alfred Tennyson" (HTML)
Instructions: Please start this unit by looking over the definitions of
“Lyric” and “Dramatic Monologue” provided by The Poetry Foundation’s
Glossary of Terms. Read the poems “In Memoriam: A.H.H.” and “Ulysses”
by Tennyson and “Mother and Poet” and “Sonnet 43” by Browning, all of
which provide examples of dramatic monologues and lyric poetry.
Finally, read Hallum’s review of Tennyson for more information about
Tennyson’s use of these forms.
Terms of Use: The materials above "In Memoriam: A.H.H.", "Ulysses",
"Mother and Poet", and "Sonnet 43" are available for viewing in the
Public Domain. Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed
on the webpage above.
See a broken link? Please let us know!
Link: Professor Terry Meyer’s Lecture "Swinburne, Tennyson, and Matters Funeral"(iTunes U)
Instructions: Please listen to the entire lecture
About the link: The lecture is made available on iTunes U through
Georgetown University. This particular lecture features as speaker Dr.
Terry Meyers from The College of William and Mary.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.
The Saylor Foundation does not yet have materials for this portion of the course. If you are interested in contributing your content to fill this gap or aware of a resource that could be used here, please submit it here.
Links: Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Ulysses” (PDF) and "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (PDF) as well as Gerard Manley’s Hopkins’s “The Windhover” (PDF) and “Spring and Fall” (PDF)
Instructions: Please read the linked poems above
Terms of Use: The materials above are available for viewing in the Public Domain.
See a broken link? Please let us know!
Links: The Norton Anthology of English Literature’s Audio Readings(HTML)
Instructions: Please listen to the audio versions of all four poems,
paying attention to the ways in which the poem’s sound contributes to
their meanings by creating a more dynamic poem
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpages above.
See a broken link? Please let us know!
We will start by situating ourselves in the late 1800s, taking stock of the various social changes and artistic trends that were beginning to challenge predominant 19th-century assumptions, values, and social configurations. It may seem strange to begin this course in Fin-de-Siècle Paris, but, as we will see, much of the art and literature produced in late-1800s France would lay the foundation for 20th-century innovations in English poetry and literature. We will also account for those voices that continued to promote the old-guard imperialist views and Victorian values so inherent to mainstream British literature of the 1800s.
Unit 1 Time Advisory closeThis unit will take you approximately 23 hours to complete.
☐ Subunit 1.1: 4 hours
☐ Subunit 1.2: 7 hours
☐ Subunit 1.2.1: 1 hour
☐ Subunit 1.2.2: 2 hours
☐ Subunit 1.2.3: 1 hour
☐ Subunit 1.2.4: 1 hour
☐ Subunit 1.2.5: 1 hour
☐ Subunit 1.2.6: 1 hour
☐ Subunit 1.3: 4 hours
☐ Subunit 1.4: 4 hours
☐ Subunit 1.5: 4 hours
Upon successful completion of this unit, students will be able to: