8:121 Victorian Women's Poetry
Professor Florence S. Boos
Syllabus s
August • September • October • November • December
August
August 22nd, 2011 Monday course information; metrics, Browning’s “The Runaway Slave”
August 24th, 2011 Wednesday Elizabeth Barrett Browning, life; “The Runaway Slave”; Aurora Leigh, book I
August 29th, 2011 Monday Aurora Leigh, books II and III
August 31st, 2011 Wednesday Aurora Leigh, books IV and V
First icon posting Friday September 2nd
September 5th, 2011 Monday Labor Day
September 7th, 2011 Wednesday Aurora Leigh, books VI and VII
September 12th, 2011 Monday Aurora Leigh, books VIII and IX
September 14th, 2011 Wednesday final discussion Aurora Leigh
Second icon posting Friday September 16th
September 19th, 2011 Monday test Aurora Leigh; slides of Victorian women artists
September 21st, 2011 Wednesday Augusta Webster, life; “The Castaway”
September 26th, 2011 Monday Augusta Webster, “Circe,” “By the Looking Glass”
September 28th, 2011 Wednesday songs of the unschooled/regional and working-class poems: Celtic ballads
September 28th—you should choose a poet for your class presentation.
The week before the presentation, you will make an appointment to see me to go over the poems chosen and discuss the questions you will ask the class. Also you will need to post the poems for discussion on Icon for all to read, and if possible, to bring in physical copies the preceding class period and on the day of discussion.
Suggested poets include: Eliza Cook, Emily Pfeiffer, Adelaide Anne Proctor, Toru Dutt, Alice Meynell, Mary Coleridge, May Kendall, George Eliot, Emily Bronte, Mathilde Blind, Louisa Bevington, A. Mary Robinson, Edith Nesbit and Constance Naden. We’ll discuss the poets in roughly chronological order.
Additional selections may be found in Nineteenth-Century Women Poets, ed. Armstrong and Bristow and Victorian Women Poets, ed. Virginia Blain.
October 3rd, 2011 Monday regional and working-class poems: Janet Hamilton and Ellen Johnston; also please let me know which poet you have chosen to present
October 5th 2011 Wednesday Christina Rossetti, life; “Goblin Market”
October 7th, 2011 Friday Third icon posting due
October 10th, 2011 Monday Christina Rossetti, selections in Leighton and Reynolds
October 12th, 2011 Wednesday first student presentation of poet
October 14th, 2011 Friday title and bibliography of first paper due; should include articles, books and other reference materials
October 17th, 2011 Monday second poet presentation
October 19th, 2011 Wednesday third poet presentation
October 21st, 2011 Friday Thesis statement and short 2 pp. draft of first paper due
October 24th, 2011 Monday fourth poet presentation
October 26th, 2011 Wednesday fifth poet presentation
October 28th, 2011 Friday Fourth icon posting due
October 31st, 2011 Monday sixth student poet presentation
November 2nd, 2011 Wednesday seventh student poet presentation
November 7th, 2011 Monday eighth student poet presentation
November 9th, 2011 Wednesday ninth student poet presentation
November 11th 2011 Friday Fifth icon posting due
November 14, 2011 Monday tenth student poet presentation
November 16th, 2011 Wednesday test on poets since Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Thanksgiving break
November 28th, 2011 Monday Rosamund Marriott Watson, life, poems in Leighton, including “The Ballad of the Bird Bride” and “A Ballad of the Were-Wolf”
November 30th, 2011 Wednesday Rosamund Marriott Watson
December 2nd, Friday suggested time for sixth icon posting
December 5th, 2011 Aftermath: Charlotte Mew, life and poems, including “The Trees Are Down”;
final take-home exam/2nd essay: thesis statement, outline and 2 pp. draft due
December 7th, 2011 Aftermath: Charlotte Mew
final take-home exam/2nd essay: thesis statement, outline and 2 pp. draft due
December 12th, 2011 Exam week session: take-home exam/2nd essay to be summarized in final meeting; please bring a printout of all your icon postings to final exam session.
December 16th, 2011 Friday Final icon posting due (though best to have tended to this earlier); final draft paper due. Paper copies of your assignments are appreciated!