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Victorian Women Poets: Course Information and Assignments

MW 3:55-5:10 p. m., Room 104 EPB

Instructor: Florence Boos florence-boos@uiowa.edu

http://english.uiowa.edu/courses/boos/wpoe09

Office: 319 EPB, office phone 335-0434 (answering machine)

Office hours: most afternoons after class; Wednesday 7:30-8:30 p. m.; Friday 3-4 p. m.

Textbooks at UI Bookstore:

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh, Norton Critical Edition

Victorian Women Poets: An Annotated Anthology, ed. Virginia Blain

corsepack, at Zephyrs Copy Center, Washington Street.

Three additional anthologies have been placed on library reserve.

Course Requirements:

1. contributions to class discussion: please read the assignment before class and come prepared to ask questions and comments on unusual features of the text.

From time to time, I will ask students to give a brief class presentation on an author's life, and/or to prepare responses and questions for our readings.

2. journal/reading responses: please prepare 6 reading responses, the equivalent of two double-spaced typed pages each, to be posted on Icon so that your fellow students may read them. Four of your responses should be on course readings, and two on literary criticism about Victorian women poets. For this latter, I will give you a short bibliography of suggested readings.

3. In addition to posting these responses to the class web site, you will be asked to write a six page critical/research paper, and a six page final take-home examination.

Your critical/research paper must be based on research in the biographies, book-length critical studies, and critical articles on the author you have chosen (that is, you cannot merely use web-page citations). It is due November 11th.

4. The final essay/take-home exam will be a comparative critical discussion of the works of two or more poets you have read during the course.

The final will be held during examination week, most likely on Monday December 14th, 2009 unless students vote for another day that week.

5. You will be asked to provide for the class a brief biography of a poet of your choice, and to lead an approx. 20 minute class discussion of one of her poems.