Course Catalogue

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This course gives you an opportunity to study prose, poetry and drama from the Victorian and Edwardian periods; authors you may study include George Eliot, Charles Dickens, Alfred Tennyson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the Brontes, Thomas Hardy, Oscar Wilde, Henry James and Wilkie Collins. You will read literary texts in the context of some of the major social and political developments in this period.

1 x 1hr lecture and 1 x 1hr seminar per week over 10 weeks as scheduled on MyCampus

OR

1 x 1hr lecture per week over ten weeks and 7 x 90min seminars over 10 weeks as scheduled on MyCampus.

This is one of the Honours options in English Literature and may not run every year. The options that are running this session are available on MyCampus.

Available to all students fulfilling requirements for Honours entry into English Literature, and by arrangement to visiting students or students of other Honours programmes who qualify under the University's 25% regulation.

ENGLIT4015  Literature 1830-1914

The standard assessments for this course are: 

■ Essay (1500 words): 25%  

■ Essay (3000 words): 50%  

■ Seminar contribution: 10%  

■ Seminar presentation of 7 minutes: 15% 

If required, for instance where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, the following alternatives are available: 

■ There are no alternatives to the Essay (1500 words), but flexible deadlines can be offered as reasonable adjustment (Students should follow the usual process for extensions). 

■ There are no alternatives to the Essay (3000 words), but flexible deadlines can be offered as reasonable adjustment (Students should follow the usual process for extensions). 

■ Written self-evaluation reflecting on seminar contribution or written response to seminar material in advance or after seminar as alternative to seminar contribution.

■ Recorded presentation or one-to-one presentation / discussion/Q&A with staff (where presentation would normally be in class) as alternative to presentation.

Further reasonable adjustments may be provided where necessary. Students are encouraged to consult with the course convenor.  

This course will provide the opportunity to:

■ engage with a wide range of literary texts written by British authors in the Victorian and Edwardian periods

■ deepen your skills in reading literature within its historical context

■ develop your own interests within the broad field of Victorian and Edwardian literature.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ engage with and respond to a range of literature written between 1830 and 1914, covering different styles, genres and times within this period 

■ write about literary texts with reference to some of the key social and cultural contexts of the period

■ identify similarities and differences between texts in terms of genre, style, and historical moment, including the effect of formal and ideological features

■ communicate responses to the material studied on the course both orally and in written form through coherent and sustained argument.

■ demonstrate resilience and time management through effectively planning, undertaking and submitting coursework.

■ deal with change and new challenges by applying their disciplinary skills and knowledge to previously unfamiliar research areas and questions.