English 551 (F01)
Studies in the Literature of the Nineteenth Century: Special Topic
The Brownings
Dr Alison Chapman
E-Mail: alisonc@uvic.ca
Office tel.: 721-6210
Office Hours: Thurs 12.30-2.30pm
(or by appointment)
Office: Cle D327
Class meets Mondays 1-4pm, Cle C116
Class Description
This course investigates the poetical and ideological relationship between the two poets,
focusing on the period before, during, and after their marriage (from c. 1840-1870). The
critical methodology will combine close analytical reading, together with an analysis of
historical, cultural, political, and gendered contexts of the mid-19th century. Particular
emphasis will be placed on their mutual engagement with generic innovation (such as the
dramatic monologue, the sonnet, the novel-poem), politics (especially Italy and France),
conceptions of authorship and publishing practices (such as copyright issues, periodical
publication, contemporary reviews), and constructions of courtship and desire.
The seminars will consist of a mixture of student presentations, class discussion of close
analysis exercises, open debate about that week’s reading and its related issues, as well as
a short lecture from me. Thus, student participation is crucial to the success of the course,
and I expect you to come to class well read and full of ideas, opinions and questions. The
primary reading some weeks may seem short — after all, we’re looking at sonnets and
lyrics (in addition to novel-poems). But please note that students will be expected to have
read each primary text several times, and keep in mind the fact that, the more you put into
the reading and re-reading, the more rewarding the poetry (and the course) will be. I will
assume that, before each class, you will annotate your own copy of the course texts with
your commentary and questions on the poetry, and that you will highlight key concepts
and literary devices in the poetry to prepare you for class discussion.
Course Aims
 To introduce or deepen your knowledge of the Brownings’ poetry and its relevant
Victorian contexts
 To explore a range of critical approaches to the Brownings’ poetry and to
examine the poetry’s reception history
 To give you confidence in your close reading of poetry, deepen your critical skills
and introduce you to key issues in comparative poetic analysis
 To improve your skills in essay writing, class debate and oral presentation
Class Texts
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh and Other Poems (London: Penguin, 1995)
Robert Browning, The Major Poems (Oxford: Oxford World’s Classics, 2005)
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Reserve Readings
Assigned secondary readings are indicated on the course schedule and are on reserve in
the Eng 551 binder in the library. These are designed to provide you with a theoretical
vocabulary and frame of reference for the course. Additional texts are on reserve in the
library; these will provide extra theoretical or historical contexts.
Assignments
(1) Contextual presentation, 15-20 mins (10%)
 Please sign up for a presentation topic of your choice on the list circulated in
class.
 The presentation will offer a key primary Victorian text to the class that
illuminates or explicates the topic and/or texts for that week in historical terms
(such as a contemporary review, letter, painting, periodical article, illustration).
The particular contextual material you choose to discuss will be your choice,
although it is expected that you draw on the primary resources in the library.
Contextual presentations that demonstrate research skills, analytical reading, and
appropriate historical awareness will be rewarded.
 Provide a one-page handout with your presentation (use both sides if you choose),
outlining the key points of the talk, any supporting material (such as quotations),
and a bibliography for further reading. Please list at least 5 further questions for
class debate.
 Presentations will be assessed for clarity and cogency, excellence of attention to
detail, independent research, and analysis rather than summaries of material.
 You may use overheads, power-point slides, or bring actual texts to illustrate your
points.
(2) Close poetry analyses, 250 words each (10% overall), due 4pm the Friday
before class by email
 Keep strictly to the word limit: this is an exercise in economy as well as in
close reading
 The grade awarded for these analyses will be cumulative, and the overall
marks will be adjusted for evidence of progression
 Choose one of the primary texts for the class, and focus on one feature in your
analysis, such as genre, rhyme, rhythm, metaphorical devices, tone, speaker,
irony. Analysis that uses the word limit well, and that pays close attention to
the poem, will be rewarded. Be relevant and concise. There is no need to refer
to secondary critics or contextual material unless appropriate to your reading.
 Submit an analyses in an email by 4pm on the Friday before class, indicating
in the subject line “551 close analysis”
 Analyses are due every week a class meets between 1 October and 26
November inclusive, except for those classes where you are giving a
presentation
 Analyses will be made anonymous and discussed in class
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(3) Comparative analytical essay, 6-8 pp (40%), due 22 October in class
 The essay will compare at least one poem (or extract from a poem) from each of
the Brownings on the syllabus; the choice is up to you, but I am available for
consultation and advice.
 The emphasis of the essay is on close comparative reading of the Browning texts,
but essays that also demonstrate a sensitivity to historical context, an excellent
comparative methodology, and an engagement with the critical debates about the
texts will be rewarded.
 The comparative essay will offer a close reading, focusing on any striking poetic
devices (such as genre, irony, rhyme, rhythm, images, metaphors). The closer
your analysis, the better.
(4) Research Essay, 12-15 pp (40%) due 10 December at 4pm in the English
Office
 Submit an essay proposal at the 5 November class; essays are due on 10
December (essays will not be accepted without an approved proposal)
 The exact topic of your essay is your choice, but you are expected to develop
it in consultation with the instructor and to reflect on the feedback given at the
roundtable class at the end of the semester.
 You are expected to address at least one of the class topics of the course, using
the critical methodology and primary/secondary materials appropriate to the
issue, and to demonstrate independent research skills.
(5) Class participation 10%
 Participation includes marks for regular attendance, completion of
assigned reading, productive contribution to seminar discussion, and
helping to create a positive and supportive learning environment for all
class members.
Policy on Absences: It is your responsibility to come to class regularly. If you must be
absent for an extended period, please inform me as far ahead of time as possible. Cases of
continuous unexplained absence may result in a penalty to your grade or your ineligibility
to complete the class; attending class is part of fulfilling its requirements.
Please note: You must complete all assignments in order to pass the course. Class
presentations involve the whole class and will not be rescheduled. If illness or other
emergency causes you to need an extension on a written assignment, please contact me
immediately (preferably in advance) with written documentation (such as a medical
note). Late assignments without extensions will be penalised at the rate of 2% per day,
including weekends. If your essay is late, you may email it to me as an attachment and I
will stop the clock on the lateness penalty according to the date it appeared in my inbox.
You must also provide me with a hardcopy as soon as possible, otherwise the full lateness
penalty will apply.
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Grading:
A+
90-100%
A
85-89%
A-
80-84%
B+
75-79%
Outstanding, original work (for both M.A. and Ph.D.
students), and potentially publishable; written with clarity
and no serious stylistic infelicities or grammatical errors;
demonstrates a clear and cogent grasp of the key issues and
navigates the secondary material with confidence;
demonstrates excellent independent research and critical
thinking; pays scrupulous attention to poetic detail and
close analysis; offers a convincing argument backed up by
compelling evidence; suggests enthusiasm for the subject.
Excellent work with some evidence of original thinking;
well written, researched and argued, although with a few
necessary revisions; impressive use of secondary critics and
excellent understanding of the Victorian context, although
the essay’s own contribution to the debate will not be as
clear and compelling as an A+ essay. Ability to engage
with poetry on a sophisticated level, and to offer extended
close readings of the material to back up the argument.
Potentially publishable with some revisions.
Excellent, although more work is needed to allow the essay
to achieve its full potential. Most of the essential
ingredients for an A grade are here – relevancy, clear
argument with convincing use of evidence, good prose
style, understanding of contemporary contexts and the
critical debate, attention to textual detail – but some of
these are not quite up to standard yet. Perhaps also the
argument doesn’t go far enough, or needs more thought, or
doesn’t demonstrate evidence of research and independent
thinking. Overall, the quality of the work is not quite where
a graduate should be, but will get there with more
application and revisions.
Papers in this range have not met the basic requirements of
the assignment. They may not have answered what the
assignment asked them to do, or done so poorly. There may
be no clear argument, little or no critical engagement,
and/or multiple serious grammar errors. The paper is
simply not up to standard, and a grade in this range should
serve as a loud wake-up call to the writer.
I will be surprised, astonished and disheartened should I have to give the following
grades, but here they are in any case for reference: B 70-74%; B- 65-69%; C+ 60-64%;
C 55-59%; D; 50-54%; F 0-49%. As graduate students, I expect your work to be in the
range of A+ to A-. While by no means a disaster, a grade of B+ indicates serious concern
about your written work (NOT about you!) and together we will strive to improve future
assignments. Any evidence of plagiarism will result in a zero grade for the course.
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Class Schedule
Note on secondary texts: Please use the Eng 551 reading folder in the library.
References marked with an * are available through e-journals.
10 September
Introduction to the course and library research visit
17 September
Inventing the Brownings
Primary Reading: Sonnets from the Portuguese (EBB); courtship
correspondence letters (from the selection in Robert Browning:
The Major Works)
Secondary Reading: Marjorie Stone (Elizabeth Barrett Browning
ch 1); Daniel Karlin (The Courtship of Elizabeth Barrett and
Robert Browning, ch 7)
24 September
Poetics, close analysis and reading comparatively
Primary Reading: EBB, “A Musical Instrument”; RB,
“Porphyria’s Lover”
Secondary Reading: Isobel Armstrong (Victorian Poetry: Poetry,
Poetics and Politics, chapter 5); Angela Leighton (Victorian
Women Poets: Writing Against the Heart, chapter 3)
1 October
Influence and Resistance (CLOSE READING STARTS)
Primary Reading: RB, “Mesmerism” (from Literature On-Line
database), “One Word More”; EBB, “Hiram Powers’ Greek
Slave’, “Hugh Stuart Boyd: His Blindness”, “High Stuart Boyd:
Legacies”
Secondary Reading: Daniel Karlin (“Browning, Elizabeth Barrett,
and ‘Mesmerism’”) Corinne Davies and Marjorie Stone (“‘Singing
Song for Song’: The Brownings in Poetic Relation”)
8 October
No class (Thanksgiving)
10 – 13 October: NAVSA conference at Laurel Point, Victoria:
http://web.uvic.ca/~navsa/
15 October
Cosmopolitanism 1: France
Primary reading: RB, “Apparent Failure”; EBB, Aurora Leigh 6:
1-226, “Napoleon III in Italy” (from Literature On-Line database)
Secondary Reading: Christopher Kierstead* (“Stranded at the
Border: Browning, France, and the Challenge of Cosmopolitanism
in Red Cotton Night-Cap Country”, Victorian Poetry 43 [2005]:
411-34)
22 October
Periodical Publication
(Comparative essay due in class)
Primary Reading: RB, “Popularity”; EBB, “Lord Walter’s Wife”
5
Secondary Reading: Linda Shires (“Elizabeth Barrett Browning:
Cross-Dwelling and the Reworking of Victorian Poetic
Authority”); Lee Erickson (“The Market”)
29 October
Generic Hybridities: The Novel-Poem
Primary Reading: EBB, Aurora Leigh, 5: 1- 236; RB, The Ring
and the Book, Book 1
Secondary Reading: E. Warwick Slinn (“Experimental Form in
Victorian Poetry”)
5 November
Cosmopolitanism 2: Italy
Primary Reading: RB, “An Englishman in Italy”, “A Toccata of
Galuppi’s”; EBB, Casa Guidi Windows, Preface to Poems before
Congress (p/copy).
Secondary Reading: Ernest Fontana* (“Sexual Tourism and
Browning’s ‘The Englishman in Italy’”, Victorian Poetry 36
[1998]: 299-306); Sandra M. Gilbert (“From Patria to Matria:
Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Risorgimento”)
Essay proposal due in class
12 November
No class (reading break)
19 November
Sexual Politics
Primary Reading: EBB, “Bianca among the Nightingales” (from
Literature On-Line database), “My Heart and I” (from Literature
On-Line database); RB, “Meeting at Night / Parting at Morning”,
“Love Among the Ruins”
Secondary Reading: Marjorie Stone (“Bile and the Brownings: A
New Poem by RB, EBB’s ‘My Heart and I’, and New Questions
About the Brownings’ Marriage”)
26 November
Afterlives (LAST CLOSE READING)
Primary Reading: RB, “Prospice”, The Ring and the Book 1:
1371-1408.
Reading: Tricia Lootens (Lost Saints: Silence, Gender and
Victorian Literary Canonization, chapter 4); Pamela Neville
Sington (Robert Browning: A Life After Death, chapter 1)
See also: Barbara Neri’s The EBB Project
<http://www.barbaraneri.com/>
3 December
Roundtable on essay topics
(plus student course evaluations)
REMINDER: research essays due 5 December
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Resources
Recommended Reference Guides:
Sally Mitchell (ed.), Victorian Britain: An Encyclopaedia (New York: Garland, 1988)
James Eli Adams. Encyclopaedia of the Victorian Era. 4 vols. (Danbury, Conn.: Grolier,
2004)
On reserve:
Simon Avery and Rebecca Stott, Elizabeth Barrett Browning (London: Longman, 2003)
Joseph Bristow, Cambridge Companion to Victorian Poetry (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2000)
Richard Cronin, Alison Chapman and Antony H. Harrison (eds.), A Companion to
Victorian Poetry (Oxford: Blackwell, 2002)
Lee Erickson, Robert Browning: His Poetry and His Audiences (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell
University Press, 1984)
Stefan Hawlin, The Complete Critical Guide to Robert Browning (London: Routledge,
2002)
Daniel Karlin, The Courtship of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning (Oxford:
Clarendon, 1985)
Boyd Litzinger and Donald Smalley (eds), Browning: The Critical Heritage (London:
Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1970)
Julia Markus, Dared and Done: The Marriage of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning
(New York: Knopf, 1995)
Dorothy Mermin, Elizabeth Barrett Browning: The Origins of a New Poetry (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1989)
Mary Sanders Pollock, Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning: A Creative Partnership
(Aldsershot: Ashgate, 2003)
Pamela Neville Sington, Robert Browning: A Life After Death (London: Weidenfeld and
Nicolson, 2004)
Marjorie Stone, Elizabeth Barrett Browning (Houndmills, Basingstoke: Macmillan,
1995)
Herbert F. Tucker, Brownings’ Beginnings: The Art of Disclosure (Minneapolis, Minn.:
University of Minnesota Press, 1980)
Herbert F. Tucker, A Companion to Victorian Literature and Culture (Oxford: Blackwell,
1999)
Sarah Wood, Robert Browning: A Literary Life (Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave,
2001)
Internet:
The Victorian Web: http://www.victorianweb.org
Victoria Research Web: http://victorianresearch.org
Databases:
Browning Database, Armstrong Browning Library:
http://www.browninglibrary.org/index.php?id=4245
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Examples of Presentation Topics
These are suggestions only. You are welcome to come up with your own focus, and
please do consult me if necessary for help.
1 October
Influence and Resistance
Suggested presentation topics: mesmerism; Victorian co-authorship; homage poems;
inter-artistic poems
15 October
Cosmopolitanism 1: France
Suggested presentation topics: Napoleon III; the Paris Morgue; Anglo-French politics;
Victorian representations of Paris
22 October
Periodical Publication
Suggested presentation topics: Victorian periodical publications and Victorian poets;
annuals and albums; the literary marketplace; the marketing of authorial identity;
copyright law
29 October
Generic Hybridities: The Novel-Poem
Suggested presentation topics: the invention of the novel-poem; novel versus poetry in
the Victorian period; Victorian response to the novel-poem genre (e.g. in reviews, letters)
5 November
Cosmopolitanism 2: Italy
Suggested presentation topics: the Victorians and Renaissance Italy; Victorian travel
and travel writing; the Risorgimento (Italian nationalist movement); Madame de Staël’s
Corinne and women’s poetry
19 November
Sexual Politics
Suggested presentation topics: Victorian courtship; literary sensibility; marriage reform
legislation; sexual “fallenness”
26 November
Afterlives
Suggested presentation topics: homage poems to EBB and/or RB; EBB’s Last Poems;
posthumous representations of the Brownings in nineteenth-century reviews and/or
biographies; the Brownings in literary anthologies in the nineteenth century; the
Armstrong Browning Library; the Browning Society
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