English 206: Modern British Literature, Section MA
Monday/Wednesday, 2:00-3:15 pm,
M Building, Room 211
Class web page: www.Brian-T-Murphy.com/Eng206.htm
Brian T. Murphy
Bradley Hall, Y-203
Office Hours TBD
brian.murphy@ncc.edu
516-572-7185, ext. 25686
DESCRIPTION:
Students are introduced to major British writers from the late 18th through the early 21st centuries. Works of writers
such as Wordsworth, Arnold, Dickens, Wilde, Woolf, Eliot, Yeats, Osborn, Lessing and Amis are studied in the
context of their times and their literary and cultural values. Writing is an integral component of the course.
Prerequisites: ENG 102 or ENG 109.
This is an introductory course in British literature from the Romantic and Victorian periods to contemporary time.
Students do not need to have taken ENG 205 (Early British Literature) before taking this course; however, it is
assumed that students have successfully completed the prerequisites for this course, ENG 100/101 and ENG 102, or
their equivalent. Therefore, students are expected to have the necessary background and experience in analyzing,
discussing, and responding to literature, as well as the ability to conduct independent research and to write correctly
documented research essays using MLA format. Students are cautioned that this course requires extensive reading,
writing, and discussions; students not prepared to read (up to 150 pages/week), to write on a regular basis, and to
take an active part in class discussions should not consider taking this course.
OBJECTIVES:
At the conclusion of this course, students will be able to:
Discuss the works of major British writers in the following contexts:
~ Literary periods (Romantic, Victorian, and Modern)
~ Social movements
~ Intellectual movements
Trace the development of themes and genres within their historical contexts;
Analyze literary works for their aesthetic features and thematic patterns;
Identify styles, themes, and works of major writers;
Examine a variety of critical approaches to literature.
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Greenblatt, Stephen, et. al., eds. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 9th ed. Package 2. New York: W. W.
Norton, 2012.
Dickens, Charles. Hard Times, ANY EDITION.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Ed. Maurice Hindle. New York: Penguin, 2003.
Note: Any editions of Hard Times and Frankenstein are acceptable. However, those editions of Frankenstein based on the 1818 text,
not the 1831, are preferred by most contemporary scholars. In addition, English majors—or anyone considering pursuing further
literary studies—should consider purchasing the Norton Critical Editions version of Hard Times and Frankenstein, which contain
authoritative texts, historical backgrounds and contexts, and a selection of useful criticism.
Supplemental readings and materials may be assigned at the instructor’s discretion.
Recommended Texts:
Hacker, Diana and Nancy Sommers. Rules for Writers, 7 ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2012 or any other current
college-level handbook including 2009 MLA updates.
A good college-level dictionary
CLASS POLICIES:
Attendance:
Students must not only attend every class, but also arrive on time, be prepared, and take an active part in class (see
Participation, below); students may be required to sign in each class session to verify their attendance. Moreover,
once students get to class, they are expected to stay in the classroom until the class is over. Leaving class early or
getting up in the middle of class is considered disruptive behavior and should happen only in extreme emergencies.
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Excessive absences or latenesses will affect your grade; students missing more than four classes will fail the course.
Students unable to attend class should contact the instructor regarding their absence in advance or as soon as they
return to school.
Plagiarism and Cheating:
Plagiarism includes copying or paraphrasing another’s words, ideas, or facts without crediting the source; submitting
a paper written by someone else, either in whole or in part, as one’s own work; or submitting work previously
submitted for another course or instructor. Plagiarism, cheating, or other forms of academic dishonesty on any
assignment will result in failure (a grade of zero) for that assignment and may result in further disciplinary action,
including but not limited to failure for the course and expulsion from the college. See the Nassau Community
College “Policy on Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism” (page 20 in the college catalog).
Essay Submission (General Essay Instructions):
For each of the assigned essays and projects, a topic or list of topic choices will be provided. Your work must be on
one of the assigned topics for that assignment or developed in consultation with the instructor* or it will receive a
grade of “F”.
*Note: You must obtain prior approval to write on topics other than those listed below; speak to me before or after class to set up an
appointment during my office hours. Approval must be obtained at least one full week in advance of the due date. See details below.
All writing assignments must be received by the instructor on or before the due date, by the beginning of the class
period, as indicated on the schedule, below. Essays submitted by email or otherwise submitted late will not be
accepted; see below. All at-home work must be typed (in 12-point Times New Roman), double-spaced, with oneinch margins, and stapled when submitted. In-class work must be neatly printed in blue or black ink on loose-leaf
composition paper or in bluebooks provided by the instructor and double-spaced. All essays must also include a
proper heading (see Purdue Online Writing Lab’s Formatting and Style Guide), including Word Count; have an
appropriate, original title; contain a clear, explicit, assertive, objectively worded thesis statement (thesis statements
must be underlined); and (unless otherwise indicated) avoid use of I or you throughout. Finally, all work should be
grammatically correct, free of errors in mechanics, grammar, usage, spelling, and documentation, and will be
evaluated according to the Model for Evaluation of Student Writing.
Please feel free to communicate any concerns or questions to me before the essays are due; I will be available to
meet with any student who needs assistance or additional instruction. Please speak to me before or after class or
email me to set up an appointment during my office hours.
Revisions:
All failing essays may be revised and resubmitted by the due dates announced when the graded essays are returned.
Essays receiving a passing grade may also be revised and resubmitted, but only after the student has met with the
instructor during office hours (by appointment only) to discuss revisions.
Revisions must be substantially revised, not merely “corrected” versions of the original essay (revisions should be
based upon the Revising and Editing Checklist and relevant information from class and the textbooks), and must be
submitted with the original graded essay and/or draft(s) attached. Evidence of substantial revision may result in a
better grade for the assignment.
If you did not submit a completed essay on time, you will receive a grade of 0 and may not submit a “revision.”
Make-up Exams/Late Work:
All assignment deadlines and scheduled exam dates are provided at the beginning of the semester; therefore, late
papers will not be accepted nor will make-up opportunities be offered, except under extraordinary
circumstances with appropriate documentation; work submitted after deadlines will receive a grade
reduction of 10% for each day it is late. Excuses such as “crashed computers,” “lost flash drives,” or “empty
printer ink cartridges” will not be accepted; therefore, all essays or work should be saved both on your computer’s
hard drive and again on removable storage device, and students should keep backup copies of all work submitted.
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Disabilities and Accommodations:
If you have a physical, psychological, medical, or learning disability that may impact your ability to carry out
assigned course work, I urge that you contact the Center for Students with Disabilities(CSD), Building U.(516 5727241). The counselors at CSD will review your concerns and determine reasonable accommodations you are
entitled to by the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. All information
and documentation of disability remain confidential.
ASSIGNMENTS:
Attendance and Participation (10%):
As this class will combine both lecture and discussion, students are expected both to attend every session and to take
an active part in class—joining in discussions and raising questions. Discussion is one of the best ways to clarify
your understandings and to test your conclusions; therefore, it is imperative that all students participate regularly in
order that we may together discover what each selection “means” to us. Open discussion always involves personal
exposure, and thus the taking of risks: your ideas may not be the same as your fellow students’ or even the
instructor’s. Yet as long as your points are honest and supportable, they will be respected by all of us in the
classroom. Questions, discussion, disagreement, and laughter are all encouraged in this class (However, ridicule or
scoffing is never tolerated).
Quizzes (10%):
With the exception of the first day, class may begin with a short (five- to ten-minute) quiz or writing assignment on
the reading(s) for the day, at the instructor’s discretion. Quizzes missed due to tardiness may not be made up. At the
end of the semester, the lowest quiz grade will be dropped. Total number of quizzes during the semester will
determine the point value of each; that is, if 11 quizzes are given (lowest quiz grade will be dropped), each quiz is
worth up to one full point.
Essays (2 @ 20%):
Students will complete two essays during the semester; topics should be selected from the list of suggestions
provided (see Essay Topics, below) or developed in consultation with the instructor. Each should be at least five to
seven pages (1000-1250 words minimum), with a cover page and Works Cited page (cover page and Works Cited do
not count toward the five- to seven-page requirement), and stapled when submitted. . The paper must be
argumentative (persuasive), with a clear, explicit, and assertive thesis statement (underlined), and must use a
minimum of five to seven sources, including at least one to three primary sources (the text or texts discussed) and
three to five secondary sources. Essays should be grammatically correct, free of errors in mechanics, grammar,
usage, spelling, and documentation, and will be evaluated according to the Model for Evaluation of Student Writing.
Please refer to the Essay Outline and Revising and Editing Checklist for additional assistance, as well as Writing
About Literature, Writing a Literature Paper, and Getting an A on an English Paper.
Exams (2 @ 20%):
Students will complete two exams: an in-class midterm and a final during the designated final exam period. These
exams will each evaluate students’ recognition and comprehension of material studied during the previous weeks,
covering specific texts, literary themes, and cultural and historical backgrounds. The exams may combine objective
questions and short essay answers, and students may be entitled to use notes or textbooks for the essay portion of the
exams.
Extra Credit (possibly various opportunities, at 1–2 points each):
Students may be notified of opportunities for extra credit during the semester, including attendance at various
workshops or cultural events related to the class (“Recommended Fieldtrips”). If students attend one or more of these
events, and provide evidence of attendance (ticket stub, program, unretouched digital image, et cetera) along with a
typed one- to two-page personal response (review, analysis, reflection, critique, et cetera), they can receive
additional points: a single event and written response is worth 2 points extra credit; attendance at additional events
will earn one additional point each. Note: you may not attend the same workshops two or more times for additional
extra credit!
Note: As a general rule, extra credit only helps if you have already completed all of the assigned work, and will not
make up for missing an essay (or two, or three). Extra credit opportunities will be announced in class, and they will
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also be posted here as well as on the class Announcements page, so do not ask at the end of the semester for “extra
credit” to bring your average up.
Extra Credit Opportunities to date:
Poetic Recitation (2-4 points Extra Credit):
Students may select and memorize one of the selections below to be recited in front of the class for extra credit.
Memorization serves the student’s skills of reading lines carefully and making judgments about how particular
passages can be interpreted. A single recitation is worth 2 points extra credit; a second recitation will earn an
additional 2 points. There will be opportunities for recitation twice during the semester, on the day of the
midterm and final exams; students must sign up for these dates at least one week in advance, as sufficient time
must be allocated for completion of the exam.
Possible selections for Recitation 1 (March 16–18 ):
Blake, “London” (132-3): 16 lines
Wordsworth, “Expostulation and Reply” (280-1): 32 lines
Wordsworth, “The Tables Turned” (281-2): 32 lines
Byron, “She Walks in Beauty” (617-18): 18 lines
Shelley, “Ozymandias” (776): 14 lines
Keats, “Ode on a Grecian Urn” ll. 1-10, 41-50 (930-31): 20 lines
Possible selections for Recitation 2 (May 11–13):
Tennyson, “Ulysses” ll. 44-70 (1170-72): 26 lines
Hopkins, “God’s Grandeur” (1548): 14 lines
Owen, “Dulce et Decorum Est” (2037): 28 lines
Yeats, “The Second Coming” (2099): 22 lines
Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” ll. 1-22 (2524-27): 22 lines
Eliot, “The Hollow Men” I: ll. 1-18 (2543-46): 18 lines
Auden, “Musée des Beaux Arts” (2685): 21 lines
Others to be announced
Additional Extra Credit Opportunities to be announced
GRADING:
Final grades will be determined as follows:
Total Points earned (Final Average) will determine the
grade received for the course, as follows:
Attendance/Class Participation
10%
Quizzes and In-class Writing
10%
Final Percentage
Final Grade
At-Home Essays: 2 @ 12.5%
25%
90–100+
A
In-Class Essays (Midterm, Final): 2 @10%
20%
85–89
B+
80–84
B
Research Paper (35% total)
Topic Selection
5%
75–79
C+
Annotated Bibliography
5%
70–74
C
Preliminary Outline and Draft
Introduction
5%
65–69
D+
60–64
D
0–59
F
Final Draft
20%
Extra Credit (if any) will be added to the final total.
Note: Percentages ending in .5 or greater are rounded
up. Therefore, 79.5 rounds up to 80, a B, but 79.4
rounds down to 79, a C+.
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SCHEDULE:
IMPORTANT DATES: SPRING 2015 SEMESTER
Monday, Jan. 19
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – COLLEGE HOLIDAY – offices closed
Tuesday, Jan. 20
Day, Evening & Distance Education Classes Begin
Friday, Jan. 23
Weekend Classes Begin
Monday, Jan. 26
Last Day Drop/Add
Tuesday, Feb. 10
Evening Activity Hour: 5:30 p.m. class will not meet
Friday, Feb. 13
Evening Classes Do Not Meet (classes beginning after 5:01pm)
Feb. 14–19
Classes Do Not Meet
Monday, Feb. 16
Presidents’ Day – COLLEGE HOLIDAY – offices closed
Tuesday, Feb. 17
COLLEGE HOLIDAY – offices closed
Friday, Feb. 20
Day classes do not meet (Classes that begin before or at 5:00 PM)
Mar. 30–Apr. 5
Classes do not meet – Spring Break
Friday, Apr. 3
Passover/Good Friday – COLLEGE HOLIDAY – offices closed
Friday Apr. 10
Last Day Automatic W
Tuesday, April 14
Evening Activity Hour: 8:30 p.m. classes will not meet
May 6–7
Evening Classes Extended by Five Minutes for Final Exams
Sunday, May 10
Weekend Classes End
May 11–12
Evening Classes Extended by Five Minutes for Final Exams
Tuesday, May 12
Evening Classes End
Monday, May 18
Day & Distance Education Classes End
NOTE: All dates subject to change. See Academic Calendar: Spring 2015 (online)
Projected Schedule of Readings and Assignments
All readings below are required, and must be completed by the day indicated; the only exceptions are those indicated
with an asterisk (*), which are recommended additional readings or resources.
This schedule is subject to revision according to the instructor’s discretion, the Academic Calendar for the semester,
school closings due to inclement weather or other reasons, and the progress of the class. Additions or changes will be
announced in class, and they will also be posted on the class Announcements page.
Mon., 19 Jan.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: College Closed
Tue., 20 Jan.
Day, Evening & Distance Education (online) Classes Begin
Wed., 21 Jan.
Introduction: Syllabus, texts, policies, assignments
Mon., 26 Jan.
Last Day Drop/Add
Class cancelled
Wed., 28 Jan.
The Romantic Period (2-30):
The Revolution Controversy and the “Spirit of the Age” (183-4)
Edmund Burke: from Reflections on the Revolution in France (187-94)
Mary Wollstonecraft: from A Vindication of the Rights of Men (194-99)
Thomas Paine: from Rights of Man (199-203)
Mary Wollstonecraft: from A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (208-239)
Mon., 2 Feb.
Class cancelled again
Wed., 4 Feb.
William Blake (112-116):
From Songs of Innocence (118-125): “Introduction,” “The Lamb,” “The Little Black Boy,” “The
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Mon., 9 Feb.
Wed., 11 Feb.
Chimney Sweeper,” “Holy Thursday”; From Songs of Experience (125-135): “Introduction,”
“Holy Thursday,” “The Chimney Sweeper,” “The Sick Rose,” “The Tyger,” “London”
Blake, continued; William Wordsworth (270-72), from Lyrical Ballads: Preface - 1802 ed. (292304); “We Are Seven” (278-9); “Expostulation and Reply” and “The Tables Turned” (280-282);
“My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold” (335); Samuel Taylor Coleridge (437-9): “This Lime-tree
Bower My Prison,” “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” “Kubla Khan” (441-462); “Frost at
Midnight” (477-79)
Essay 1 Topic Proposals due
Coleridge, continued; George Gordon, Lord Byron (612-18): “She Walks in Beauty”; Percy
Shelley (748-52): “Mutability,” “To Wordsworth”; “Ozymandias” (776); “To a Skylark” (834-6)
14–19 Feb.
Classes do not meet
John Keats (901-3): “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer” (904); “La Belle Dame Sans
Merci” (923-4); “Ode to a Nightingale,” “Ode on a Grecian Urn” (927-931)
Mon., 23 Feb. Mary Shelley (981-3): Frankenstein. Read at least Preface, 1818 ed; Introduction, 1831 ed; Vol. I.
Wed., 18 Feb.
Wed., 25 Feb.
Essay 1 Due
Frankenstein continued: read at least through Vol. II
Mon., 2 Mar. Frankenstein continued: finish Vol. III
Wed., 4 Mar. The Victorian Age (1016-1043)
Thomas Carlyle (1044-48): from Past and Present (1067-76)
John Stuart Mill (1086-88): from On Liberty (1095-1104)
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1156-59): “Ulysses,” “Break, Break, Break” (1170-74)
Mon., 9 Mar. Robert Browning (1275-8): “Rabbi Ben Ezra” (1322-8); “Fra Lippo Lippi” (1300-09); “My Last
Duchess” (1282-3); Matthew Arnold (1369-73): “Dover Beach” (1387)
Wed., 11 Mar. Gerard Manley Hopkins (1546-48): “God’s Grandeur” (1548); “Pied Beauty” (1551); “Spring
and Fall” (1553-54)
Mon., 16 Mar. William Morris (1512-22): “The Defence of Guenevere”; Alfred, Lord Tennyson, from The
Idylls Of The King (1236-59): “The Coming of Arthur,” “The Passing of Arthur”
Wed., 18 Mar.
Midterm Exam
Mon., 23 Mar.
Industrialism: Progress or Decline? (1580-81)
Friedrich Engels: from The Great Towns (1589-97)
Henry Mayhew: from London Labour and the London Poor (1601-3)
Annie Besant: The “White Slavery” of London Match Workers (1603-5)
The “Woman Question”: The Victorian Debate about Gender (1607-10)
Sarah Stickney Ellis: from The Women of England: Their Social Duties and Domestic Habits
(1610-12)
Harriet Martineau: from Autobiography (1616-19) (also here)
Anonymous: “The Great Social Evil” (1620-24) (see also cartoon from Punch, )
Dinah Maria Mulock: from A Woman’s Thoughts about Women (1624-26)
John Stuart Mill: from The Subjection of Women [Chapter 1] (1105-15)
Charles Dickens: Hard Times Introduction, Book I
Wed., 25 Mar. Hard Times, Book II-III
30 Mar.– 5 Apr. SPRING BREAK – Classes do not meet
Mon., 6 Apr.
Hard Times, continued (as needed)
Wed., 8 Apr.
Essay 2 Topic Proposals due
Late Victorians (1668-1671);
Oscar Wilde (1720-1721): The Importance of Being Earnest, Act 1-2 (1733-1777)
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Fri., 10 Apr.
Last Day Automatic W
The Importance of Being Earnest, Act 2-3 (1733-1777)
Mon., 13 Apr. The Twentieth Century and After (1886-1913)
Empire and National Identity (1636-40)
Anonymous: Proclamation of an Irish Republic (1646-47)
James Anthony Froud: from The English in the West Indies (1649-52)
John Jacob Thomas: from Froudacity (1652-54)
Joseph Chamberlain: from The True Conception of Empire (1662-64)
John Hobson: The Political Significance of Imperialism (1665-57)
Wed., 15 Apr.
Voices from World War I (2016-18):
Siegfried Sassoon (2023-24): “They”
Isaac Rosenberg (2029-31): “Break of Day in the Trenches,” “Louse Hunting”
Wilfred Owen (2034-37): “Anthem for Doomed Youth,” “Dulce et Decorum Est”
Mon., 20 Apr.
Essay 2 Due
Wed., 22 Apr.
Mon., 27 Apr.
Wed., 29 Apr.
Mon., 4 May
Wed., 6 May
Mon., 11 May
W. B. Yeats (2082-2099): “The Stolen Child,” “The Lake Isle of Innisfree,” “When You are
Old,” “Easter 1916,” “The Second Coming”
James Joyce (2276-2311): “Araby,” “The Dead”
T. S. Eliot (2521-2547): “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” “The Hollow Men,” “Journey Of
The Magi”
W. H. Auden (2677-2687): “Musée des Beaux Arts,” “In Memory of W. B. Yeats”
Voices from World War II (2704-2706)
Virginia Woolf (2706-2710): from Three Guineas, “[As a Woman I Have No Country]”
Pablo Picasso, “Guernica” (2711-2712)
Henry Reed (2714-2715): from Lessons of the War, “Naming of Parts”
Nation, Race, and Language (2718-21)
Claude McKay (2721-23): “Old England,” “If We Must Die”; “America” (handout)
Grace Nichols (2751-54): “Epilogue,” “The Fat Black Woman Goes Shopping,” “Wherever I
Hang”
Margaret Atwood (2967-82): “Death by Landscape,” “Miss July Grows Older”
Seamus Heaney (2951-2967): “Digging,” “The Grauballe Man,” “Casualty,” “Clearances,”
“Anything Can Happen”
Wed., 13 May
Final Exam
Mon., 18 May
Day & Distance Education Classes End
ESSAY TOPICS:
For each of the assigned essays, a list of topic choices is provided. Your essay must be on one of the assigned topics for that
assignment or developed in consultation with the instructor*. All essays must be submitted on or before the due date, by the beginning
of the class period; late work will not be accepted.
For each of the essays, select one of the topics to discuss in a clear, well-developed, coherent, thoughtful, and
properly documented (MLA format) argumentative essay of at least five to seven pages (1000-1250 words
minimum), with a cover page and Works Cited page (cover page and Works Cited do not count toward the five- to
seven-page requirement). The paper must be argumentative (persuasive), with a clear, explicit, and assertive thesis
statement (underlined), and must use a minimum of five to seven sources, including at least one to three primary
sources (the text or texts discussed) and three to five secondary sources; secondary sources must be scholarly
criticism or analysis, not summaries, reviews, or “analysis” from sites such as e-Notes, SparkNotes, Wikipedia*,
123HelpMe, or Gradesaver.com. Essays must contain quotations from or other references to your sources, and these
references should be used to support your assertions about the text; you must include at least one short quotation, one
long—block—quotation, and one paraphrase, and these sources must be properly documented (utilizing MLA
format), and integrated into your writing smoothly and correctly. See also Research Paper checklist.
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* On use of Wikipedia in college-level research, see Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales on PBS NewsHour, here: “I
don’t think at a university level it makes sense to cite any encyclopedia in an academic paper. That’s just not what
an encyclopedia’s role is in the research process. Maybe if you’re in junior high, you know? If some kid out there
is twelve years old and they wrote something and they put in a footnote, we should be thrilled, right? That’s his
first start on the idea of crediting other people with ideas and things like that, but at the university level? No, it’s a
bit junior high to cite an encyclopedia.”
Please refer to the following as well:
Formatting and Style Guide (Purdue Online Writing Lab)
Incorporating Sources (class handout)
Class Plagiarism Policy (on syllabus), as well as the Nassau Community College Policy on Academic
Dishonesty and Plagiarism (see college catalog).
You might also find the following additional resources useful:
Works Cited page (Instructions & Sample) (Microsoft Word document)
Avoiding Plagiarism (Houghton-Mifflin web site)
Practice Incorporating Sources into Your Work (Houghton-Mifflin web site)
MLA format (Purdue university’s Online Writing Lab)
Be sure to focus carefully on the topic: formulate a strong, objectively worded thesis, and avoid plot summary.
Remember that these are formal essays: they must have an appropriate, original title; contain an introduction, body,
and conclusion; have a clear, explicit, assertive, objectively worded thesis statement; and avoid use of “I” or “you”
throughout.
Please feel free to communicate any concerns or questions to me before the essays are due; I will be available to
meet with any student who needs assistance or additional instruction. Please speak to me before or after class or email me to set up an appointment during my office hours.
Essay 1: Due Wednesday, 25 February
1. Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience present several complementary pairs of poems (for
example, “The Lamb” and “The Tyger,” “The Chimney Sweeper” and “The Chimney Sweeper,” “Holy
Thursday” and “Holy Thursday”). How do these and other such paired poems, not only those discussed in
class, illustrate Blake’s thesis that they show “Two Contrary States of the Human Soul”? You may include in
your discussion Blake’s engravings in relation to this thesis.
2. There is often a sudden change of mood or emotion in Wordsworth’s poetry. Explain why Wordsworth uses
this technique, citing specific examples from several different works.
3. Compare ideas of nature and natural processes in several of the Romantic poets; for example, does Keats use
nature as a teacher the same way Coleridge and Wordsworth do in their poems? Or, compare Shelley’s “Ode
to the West Wind” and Keats’s “To Autumn.” Explain your answer by using specific references to poems by
each author.
4. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is subtitled “The Modern Prometheus”; in addition, she includes below the title
an epigraph from Paradise Lost:
Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay
To mould me man? Did I solicit thee
From Darkness to promote me?
In what way does Shelley draw upon the Prometheus myth and/or Paradise Lost in her novel? Why?
5. An analytical essay of your own choosing, developed in consultation with the instructor, involving one or
more works from the Romantic period. You must discuss the topic with me and you must develop and
submit a clear, well-written, one- to two-page topic proposal for approval by Wednesday, 11 February. No
essays on alternative topics will graded without the approved topic porposal attached. Proposals should
include an explanation of the topic you have chosen, your reason for the selection, your focus and opinion,
and a clear, well-written, explicit, and assertive preliminary thesis; you may also include a preliminary idea
of the plan of the paper, its intention, or research question. Your work should take the following form:
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Topic: the general topic selected.
Rationale: why you have chosen to research and write about this particular topic.
Focus: a narrowed form of the subject, and the issue, question, or debate involved.
Opinion: your subjective opinion on the debate or issue.
Thesis: your opinion, worded objectively.
Note: No essays on alternative topics will be graded without the approved topic proposal attached.
Essay 2: Due Monday, 20 April
1. How does historical context shape the Victorian poets? That is, how are their themes, their understanding of
poetry, their attitude towards life shaped and reflected by their era, and how does this distinguish them from
the Romantic poets?
2. In the nineteenth century, a number of poets adapted (or attempted) the Arthurian legends: not only
Tennyson (The Idylls Of The King) and Morris (“The Defence of Guenevere”), but also Matthew Arnold, A.
C. Swinburne, et cetera. Compare the treatment of one or more specific Arthurian legends in several of the
Victorian poets; for example, how is the story of Tristan and Iseult rewritten by various poets? Or, how does
Morris’s treatment of Guenevere differ from Tennyson’s?
3. Two concerns of the Victorian period were industrialism and its effects and “The Woman Question,” the
debate about gender and the role of women. Compare the treatment of one of these themes in at least two
different works not discussed in class.
4. In The Metaphysical Poets (1921), T. S. Eliot states that the modern poet “must become more and more
comprehensive, more allusive, more indirect, in order to force, to dislocate if necessary, language into his
meaning.” Explain how Eliot and/or other modernist poets either adhere to or violate this principle, citing
specific examples from several different works.
5. The modernist period is, chronologically, closer to the Victorian age than to the early twenty-first century.
Select a pair of nineteenth-century (Romantic or Victorian) and twentieth-century works and discuss their
continuities and differences. In what respects, if any, is the twentieth-century work closer to our own era than
the corresponding nineteenth-century work? Some possible pairings include Keats’s “Ode on Melancholy”
and Hardy’s “The Darkling Thrush,” Arnold’s “Thyrsis: A Monody” and Auden’s “In Memory of W. B.
Yeats,” Wordsworth’s “Ode: Intimations of Immortality” and Yeats’s “Among School Children,” and
Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman and Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own.
6. An analytical essay of your own choosing, developed in consultation with the instructor, involving one or
more works from the Victorian period, the twentieth century, or the twenty-first. As above, you must discuss
the topic with me and you must develop and submit a clear, well-written, one- to two-page topic proposal for
approval. The deadline for submission of proposals is Wednesday, 8 April. As above, no essays on
alternative topics will be graded without the approved topic proposal attached.
Last Revised: Monday, 2 February 2015
9
MODEL FOR EVALUATION OF STUDENT WRITING
UNSATISFACTORY
SATISFACTORY
ABOVE AVERAGE
EXCELLENT
A. CONTENT:
Includes thesis
statement and both
quantity and quality
of supporting details
Thesis is lacking or
incorrect, and not
supported with
appropriate detail.
Writing is thin,
including
generalizations with
few or no concrete
examples or
illustrations.
Thesis is apparent but
general or
commonplace.
Support may be
sketchy or
occasionally
irrelevant.
Generalizations are
supported with
examples, but content
may be thin.
Thesis is explicit,
appropriate, and well
supported. Content is
both adequate and
appropriate, providing
examples and
illustrations to support
all generalizations.
Thesis is explicit and
significant, assertive,
objectively worded,
and supported with
substantial and
relevant information.
The essay includes a
wealth of relevant
details, examples, or
imagery.
B. ORGANIZATION:
Includes paragraph
development and
arrangement of body
paragraphs, as well as
coherence
(introduction, body,
conclusion)
The plan and purpose
of the essay are not
apparent. It is not
developed or is
developed with some
irrelevancy or
redundancy.
Paragraphs are
incoherent or
undeveloped.
Transitions are
lacking.
The plan of
development is
apparent but not
consistently
followed. The writing
lacks clarity or is
repetitious. The
paragraphs are
generally effective,
but transitions may
be weak or
mechanical.
The plan of
development is clear
and consistently
followed. The writing
is concise and clear,
with a minimum of
repetition. Paragraphs
are generally welldeveloped and
effective, with
appropriate
transitions.
It is planned logically
and progresses in
clearly ordered and
necessary steps, and
developed with
originality and
attention to proportion
and emphasis.
Paragraphs are
logically and
effectively developed
with effective
transitions.
C. DICTION AND
MECHANICS:
Includes conventions
of grammar, usage,
and punctuation, as
well as appropriate
diction
Often, sentences are
not grammatically
correct. Vocabulary is
elementary, not college
level. Words are used
incorrectly. Persistent
usage, spelling, or
punctuation errors
exist.
Sentences are
generally correct but
may lack distinction,
creativity, or style.
Vocabulary is
generally used
correctly. Occasional
lapses in grammar,
punctuation, or
spelling exist.
Sentences are
correctly constructed
and demonstrate
variety. The
vocabulary is
effective and
appropriate. Errors in
grammar,
punctuation, or
spelling are rare.
The sentences are
skillfully constructed,
effective, and varied.
Words used are vivid,
accurate, and original.
The writing is without
flaws in grammar or
mechanics. A personal
style is evident.
D. RESEARCH AND
DOCUMENTATION:
Includes
documentation and
incorporation of
appropriate collegelevel sources
Sources are lacking or
inappropriate.
Information from
sources is not
adequately
incorporated into the
body of the essay.
Documentation is
missing, inadequate, or
incorrect.
Sources are adequate,
but may be too
general. Information
is occasionally
weakly incorporated
or is unconnected to
the content of the
essay.
Documentation is
generally correct, but
may contain some
minor errors.
Sources are generally
relevant, authoritative,
and appropriate.
Information is
relevant and is usually
incorporated
correctly. In-text
citations and
References or Works
Cited page are
generally correct.
Sources used are
relevant, substantial,
and authoritative,
demonstrating
creativity and
scholarly research.
Information is
introduced and
incorporated smoothly
and appropriately.
Documentation is
clear and free of
errors.
10