Romantics and Victorians: Literature in the Industrial Age

Module title	Romantics and Victorians: Literature in the Industrial Age
Module code	TRU2018
Academic year	2019/0
Credits	15
Module staff	Dr Christopher Stokes (Convenor)

Duration: Term	1	2	3
Duration: Weeks		6

Number students taking module (anticipated)	60

Module description

The module will give you a broad overview of the nineteenth century. In particular, it aims to offer a reflective sampling of major genres and modes, and will enable you to respond to the texts in light of knowledge of the developing conventions of those genres and modes. The module also aims to historicise its texts, introducing you to current critical thinking and debates on the relationships between contexts and texts.

Module aims - intentions of the module

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

1. Demonstrate an informed appreciation of specific nineteenth-century literary texts and authors
2. Describe the relation between nineteenth-century literature and important historical and intellectual developments of the time

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

3. Interrelate texts and discourses specific to their own discipline with issues in the wider context of cultural and intellectual history

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

4. Through seminar work, demonstrate communication skills, and work both individually and in groups
5. Through essay-writing, demonstrate appropriate research and bibliographic skills, construct a coherent, substantiated argument, and write clear and correct prose

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

Lectures will introduce the themes under discussion including for example, social reform, technological development, the British Empire, religion, and evolutionary science. Seminars will focus on primary texts and may include the following:

Romantic poetry
Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South
Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam
Victorian poetry
Short stories from colonial India (e.g. Tagore, Kipling)
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
19	131	0

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning and Teaching	7	Lectures large group teaching (7 x 1 hour)
Scheduled Learning and Teaching	12	Seminars small group teaching (6 x 2 hours)
Guided Independent study	131	Seminar and workshop preparation and assessment

Formative assessment

Form of assessment	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Presentation	10 minutes	1-4	Oral
Literature review	500 words	1-3, 5	Written

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Coursework	Written exams	Practical exams
0	90	10

Details of summative assessment

Form of assessment	% of credit	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Examination	90	1 hour and 30 minutes	1-3, 5	Written and option for oral feedback
Participation	10	Continuous	1-4	Oral feedback with opportunity for office hours follow-up

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Original form of assessment	Form of re-assessment	ILOs re-assessed	Timescale for re-assessment
Examination	Examination	1-3, 5	Referral/deferral period
Participation	Repeat study or mitigation	1-4	Referral/deferral period

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Indicative secondary texts:

Deidre David, ed. The Cambridge Companion to the Victorian Novel (CUP, 2006)
Michael O’Neill and Mark Sandy, eds. Romanticism: Critical Concepts in Literary and Cultural Studies, Vol. IV, Romanticism, Belief, and Philosophy (Routledge, 2006)
Anna Barton, Tennyson’s Name: Identity and Responsibility in the Poetry of Alfred Lord Tennyson (Routledge, 2016)
Joseph Bristow, ed. Oscar Wilde and Modern Culture: The Making of a Legend (Ohio UP, 2008)
Robert Dixon, Writing the Colonial Adventure: Race, Gender, and Nation in Anglo-Australian Popular Fiction, 1875-1914 (CUP, 1995)
Valerie Purton, ed. Darwin, Tennyson and their Readers: Explorations in Victorian Literature and Science (Anthem, 2014)

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

ELE page: https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=7571

Key words search

Romanticism, Victorian, nineteenth-century literature

Credit value	15
Module ECTS	7.5
Module pre-requisites	None
Module co-requisites	None
NQF level (module)	5
Available as distance learning?	No
Origin date	28/03/2017
Last revision date	14/03/2019