ENGL 405 A1: Victorian Poetry and Poetics

P. Sinnema

This course examines a selection of short and long(ish) poems by some of the major figures in the field (Tennyson, R. Browning, E.B. Browning, Patmore, C.G. Rossetti, D.G. Rossetti, Morris, Swinburne, Fitzgerald, Clough, Thomson, Arnold, Hardy, & Hopkins) and attempts to situate them in relation to a broader, post-Romantic context. Attention will be given to metrics, poetic structure, and generic conventions as they relate to meaning and form. We start with Carol Christ's contention about the Victorian poetics of objectivity, and then take an intellectual motorcycle trip through the formal techniques of scansion. Close reading for the intersections of form and meaning will bring us to a better appreciation of major themes and obsessions of an often-overlooked cultural form that was as important to the Victorians as the novel itself.

 

TEXTS

The Broadview Anthology of Victorian Poetry and Poetic Theory, eds. Thomas Collins & Vivienne Rundle (Broadview).

A course pack of supplemental materials will also be made available electronically to students at the commencement of the course.