University of St Andrews

Key information

SCOTCAT credits : 30

ECTS credits : 15

Level : SCQF level 9

Semester: 2

Planned timetable: 9.00 am - 11.00 am Tue

Throughout the Victorian period poetry was viewed simultaneously as the highest mode of artistic expression and as a marginal practice, consigned to the periphery of culture by the novel, the newspaper, and other popular forms of writing. This ambiguity sparked a series of debates about the place of poetry in modern culture, as Victorian poets tried to define and defend the value and purpose of their work. This module will explore these debates by focusing on the concept of 'voice' in a range of canonical and non-canonical poems. The module will consider how Victorian poets experimented with the forms and conventions of verse in order to speak in different voices, writing innovative poems that undermined the barrier between literary language and the patterns of everyday speech, and that interrogated the links between language and personal identity. It will also examine the ways in which poets used the diverse voices of their writing to address the social and political issues that shaped Victorian culture.

Relationship to other modules

Pre-requisite(s): Before taking this module you must pass EN2003 and pass EN2004

Anti-requisite(s): You cannot take this module if you take EN4364

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact: 2-hour seminar, and 2 optional consultative hours.

Assessment pattern

As used by St Andrews: 2-hour Written Examination = 50%, Coursework = 50%


Re-assessment: exam = 100%

Personnel

Module coordinator: Dr G P Tate
Module teaching staff: Dr G Tate
Module coordinator email gpt4@st-andrews.ac.uk

Intended learning outcomes

• Demonstrate a comprehensive critical knowledge of a range of Victorian poems in relation to their historical and cultural contexts;
• Engage in the close critical reading of poetic form and language;
• Evaluate critically both recent research and historical debates about the place of poetry in Victorian culture;
• Exercise skills in discussing and comparing poems by different poets, and in sustaining arguments based on textual evidence (to be demonstrated through spoken contributions in seminars and assessed through written essays and examination answers).