English 4522

Winter 2002

Professor E. McNees, Sturm Hall 486C, ext. 2855, emcnees@du.edu

 

“Indeed, the grand questions which are waiting for final settlement in our day are,--Whether private judgment in matters of religion is the right of every individual, whatever may be the accidents of his position or intelligence…or, whether the church—i.e., the corporation of priests, is of necessity the ultimate court of appeal for us in all that pertains to religious belief and duty” (Anon, Eclectic Review, July 1853).

 

Syllabus

 

Week One 

1/3  Introduction—History of Anglicanism in England

Week Two Early Debates

1/8Early Poems and Essays: Herbert, Donne, Cowper; Wilberforce, 

“Practical View…”; Paley, Fr. Natural Theology; Russell, “Motion for Repeal…” (Copy Packet)

1/10Lyell, Fr. Principles of Geology

Week Three Oxford Movement

1/15*Meet in Instructional Room, basement of Penrose Library 

Introduction to 19^th Century Periodicals and Search Engines by

Peggy Keeran, Penrose Library Faculty

Readings: Keble, “National Apostasy”; Newman, “Thoughts on the Ministerial Commission,” “The Rationalistic and the Catholic Tempers Contrasted,” “The Nature and Ground of Roman and Protestant Errors”; Arnold, Fr. Principles of Church Reform, “The Oxford Malignants” (Copy Packet)

1/17*Meet at Taylor Library, Iliff School of Theology

Introduction to Periodicals and Source Materials at Taylor Library

By Marshall Eidson

Readings: Newman, “Tract Ninety”; Pusey, Sermon on the Eucharist 

(Copy Packet)

Week FourSpiritual Autobiography

1/22Newman, Apologia Pro Vita Sua; Review of Newman’s Apologia (Copy

       Packet) *Rhetorical Analysis of passage from Apologia due (2 pgs.)

1/24Tennyson, In Memoriam (Victorian Poetry and Poetics)

Week FiveDevotion vs. Skepticism

1/29Clough, “Qua Cursum Ventus,” “Qui Laborat, Orat,” “Epi-Strauss-ium,” “Easter Day, Naples, 1849,” “Easter Day,” “The Latest Decalogue,” “O Let Me Love,” “`There Is No God,” “Jacob,” “What

We, When Face to Face We See,” “That There Are Powers Above” 

(Victorian Poetry and Prose)

1/31Hopkins, “The Wreck of the Deutschland,” “Author’s Preface,” “God’s Grandeur,” “The Windhover,” “Pied Beauty,” “Carrion 

Comfort,” “No Worst, There Is None,” “I Wake and Feel the Fell

Of Dark” (Victorian Poetry and Prose) *Analysis of Deutschland stanza due (1-2 pgs.) 

Week SixPre Raphaelite Poetry and Painting

2/5Swinburne, “Hymn to Proserpine”; C. Rossetti, “A Better Resurrection,” “Up-Hill,” “Have I Not Striven, My God?,” Love is Strong as Death”; D.G. Rossetti, “The Blessed Damozel” (Victorian Poetry and Prose)

2/7*Research Topics Due

Religious Images in Pre Raphaelite Art (slides)

Week SevenHigh Church vs. Evangelical

2/12Trollope, Barchester Towers

2/14Eliot, Scenes of a Clerical Life; Brontë, “The Missionary” (Copy Packet)

Week EightDarwinism

2/19Darwin, Fr. The Origin of Species

2/21Wilberforce, Review of Origin of Species; Stephen, “Darwinism and

Divinity” (Copy Packet)

Week NineSkepticism vs. Faith

2/26Browning, “The Bishop Orders His Tomb,” “Fra Lippo Lippi,” “Bishop Blougram’s Apology,” “Prospice” (Victorian Poetry and Prose)

2/28Stephen, “An Agnostic’s Apology” (Copy Packet)

*Annotated Bibliography Due

Week TenSkepticism: “The Letter Killeth”

3/5Hardy, Jude the Obscure

3/7Hardy, “Hap,” “The Darkling Thrush,” “In Tenebris,” “The Oxen” (Copy Packet & handouts)

3/12Final Presentations

3/14Paper Due

The main project of the course will be a 10-15 page paper on a religious or scientific debate running throughout one or more 19^th century British periodicals. Although you are encouraged to consult contemporary criticism and theoretical evaluations of this debate, you must conduct considerable primary research within the 19^th century journals themselves, most of which are available at Penrose or Taylor Libraries either in hard copy or microfilm. Do not fail early in the quarter to consult both Poole’s Guide to 19^th Century Literature and Wellesley’s Guide to Victorian Periodicals for sources you may want to request from Interlibrary Loan. Following is a list of useful periodicals.

Nineteenth Century Periodicals

Atheneum

Blackwood’s Magazine

British Critic

Cornhill Magazine

Dublin Review

Eclectic Review

Fortnightly Review

Fraser’s Magazine

Macmillan’s Magazine

Methodist Magazine

Month

National Review

Nineteenth Century

Nonconformist

North British Review

Punch

Quarterly Review

Westminster Review 

Contemporary Journals

Nineteenth Century Fiction

Religion and the Arts

Victorian Periodicals Newsletter

Victorian Studies

Useful Beginnings:

Vann, J. Don and Rosemary T. VanArsdel, eds. Victorian Periodicals: A Guide to Research. New York: Modern Language Association, 1978.

________________________________________. Victorian Periodicals: A Guide to Research. Vol. 2. New York: Modern Language Association, 1989.