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LITS2002 POETRY II: ROMANTICS
AND VICTORIANS
EXAM ADVICE
See also
Recommended Readings.
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In the exam, there will be SIX questions in
all.
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You are required to answer TWO questions.
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In each answer, you should
refer to the work of TWO poets;
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TWO questions will test your understanding
of the development of nineteenth century poetry as a whole and its
relationship to both what came before and what followed it (this is the
topic which I often refer to as
'Literary History (the Tradition) / Intertextuality / Canonicity' in
the lectures). Relevant
questions in this regard include:
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what does the term 'Romantic' poetry
mean? Which poets fall under this rubric?
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how do the Romantics conceptualise
poetry (poetry = a form of self-expression) and how is this
conception of poetry similar to
and/or different from that of Neo-classical poets and theorists like
Alexander Pope?
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Is 'Romanticism' a single, united
phenomenon or a multiplicitous, diverse one? Might it be
better to think in terms of many 'Romanticisms'?
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what does the term 'Victorian' poetry
mean? Which poets fall under this rubric?
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how do the Victorians conceptualise
poetry and how is this conception of poetry similar to
and/or different from that of the Romantic poets and theorists?
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Is 'Victorianism' a single, united
phenomenon or a multiplicitous, diverse one?
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are there continuities which link
Romantic and Victorian poetry? If so, are these formal?
Thematic?
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are there also discontinuities which
serve to distinguish Romantic from Victorian poetry?
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ONE question will address those
inter-related Metaphysical/Epistemological/Linguistic/Religious issues with which almost all
nineteenth-century poets seem to be
preoccupied. Relevant
questions in this regard include:
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Being: what
truth-claims do any of these poems make about the nature
of reality?
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is the material world all there is or
is there a spiritual dimension to existence?
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is there a God? If so, what form
does he take? What is the nature of his relationship to his
creation? Can one discern his presence in his handiwork
(nature)?
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Human Being:
what truth-claims do any of the poems you have read make about the
nature of human
identity?
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are we merely physical bodies or is there another
spiritual dimension (a soul) to us?
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what is our relationship to God?
Are we his servants? Are we part of God?
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what relation is there between the
sense we have of our selves and our knowledge of the external
world?
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Religion: which contemporaneous intellectual
developments (the rise to prominence of the natural sciences,
Darwinism, etc.) conspired to undermine Europeans' faith
is a meaningful universe?
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Knowledge
/
Language: do
these poems ever discuss the limits, if any, to human knowledge
(about objective reality? about the self?)?
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is it possible for a human being to
know the truth about reality? Are there any impediments to
such knowledge? What roles does language and, by extension,
poetry play in the production of such knowledge?
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is it possible for a human being to
know the truth about him/herself? Are there any impediments to
such knowledge? What roles does language and, by extension,
poetry play in the production of such knowledge?
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ONE question will address
Socio-Political
issues. Relevant
questions in this regard include:
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is it fair to accuse Romantic and/or Victorian poetry
of 'escapism'? In other words, does either ever abandon abstract philosophical musings in order to
address more worldly (i.e. economic/social/political) concerns such as
poverty, injustice, oppression?
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Marx once said that the point is not
merely to interpret the world, as philosophers do, but to change it.
Are Romantic and/or Victorian poets
content with the status quo? Do they ever see the need for
change and, if so, what tools do they employ (direct criticism,
satire, etc.)?
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ONE question will address the topic of
Literary Form, i.e. the form or structure of Romantic and Victorian
poetry. Relevant
questions in this regard include:
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what genres do the Romantics make use
of?
What are the precise features of these genres?
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is it possible to identify a common
structure to any / all Romantic poems?
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what is the relationship between the
form of a Romantic poem (its use of figurative language, its development, etc.) and
its content or subject-matter (i.e. what they are ostensibly about)?
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what genres do the Victorians make use
of?
What are the precise features of these genres?
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is it possible to identify a common
structure to any / all Victorian poems?
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what is the relationship between the
form of a Victorian poem (its use of figurative language, its development, etc.) and
its content or subject-matter (i.e. what they are ostensibly about)?
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in what ways does the form and content of Romantic
and/or Victorian poetry anticipate more recent poetry (e.g. the
Modernism of an Eliot or a Yeats)?
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ONE question will address the emergence of
poetry by African Americans
(e.g. by Paul Lawrence Dunbar) and other non-Europeans / non-whites
during the nineteenth century. Relevant
questions in this regard include:
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to what degree are such poets
influenced by Romantic and/or Victorian poetry?
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to what degree, on the other hand, do
they respond to different imperatives and thus strike a different
note?
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