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Latest Module Specifications

Current Academic Year 2025 - 2026

Module Title Literatures of the 19th Century: Romanticism to Victorianism
Module Code LIT1052 (ITS: LIT5)
Faculty Humanities & Social Sciences School English
NFQ level 9 Credit Rating 15
Description

This module begins with Romanticism and the revolutionary movements in France, America and Ireland at the end of the eighteenth century, and ends with the social upheaval of the Industrial Revolution that was ongoing throughout the Victorian period. The module includes the most influential Romantic writers including Wordsworth, Coleridge, the Shelleys, Byron and Keats. As well as dealing with celebrations and critiques of the everyday, it deals with exotic worlds in Frankenstein, 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' and literature produced under the influence of opium. The Victorian section draws on some of the best-known novelists in English – Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot, and Thomas Hardy – and includes units on crime fiction, empire and religious controversy. In the work of Wilde, students meet the fin-de-siècle, the end of the Victorians and one of the roots of modern literature.

Learning Outcomes

1. 1DCDFAD5-63EA-0001-8327-DA70FAD21D5D
2. Formulate the different characteristics of writing in the Romantic and Victorian periods
3.
4.
5. 1
6. 1DCDFAD5-6DBF-0001-F8DC-747AADE01A51
7. Critically assess the concepts of subjectivity and individualism in nineteenth-century writing
8.
9.
10. 2
11. 1DCDFAD5-7175-0001-3E97-5460EC4A7E00
12. Explain the significance of realism and genre fiction (e.g. Gothic, sensation, crime fiction) in 19th-century literature
13.
14.
15. 3
16. 1DCDFAD5-7922-0001-3A25-15003E301461
17. Critically reflect upon the variety in the genres of poetry and the novel in the nineteenth century
18.
19.
20. 4
21. 1DCDFAD5-8253-0001-D6D0-1C006E001A79
22. Evaluate the various ways in which gender was represented in nineteenth-century writing
23.
24.
25. 5
26. 1DF15522-C481-0001-69DB-8040AEBF1340
27. Actively engage in an online discussion with peers.
28.
29.
30. 6


WorkloadFull time hours per semester
TypeHoursDescription
Tutorial15No Description
Online activity60No Description
Independent Study300No Description
Total Workload: 375
Section Breakdown
CRN11687Part of TermSemester 1 & 2
Coursework100%Examination Weight0%
Grade Scale40PASSPass Both ElementsN
Resit CategoryRC1Best MarkN
Module Co-ordinatorJack QuinModule TeacherLeeann Lane, Shirley Anne O'Brien
Assessment Breakdown
TypeDescription% of totalAssessment Date
EssayEssay on Romanticism30%n/a
EssayEssay on Victorianism30%n/a
EssayPart A: Essay on Romanticism, Part B: Essay on Victorianism40%n/a
Reassessment Requirement Type
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories;
RC1: A resit is available for both* components of the module.
RC2: No resit is available for a 100% coursework module.
RC3: No resit is available for the coursework component where there is a coursework and summative examination element.

* ‘Both’ is used in the context of the module having a coursework/summative examination split; where the module is 100% coursework, there will also be a resit of the assessment

Pre-requisite l,
Co-requisite None
Compatibles None
Incompatibles None

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

PART 1: ROMANTICISM

Unit 1: Romanticism and the Age of Revolution

Unit 2: William Blake: Songs of Innocence and Experience

Unit 3: Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth and Coleridge

Unit 4: The Hero: Subjectivity and Self-fashioning in Romantic Writing

Unit 5: Romantic Struggles and Desires: The Poetry of Keats and Shelley

Unit 6: Romanticism And The Gothic: Coleridge And Mary Shelley

Unit 7: Gender and Romanticism

Unit 8: Jane Austen and Romantic Writing

Unit 9: Review of Romanticism

PART 2: VICTORIANISM

Unit 10: Victorianism and its Contexts

Unit 11: The Condition of England

Unit 12: Women's Roles in Victorian Society

Unit 13: Victorian Writers and Christianity

Unit 14: Realism and the Novel

Unit 15: Victorian Crime Fiction

Unit 16: Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd

Unit 17: The Victorians and Empire

Unit 18: The Fin-de-siècle

Unit 19: Review of Victorianism

Indicative Reading List

Books:
  • 0: The Lit5 booklist is too long to present all of it here. Please consult Loop for the other readings, 1672427
  • 2008: Northanger Abbey and Other Works, ed. by James Kinsley and John Davie, Oxford University Press, 1672428
  • 2009: Beginning Theory, Third, Manchester University Press, 1672429
  • 2008: Jane Eyre, ed. by Margaret Smith, Oxford University Press, 1672430
  • 1989: Hard Times, ed. Paul Schlicke, Oxford University Press, 1672431
  • 1986: Middlemarch, ed. David Carroll, Oxford University Press, 1672432
  • 2012: Frankenstein, Ed by J. Paul Hunter, Norton Critical Edition,


Articles:
None
Other Resources

None

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