The Visual and the Written in the 19th Century 3301-LB1021
The course is aimed at the first cycle students (BA programme)
This course aims at exploring various possibilities of interpretation that open up by juxtaposing the chosen works of the 19th century poetry with their visual representations by the leading artists of the age, mostly those connected with the Pre-Raphaelite school. The reading list of primary sources will include the poems of William Blake, John Keats, Alfred Tennyson, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Christina Rossetti, Robert Browning. These poems will be studied together with their illustrations by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John William Waterhouse, Frank Cadogan Cowper, William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Laurence Housman, Arthur Rackham in order to see the complex relationships between the visual and the written form of artistic expression. Students will also read chosen fragments from longer texts of John Ruskin, Walter Pater, Robert Buchanan, defining the aesthetic context of the 19th century art. At the beginning of the course some time will be spent on revising the grounds of the ut pictura poesis debate and its position in the 19th century. Additionally, we will look at Victorian standards of art and establish the conventions normative for this period. Some time will be spent on discussing the establishing and the development of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the reception that these artists received in Victorian England.While studying William Blake's poetry we will discuss the specific case on an artist illustrating his own poems. This will also lead to a discussion about Blake's vision of the states of Innocence and Experience and his views on femininity. Reading John Keats the students will explore the convention of the fatal woman and how it works in Keats's poetry, in addition to the themes of the imagination, dream and illusion. Chosen illustrations will enable us to see how the Victorian artists read and interpreted Keats. Tennyson's poetry will be a continuation of the discussion about gender and traditional male and female roles in society. Various visual interpretations of The Lady of Shalott will show the popularity of the poem among Pre-Raphaelite artists. This theme will be continued in the poetry and painting of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, with his ideal and fallen or fatal women and his elaboration of the notion of the Victorian angel in the house. Robert Browning's poetry will be used to talk about the concept of ekphrasis - verbal representation of the visual. Finally, Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti will sum up the discussion on femininity in the 19th century. Illustrations of various artists for the same poem will emphasise their contrary interpretations, thus enhancing the ambiguity of Rossetti's text. The course ends with a written open-questions test.
Type of course
Mode
Prerequisites (description)
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
At the end of the course student:
KNOWLEDGE:
-develops awareness of symbols of culture and their role in understanding literature, art and culture.
- knows basic concepts concerning relationships between the visual and the verbal, particularly in the 19th century
-is familiar with the outstanding examples of Pre-Raphaelite art against the background of Victorian culture
- is familiar with various poetic texts which were illustrated in the 19th century
- is aware of various interpretative possibilities of these texts
ABILITIES:
- can apply basic/advanced methodology for linguistic, literary and cultural studies.
- can discuss characteristic features of English poetry of the 19th century as well as the ways of visual/verbal interaction
- can analyse romantic and victorian poems with the use of aesthetic and philosophical concepts which enhance understanding of the texts
- can demonstrate his familiarity with divergent interpretative possibilities
In class discussions students acquire skills of expressing their thoughts in a clear, coherent, logical and precise manner, with the use of language which is correct grammatically, lexically and phonetically.
SOCIAL COMPETENCE:
- estimates importance of Romanticism and Victorian period for future literature and culture of England
- learns attentiveness and tolerance for different interpretations
Assessment criteria
Final grade is determined by:
-ongoing assessment of the student's work during the semester: active participation in classes, presentation in class (optional); submission of 2-3 response papers during the semester.
-written test at the end of semester, in the form of open questions; the test may be administered in class or on the Moodle platform.
- test retake: in oral form
Three absences are allowed in a semester.
Practical placement
None
Bibliography
Berger, John. (1977) Ways of Seeing.
Bruder, Helen. (1997) ‘The Sins of the Fathers: Patriarchal Criticism and The Book of Thel’ from: William Blake and the Daughters of Albion
Harrison, Anthony (1989) Parody and Ideology’ Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 29.4..
Harrisson, Charles (ed) (1998) Art in Theory 1815-1900: An anthology of changing ideas.
Heffernan, James (1993) Museum of Words. The Poetics of Ekphrasis from Homer to Ashbery.
Hill, Marylu. (2005) ‘Eat me, drink me, love me: Eucharist and the Erotic Body in Goblin Market. Victorian Poetry 43.4
Hilton, Timothy (1970) The Pre-Raphaelites.
Mash, J. (1995) The Pre-Raphaelite Women: Images of Femininity in Pre-Raphaelite art.
McGann, Jerome () “Rossetti’s Significant Details” in Riede, David. Critical Essays on D.G. Rossetti.
Pater, Walter Art for Art's Sake, Style (excerpts)
Pearce, Lynne (1991) Woman/Image/Text. Readings in Pre-Raphaelite Art and Literature.
Kathy Psomiades (1992) ‘Body’s Beauty: Gender Ideology and British Aestheticism’ Victorian Studies 36.1.
Riede, David (ed) (1992) Critical Essays on D.G. Rossetti.
Swan, Karen (1988) 'Harrassing the Muse' from: Mellor, Ann. Romanticism and Feminism.
Treuherz, Julian (1993) Victorian Painting.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: