Nineteenth-century England is a period of change and progress. New discoveries in science and technology challenged traditions, religious creeds and the social fabric of the nation. It saw the birth of new influential sciences such as economics and geology; it profoundly changed the political landscape; it challenged the way people looked at questions of selfhood and nationality. It is the century of Charles Darwin, female emancipation and empire. 

This course will concentrate on a series of related themes of a century that was essentially a period of transition towards the beginnings of modern industrial society. The Romantics greeted with enthusiasm the possibilities of the new world order which was heralded by the French Revolution. Later during the century Victorian men and women were acutely aware of the cultural change taking place and, in their writings, reflected a self-consciousness of their being part of this process. 

The course aims at providing students with a firm understanding of the literary, cultural and historical scene of nineteenth-century England - it wishes to convey how Romantic and Victorian authors epitomized the so-called "spirit of the age".  It also wants to show students how to study selected literary tropes through time. During the course students will acquire the necessary linguistic and critical tools to analyze the period in question, and will be encouraged to make autonomous judgments. Moreover, the course wishes to stimulate an open-minded approach to different historical periods.

Science, Religion and Society: The Industrialization and Secularization of Britain from 1770 to 1870

1 - Late 18th Century (1770-1799):

Faith and Slavery – Newton

Transformation of Rural England – Goldsmith

Late Eighteenth-Century Thinkers – Malthus, Bentham

Industrialization and the Individual Mind – Blake

2 - 19th Century (1800-1870): 

Natural Theology and the Emerging Earth Sciences – Paley, entomology, Buckland, Lyell, Gosse, Darwin

Victorian Social Comment – Dickens, Kingsley, laudanum, Ellis, Browning

Notions of Englishness – Dover

Crisis of Faith – Arnold, Rossetti, Hardy

New English Society – Brown

- Knowledge and understanding: students will acquire a good understanding of the essential social-historical and social-cultural factors underpinning the period of study, and will be able to approach English Cultural Studies with the appropriate critical instruments and methods.

- Applying knowledge and understanding: students will have the linguistic, cultural and critical abilities to describe, analyse and understand cardinal aspects of English Culture.

- Making judgements: students will acquire the critical ability to judge and evaluate aspects of English Culture and will be able to express autonomous opinions on social-cultural subjects of different historical periods.

 - Communication skills: students will be trained to have an open and unprejudiced attitude to different realities and historical periods and express themselves in appropriate language.

- Learning skills: students will possess the basic methodological skills, the critical abilities and bibliographical knowledge to continue their studies in the field. 

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Students are invited to visit my page on Blended Learning Uniurb for further study materials. Use of audiovisual aids is an integral part of the programme.

The course will be held in English. 

Teaching

lectures; audiovisual aids

Innovative teaching methods

Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) 

Attendance

Students are invited to visit my page on Blended Learning Uniurb for further study materials.

Course books

- Jan Marten Ivo Klaver, Science, Religion and Society (2023), Aras, ISBN 9791280074799

- Charles Dickens - Hard Times (1854) ed. Paul Schlicke, Oxford World Classics, ISBN 0199536276

- PDF containing the following texts will be made available on my Moodle Blended page:

Oliver Goldsmith - from The Deserted Village (1770)

Jeremy Bentham - from Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789) - On Utility; On the Rights of Animals

Jeremy Bentham - from Analysis of the Influence of Natural Religion (1822)

John Newton - Faith's Review and Expectation (1779)

William Blake - The Lamb (1789)

William Blake - The Tyger (1794)

William Blake - The Chimney-Sweeper (Innocence) (1789)

William Blake - The Chimney-Sweeper (Experience) (1794)

William Blake - London (1794)

Thomas Malthus - from An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798)

William Paley - from Natural Theology (1809)

William Buckland - fom On the Excavation of Valleys (1822)

Charles Lyell - from Principles of Geology (1830)

William Buckland - from Geology and mineralogy considered with reference to natural theology (1836)

Alfred Tennyson - Ulysses (1833)

Sarah Stickney Ellis - from The Daughters of England (chapter 1) (1842)

Robert Browning - My Last Duchess (1842)

Charles Kingsley - The Bad Squire (1848)

Matthew Arnold -  Dover Beach (1856)

Dante Gabriel Rossetti  - The Blessed Damozel (1850)

Thomas Hardy -  God's Funeral (1911)

Philip Henry Gosse - from Omphalos: An Attempt to Untie the Geological Knot (1857)

Charles Darwin - from The Origin of Species (1859)

Ford Madox Brown – Work (1865)

Assessment

Knowledge and understanding of the essential social-historical and social-cultural factors underpinning the subject and period of study will be tested in a written exam. Students will be given 6 open questions, of which they should answer 5. Exam questions may be answered in any order. At least two questions should be answered in English. Time allowed is 50 minutes.

Assessment is based on knowledge and understanding, as well as on a coherent and correct expression of such knowledge and understanding. Students can score up to a maximum of 6 points per answer. Those who score at least 2 points for each of the five answers will be awarded 1 extra point; students who score at least 3 points for each of the five answers will be awarded 2 extra points.

The final mark is epressed on a scale of 30.

The programme above is valid only till January/February 2025.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Teaching

self study: non-attending students are expected to check out historical and cultural contexts, as well as detailed textual analyses, on the internet. They are also invited to visitmy page on Blended Learning Uniurb for further study materials. 

Course books

- Jan Marten Ivo Klaver, Science, Religion and Society (2023), Aras, ISBN 9791280074799

- Charles Dickens - Hard Times (1854) ed. Paul Schlicke, Oxford World Classics, ISBN 0199536276

- PDF containing the following texts will be made available on my Moodle Blended page:

Oliver Goldsmith - from The Deserted Village (1770)

Jeremy Bentham - from Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789) - On Utility; On the Rights of Animals

Jeremy Bentham - from Analysis of the Influence of Natural Religion (1822)

John Newton - Faith's Review and Expectation (1779)

William Blake - The Lamb (1789)

William Blake - The Tyger (1794)

William Blake - The Chimney-Sweeper (Innocence) (1789)

William Blake - The Chimney-Sweeper (Experience) (1794)

William Blake - London (1794)

Thomas Malthus - from An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798)

William Paley - from Natural Theology (1809)

William Buckland - fom On the Excavation of Valleys (1822)

Charles Lyell - from Principles of Geology (1830)

William Buckland - from Geology and mineralogy considered with reference to natural theology (1836)

Alfred Tennyson - Ulysses (1833)

Sarah Stickney Ellis - from The Daughters of England (chapter 1) (1842)

Robert Browning - My Last Duchess (1842)

Charles Kingsley - The Bad Squire (1848)

Matthew Arnold -  Dover Beach (1856)

Dante Gabriel Rossetti  - The Blessed Damozel (1850)

Thomas Hardy -  God's Funeral (1911)

Philip Henry Gosse - from Omphalos: An Attempt to Untie the Geological Knot (1857)

Charles Darwin - from The Origin of Species (1859)

Ford Madox Brown – Work (1865)

Assessment

Knowledge and understanding of the essential social-historical and social-cultural factors underpinning the subject and period of study will be tested in a written exam. Students will be given 6 open questions, of which they should answer 5. Exam questions may be answered in any order. At least two questions should be answered in English. Time allowed is 50 minutes.

Assessment is based on knowledge and understanding, as well as on a coherent and correct expression of such knowledge and understanding. Students can score up to a maximum of 6 points per answer. Those who score at least 2 points for each of the five answers will be awarded 1 extra point; students who score at least 3 points for each of the five answers will be awarded 2 extra points.

The final mark is epressed on a scale of 30.

The programme above is valid only till January/February 2025.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

The course will be taught entirely in English. The final exam and the bibliography are in English.