British Literature: Mid - Late 19th Century

Authors and Works

• Alfred, Lord Tennyson ("The Lady of Shalott," "The Idylls of the King; The Coming of Arthur," "The Holy Grail" - poetry)
• George Eliot (Silas Marner - novel)
• Charles Dickens (Great Expectations - novel)
• Lewis Carroll ("Jabberwocky," "Father Wlliam," "The Walrus and the Carpenter," "Humpty Dumpty's Recitation," "The White Knight's Song" - poetry)
• Robert Louis Stevenson ("The Silverado Squatters" - travelogue/essay)
• Oscar Wilde (The Importance of Being Earnest - play)
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ("The Adventure of the Speckled Band" - short story)
• Rudyard Kipling (Stalky & Co. - novel)

Topics

• Rhythm in poetry
• Plot
• Conflict
• Rhyme in poetry
• Local color
• Theme
• Genre fiction
• Sources of ideas

Recommendations

This course is especially recommended for the following students:

• Students who have already taken at least one previous high-school level Lightning Literature course
• Students studying world history
• Students interested in British literature

These should not be viewed as restrictions; this course can profitably be used by high-school students of any grade regardless of which previous Lightning Literature courses they have completed. Generally speaking, this course is more difficult than the two American Literature courses and Speech but easier than the Shakespeare courses, British Christian Literature, or British Medieval Literature. Much depends on student interest in the material, however.