Tag Archives: Matthew Arnold

Why I teach and study Victorian literature

My students think they know Victorian literature. They have impressions of it as dull, as overly concerned with decorum, as fantasias of the upper-classes in elegantly appointed drawing rooms drinking tea and eating cucumber sandwiches. Few of my students who … Continue reading

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Starting with poetry, or, why I teach “Dover Beach” on the first day

Elaine Showalter’s Teaching Literature begins with a focus on teaching and anxiety, moves through theories and methodologies, and then in chapter four gets down to the nitty-gritty of teaching by genre. She begins this section with a focus on poetry … Continue reading

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