English 303, Review for Final

The final exam in English 303 will consist mostly of passages for identification and explication. You'll have some choices, but you'll be required to identify and analyze passages from throughout the semester, passages in both poetry and prose. To prepare for the exam, review the readings and the study questions on the syllabus. Review your class notes and any underlinings and marginal notations in your text as well; chances are the passages will be ones you've seen before, ones that we discussed or alluded to in class.

There will also be one comprehensive essay question. For that question, you'll be asked to treat at least four works, two from the Victorian and two from the modern period, in responding to a question about theme, structure, style, or historical import. Again there will be some choices, but I'll ask you in this question to deal with writers you did not discuss at length in the first section. So make your choices carefully. We studied eighteen writers this semester, some at greater length than others. Your final exam should demonstrate your familiarity with these writers' works and with their position in the historical narrative(s) we've been tracing—about the role of the artist, the significance of "England" and "English," the consolidation and dissolution of Empire, the shape of history, gender and power relations, and religious faith. While these have been, I believe, the major socio-cultural topics we've dealt with repeatedly, you'll also want to consider such issues as the rise and fall of realism, changes in poetic form, manipulation of narrative voice, and other such generic and stylistic topics. Not everything, of course, "develops" in a neat teleological narrative during the periods we've studied; consider continuities as well as changes, in other words, between the Victorian and modern periods. Above all else, enjoy re-reading these texts, and consolidating your knowledge of them. They will repay your close attention.