Victorian Literature Professor

What do Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Lewis Carroll, Rudyard Kipling, and the Brontë sisters — Anne, Charlotte, and Emily — have in common? Besides being answers to “Jeopardy” questions, they’re all British Writers who flourished during the reign of Queen Victoria, who ruled over England from 1837 until 1901.

It’s a Victorian Literature Professor’s job to teach students about the works of these and other British Writers who wrote their masterpieces during the Victorian era. Employed by colleges and universities in their English departments, Victorian Literature Professors teach courses about the history and the influence of Victorian literature, as well as courses that analyze in depth the works of individual Victorian Writers, including Victorian Novelists, Poets, and Playwrights. Sample course titles, for instance, might include “Introduction to Victorian Literature,” “19th-Century British Texts,” “Literature and Society in Victorian England,” “The Victorian Novel,” and “Victorian Poetry and Prose.”

Like Professors in other subjects, you spend most of your time in the classroom, where your duties as a Victorian Literature Professor include advising students, planning curriculums, choosing textbooks, preparing syllabi, giving lectures, assigning and reviewing homework, and giving and grading exams. Additionally, you’ll likely do research projects that include literary criticism and analysis, which means you’ll spend most of your time writing books and scholarly articles when you’re not teaching.

Ultimately, you’re teaching your students a combination of reading, writing, and history, helping them understand the modern world through the Victorian lens by engrossing themselves in books like “Jane Eyre,” “Hard Times,” and “Through the Looking Glass.” No doubt, Queen Victoria would approve!