lesabendio

You can email them again. They shouldn't hold last year's aborted attempt against you this time around. Actually I found myself in the same situation this past application cycle. In 2015 I asked for LORs but ended up not following through on my applications due to a sudden job switch and breakup. I didn't even let my professors know I wasn't applying anymore. Not a very professional move there, but that's the way I played it unfortunately.
This past season I emailed them again, but this time as a gesture of good faith I gave them drafts of my writing sample and personal statement, transcripts, and any papers I wrote for their class, so that they had something concrete to base their letters on. I also asked if they could give me notes on my writing sample and personal statement, and whether they were available to meet during their office hours to discuss my application and research interests. I think your first email re-asking your professors for LORs should not just be some kind of announcement that you're going to try again this year and that you need their help; it needs to include specific details about what you want them to do for you, drafts for them to help you with, and anything to let them know that you're on top of things this time around. In my experience, professors are most willing to help me when my requests are clearly defined and connected to a larger plan of action.

First of all, I think you're making good time as it is! You've already nearly finished (or at least have already done much of the heavy lifting for) the most challenging part of the application: the writing sample. And, as you have already mentioned, you can only study so much for the GRE to improve a previous score. You've got plenty of time between now and December to drive yourself crazy drafting and redrafting your SOP.
I second @rising_star. I had the same experience. I would suggest that you start drafting your SOP as though it were a template for all of your applications. Then, after you've got a firm handle on the structure you want your SOP to take, make the content changes necessary to customize each SOP to a particular program. That way, if you find yourself running out of time, at least you've got that initial template to work with.

CGU doesn't fund their students. Abort abort abort.

perhaps you are right that I could've used better words to convey my opinion. Also, true I don't know the particulars but the person did post asking peoples opinion and my opinion will be the same regardless of the particulars. 

I am of a similar mind, but I feel you could have come up with a way to say this without being a raging asshole. 

I'm sorry but throwing all that away to be closer to your significant other is just ridiculous. It would still be ridiculous if you were in undergrad, and it's even more insane to be contemplating this now that you're in the home stretch of your PhD. 
Cat guy is right. You can't simply "transfer." you'll lose everything you've worked hard for. The only options at this point is to either stick it out (best), Try to work remotely if possible (ok), or give up on your dream (just plain dumb). 
If it's meant to be, he'll wait. Seriously, don't throw away your career. 

So, I have been conflicted on this one. I don't disagree with anything that's been posted here, but I will feel like a little bit of a hypocrite if I don't reply, since I literally did what you're asking about, and it has worked well for me. I hasten to add that just because I'm offering this perspective doesn't automatically make it good advice (I'm sure it's not, in the technical sense), which is another way of saying that ExponentialDecay, for example, is probably more right than I am. But I also read these boards and often recognize that what is typically really great advice tends to be really great advice for some law of averages, or some disembodied hypothetical, and once you add some flesh and blood and context, you often get a really different picture.
As a point of reference, I graduated in 2002 with a BA in International Affairs. I then went on to do an MA in International Studies overseas (graduating in 2005). I then came back and launched a career, sort of, and by 2009 realized that I could never be happy in the field I was in, so decided to give the ol' PhD a shake, and here's where shit gets real. It took me applying to PhD programs in international studies, where I already had 2 degrees, to realize that it was the wrong field for me. That's a side story. Keeping us on point for reference, I discovered through the PhD application process to international studies that I should switch fields, to English Literature.  I had a small sprinkling of English classes on my BA transcript (2 or 3), and was fortunate enough to be working in the same area that I graduated with that BA, so what I did was this: I re-enrolled as an undergrad at that same institution and declared a double-major, so in essence it was like going back to "complete" a double-major that hadn't existed at all until I declared it nearly a decade later. But this worked wonderfully, as I literally ended up majoring in English while also applying to an MA in English at that same institution. So...everything all happened at once. I shored up my recommenders at the same time as I got my feet wet and just redirected everything in one expensively swift motion. Then I got into the MA program and just kept going from there. I had to take a 2-year hiatus while my spouse completed a degree (and therefore before I could gear up to apply for English Lit PhD programs), and just stayed active in that interim, writing like a maniac and working on the CV, publishing a little as well.
You can see why I'm hesitant. There is a 14-year gap between when I graduated with a BA and when I'll start a PhD in English Lit. In that intervening time, there are 2 MAs and a failed PhD application cycle to the wrong field, and a double-major getting declared and finished. This isn't the financial route that should be advised, and even I can look at the trajectory and see that I took a wild leap of faith. But guess what? I'm headed to UVA with a passion burning just as hot - no, hotter - as when I made my decision in 2009, so it couldn't have been a miscalculation, either. I'll be in my 40s when I emerge with my cred. Nobody ever said this was the way to go, and again, no disagreement from me... 
...Unless...
...Unless you are 100% positive that this is what you want to do, in which case you'd be crazy not to do it. I am being very mindful of my own language and yours as well - and only saying this in light of your language: you say that you have a "pretty urgent desire," and you know that this can be a "financial head-ache." Check and check, if those are both true then you're where I was in 2009. I'm relating all too well. Now the question is, have you got the talent, stamina, and resources? It is unfortunate how snooty that will inevitably sound, and I don't like it one bit, but I genuinely believe that the answer to that question is the difference between checkmate and stalemate. And let's face it - here I am saying that I had to have had talent, stamina, and resources, but I also needed some damn good luck (especially as I got in off a waitlist). So, you'll need to keep "urgent desire" and "financial head-ache" very much at the forefront of your thinking as you decide whether you want to jump off a cliff, and do remember that this is coming from someone who is in one important sense still plummeting, as I haven't even entered my program yet. So, think very hard, and answer very honestly.

A post-bac for grad school in English is wasted time and money. Maybe you'd be justified if you graduated from a European university in something like CS, but the skills and methods crossover from sociology is sufficient that you don't need to redo the entire degree. It's not like English MA programs are so competitive and over-subscribed that they wouldn't take a good but formally unprepared student (it is, in fact, their business model). If you feel a strong urge to spend a lot of money, you can certainly get accepted to the UChicago MAPH, which is interdisciplinary but will put you in good stead to apply to English programs. However, given you've done independent academic research before, come from a good university with a not-terrible GPA, and assuming good GREs, I think you're not past getting a funded MA offer. What would make a difference in your application is the quality of your writing sample (which must be in literature, naturally), and the coherence of your SOP. If you can take an in-person class (because you're doing it to get a writing sample and possibly a LOR, not to check a box) as a non-degree student at a respectable institution, go ahead.

Take a look at UC-Davis. We've got three great Victorianists--Liz Miller, Kathleen Frederickson, & Parama Roy. Parama also does colonial/postcolonial lit & theory, and is one of the most intimidatingly brilliant people I've ever met (http://english.ucdavis.edu/people/proy). We also just generally have lots of faculty with strengths in critical theory, Marxism, etc., and I think we're generally a good place to do intersectional 19th C work.
I'd also add that, while of course you shouldn't apply to programs that don't have any 19th C British / colonialism scholars, it's probably more important to select programs that seem to have a more general intellectual identity that appeals to you, rather than seeking out a faculty member or two who are working on the exact thing that excites you--that one scholar you really want to work with might be busy, or might be less dedicated to graduate students, or might just be a jerk.

I thought it might be helpful to start a fresh thread to cap off the admissions/notification season, and to look ahead.  If anyone else feels comfortable, perhaps you could announce/share where you plan to attend in the fall and how you came to make that decisions.  I'm also interested in hearing how others plan to prepare for the upcoming school year, or what your attention has now turned toward. 
For myself, I plan to attend the University of Utah in the fall.  The decision wasn't too difficult for me to make because their offer came with a very enticing fellowship and the faculty members in my area of interest are fantastic.  The comparable rankings among all my funded offers also made it a little easier to pick based on things that mattered to me rather than being forced to consider things like a general reputation/prestige.  
I've been out of school for a number of years now, and I'm very nervous about the process of shaking all this rust off.  My current plan is to make some some reading lists of books I think I should have read and relevant criticism/theory.  Is anyone else planning to do something like this? Or maybe brushing up on a foreign language would be helpful?

My retort wasn't a dig at those pursuing s career in the humanities. It was a dig at the special snowflakes like yourself.

I've also accepted my UC-Davis offer. Pretty excited about their program and about moving on up to NorCal.

Exp, I'm sure you'll have a fine career at Starbucks or Barnes and Noble.

God, is it time to apply again? I'm soooo glad I was admitted to a consecutive MA/PhD program since I don't have a degree in my field and my university only takes people whose goal is a PhD. I sooo feel for you guys that are getting ready to reapply! I never want to go through that again!
I used magoosh for the gre and liked it. I managed to get 168 verbal which is shocking.

I've also accepted my UC-Davis offer. Pretty excited about their program and about moving on up to NorCal.

Hi everyone, thanks for all the congratulatory comments! @redjacobin, thanks so much for your decline, talk about a windfall for me. Crazy how the dominoes fall, isn't it? Well, that's it for me - I am committing to UVa and what can I say, it's been a wild ride. I'll let Purdue, DU and Mizzou know that they can remove me from their lists, if that is helpful to anyone. I sure hope so. I'm likely to sign off for some time only because my relationship with social media is kinda love-hate, but I have appreciated all the trench-like camaraderie and support and humor and you name it. Good luck to all, sincerely.

Congratulations! That's wonderful!

I've also accepted my UC-Davis offer. Pretty excited about their program and about moving on up to NorCal.

Just got in off the waitlist at UVa!
I...am so happy, I can't even say.

I accepted my offer from UC Davis! So happy  

I'm in at Mississippi!

Take fit/opportunity/happiness over money.
 
If you're going to go somewhere that you don't really want to go to, and you're only going there because you got funded, then you probably won't be happy there, and it could affect learning outcomes and overall outcomes.
 
It sounds like you'd much rather go to the R1, so I would go there. Simply put, I'd go to where I wanted to go.
 
It also depends on the money differences. If you're going to be 40K in debt after the MA, then it MIGHT be better to go to the funded MA. But it won't make a damn difference where you go if you don't like it and don't think you'd be happy there.

I'm probably going to echo better advice here, but I just applied to 6 PhD programs after I graduated with a BA in 2010. During my time off, I worked various office jobs until I finally gave myself the now-or-never ultimatum to apply. I started the process sometime in late June, but I already had early drafts of a writing sample and SOP from previous application seasons (I prepared twice but never submitted). I sent these drafts to a bunch of graduate student friends and to my eventual LOR writers. Over the next few months, they gave me notes on how to improve my work, and I would make revisions and resubmit -- back and forth. I eventually drove down to my old alma mater and met with each LOR writer personally not only to work on my application materials but also to reintroduce myself and to give them a better sense of the kind of person and scholar I had become in the years since I graduated. I can't stress enough the importance of involving your LOR writers as early and as often as possible. This will give your application a sense of direction and some confidence that you're doing things correctly (and that you're not just groping in the dark).
Feel free to PM me too if you have any more specific questions, and good luck out there!

I would just say that, for the most part, Penn State is filled with wonderful, open people. The complications of admissions, as weirdly as they handle it, is not a reason to make some of the judgements I've seen in this thread. I was both accepted and denied from Penn State in my own applications, and I agree they handle the latter poorly. But, if you are applying with a BA, Penn State is a good program with good people, and I hope, if any of you are reapplying, you won't hold this against them.

(I'm not currently at Penn State)

Oh I'm sorry! I didn't realize. How is UC Boulder vs. WUSTL going? A magnificent battle of pros and cons, I imagine.
 
I made a few posts about my presumed and official rejections which were interpreted by some as being profoundly ungrateful about Harvard, and they responded with corresponding reproach. I've taken steps to clarify myself but I would understand if I'm still held in resent by a few.
@Cecinestpasunphilosophe receiving the official admissions package helped. Now I have a folder with the Harvard seal on it. I've never been so in awe of a piece of paper. I definitely agree about the visits, they're going to make a huge difference. It's a little inconvenient, therefore, that the Harvard visit isn't until April 11-12. That's really really late, and for the sake of both my sanity and that of the people on waitlists, I'd rather have the visit sooner. What can you do, eh? Anyway, you look to have a pretty awesome record this season. Will you be visiting Princeton?