The Eighteenth Century

English 325, Autumn 2003

Honors College Section

Jack Lynch

Course Description

Hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 10:30-11:30, and by appointment (appointments are best).

Home: (609) 882-4642 (before 10:00 p.m.!).

E-mail: jlynch @ andromeda.rutgers.edu (the best way to reach me).

Listserv: 18th-honors @ andromeda.rutgers.edu (for the whole class).

Course Requirements

• Written Assignments: There will be two papers, the first of around 1,500 words (six pages), the second of 2,000 (eight pages). There are also four short "OED Exercises," in which you'll provide brief reports of your discoveries in the Oxford English Dictionary (we'll discuss these in class).
• Final Exam: A short final examination will include identification of quotations, close reading, and short essays.
• Attendance: Almost any excuse, given in advance (in person, by phone, or by E-mail), will receive my blessing. Absences not excused in advance will be frowned upon, and your final grade will be lowered by half a grade for each unexcused absence. The same policy applies to late papers: I'll grant extensions, but only if you talk to me before the due date.
• Class Participation: Regular and active class participation (including doing the readings) is essential, and counts for a large part of your grade.
• Computing: Some essential information will be available only electronically. All students therefore must have an E-mail account by the end of the first week of classes, and must be able to use the World Wide Web. Participation in the mailing list (see "listserv" above) will count toward the class participation grade. I'll provide any computing help you need.
• Plagiarism: It should go without saying, but all work in this class must be your own. Handing in someone else's work as your own will result in an F for the course with no second chance, and may result in disciplinary action. I encourage you to use outside sources, but you have to cite anything you didn't write yourself. If you have even an inkling of a doubt about what's legitimate or how to cite something, see me before handing in the paper.
• Readings: Three books — British Literature, 1640-1789: An Anthology, ed. Robert DeMaria, 2nd ed. (Longman, 2001), abbreviated as BL; Daniel Defoe, A Journal of the Plague Year (Oxford); and Defoe, Moll Flanders (Oxford) — are available from New Jersey Books (not the Rutgers Bookstore). Some additional readings will be available on-line.

Schedule of Class Meetings

Tues., 2 Sept.

Introduction (class business, &c.).

Thurs., 4 Sept.

Andrew Marvell, "On a Drop of Dew" (BL 149-50); Jonathan Swift, "A Description of the Morning" (BL 429-30).

Tues., 9 Sept.

Robert Filmer, from Patriarcha (BL 9-10); Richard Lovelace, "Song to Lucasta, Going to the Wars," "Song to Amarantha," "To Althea" (BL 134-35); James Shirley, The Triumph of Peace (on-line).

Thurs., 11 Sept.

John Milton, from Areopagitica (BL 24-37).

Tues., 16 Sept.

Charles I, from Eikon Basilike (BL 16-19); Milton, from Eikonoklastes (BL 38-40); Marvell, "Upon Appleton House" (on-line); ballads and newsbooks from the Civil Wars (BL 1-5). OED EXERCISE DUE: Report on three words from Filmer, Lovelace, Shirley, Milton, Charles I, or Marvell.

Thurs., 18 Sept.

Thomas Hobbes, from Leviathan (BL 6-8); Abraham Cowley, "Ode of Wit" and "To Mr. Hobbes" (BL 136-40); Marvell, "Bermudas," "The Mower to the Glo-Worms," "An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland," "The Garden," "To His Coy Mistress" (BL 145-50); Henry Vaughan, "They Are All Gone into the World of Light!," "The Night" (BL 151-53); Dorothy Osborne Temple, letters to William Temple (BL 161-62).

Tues., 23 Sept.

John Bunyan, from Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (BL 163-65); Milton, Paradise Lost, book 1 (BL 42-59).

Thurs., 25 Sept.

Paradise Lost, book 2 (BL 60-82).

Tues., 30 Sept.

Paradise Lost, books 4 and 9 (BL 82-130).

Thurs., 2 Oct.

Daniel Defoe, Journal of the Plague Year, pp. 1-125.

Tues., 7 Oct.

Defoe, Journal of the Plague Year, pp. 125-248.

Thurs., 9 Oct.

William Congreve, The Way of the World, acts 1-3 (BL 440-73). OED EXERCISE DUE: Report on three words from Hobbes, Cowley, Marvell, Vaughan, Temple, Bunyan, Milton, or Defoe.

Tues., 14 Oct.

Congreve, Way of the World, acts 4-5 (BL 472-94).

Thurs., 16 Oct.

Samuel Pepys, from the Diary (BL 220-24); John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, "The Imperfect Enjoyment," "A Satyr against Reason and Mankind," "The Disabled Debauchee," "Lampoon," "Signior Dildo," "A Satyr on Charles II," "A Letter from Artemiza" (BL 279-96). FIRST PAPER DUE (around six pages).

Tues., 21 Oct.

John Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel (BL 181-203).

Thurs., 23 Oct.

NO CLASS: I'll be away at a conference..

Tues., 28 Oct.

Dryden, from A Discourse concerning the Original and Progress of Satire (on-line); Mac Flecknoe (BL 175-80).

Thurs., 30 Oct.

Jonathan Swift, A Tale of a Tub, through section V (BL 369-401).

Tues., 4 Nov.

Swift, A Tale of a Tub, section VI-Conclusion (BL 401-25); John Locke, An Essay concerning Humane Understanding, sections 2.1 and 4.19 (on-line). OED EXERCISE DUE: Three words from Congreve, Pepys, Rochester, Dryden, or Swift.

Thurs., 6 Nov.

Milton, from The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce (BL 21-24); Margaret Fell Fox, from Women's Speaking Justified (BL 131-33); Mary Astell, from A Serious Proposal to the Ladies (BL 365-67); Defoe, "An Academy for Women" (BL 303-8).

Tues., 11 Nov.

Defoe, Moll Flanders, pp. 1-105.

Thurs., 13 Nov.

Defoe, Moll Flanders, pp. 105-269; Bernard Mandeville, from A Modest Defence of Public Stews (BL 495-500).

Tues., 18 Nov.

Defoe, Moll Flanders, pp. 269-343.

Thurs., 20 Nov.

Aphra Behn, Oroonoko (BL 245-79).

Tues., 25 Nov.

Aphra Behn, Oroonoko cont'd. (BL 245-79). OED EXERCISE DUE: Three words from Milton, Fox, Astell, Defoe, or Behn.

Thurs., 27 Nov.

NO CLASS: Thanksgiving break.

Tues., 2 Dec.

Alexander Pope, "Windsor-Forest" (on-line), The Rape of the Lock, cantos 1-3 (BL 531-42).

Thurs., 4 Dec.

Pope, The Rape of the Lock, cantos 4-5 (BL 542-49).

Tues., 9 Dec.

Conclusion. SECOND PAPER DUE (around eight pages).