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RESTORATION & ENLIGHTENMENT LITERATURE. 1660 - 1800
Tuesday and Thursday 9:00 -10:20 a.m.
Room Crawford 108
Office hours 1:30 - 2:30 TTH: 3 - 4 MWF
EMAIL ID AND ADDRESSES: PFIELDS@GW.LSSU.EDU & Fieldspolly@hotmail.com
OFFICE PHONE WITH VOICE MAIL: 906-635-2179
FAX: 906-635-9686
URL: WWW.LSSU.EDU/FACULTY/PFIELDS: CV, BIOGRAPHY, CURRENT PROJECTS,
DIGITIZED PUBLISHED ARTICLES AND CHAPTERS
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
I INFORMATIONAL NOTES
II COURSE FOCUS
III SEMESTER OVERVIEW AND UNIT CONTENT
IV REQUIRED TEXTS AND COURSE MATERIALS
V COURSE REQUIREMENTS
CLASS ATTENDANCE
CLASS ASSIGNMENTS
LATE WORK
EVALUATIONS, PAPERS, PRESENTATION:
ACADEMIC HONESTY MATERIALS CLUSTER
GROUPS PORTFOLIO
VI SYLLABUS
I INFORMATIONAL NOTES
We will discuss class policy and this requirement sheetTrTclass, but you should read this handout carefully.
See me if you have questions.
I urge you to confer with me about any difficulties that you are encountering with the course work. Feel
free to see me before and after class. Should we decide you would benefit from a longer conference, I will be
happy to schedule a time. Basic idea of the course: the only way to mess up in one of my courses is to do
nothing. If you give the assignment a good try, doing what is reasonable as far as you are concerned, you will
have my support and respect.
In anticipation of Thursday's class, today you will select your own cluster members and you will receive
your cluster guidelines for discussing Behn's poems before you leave class this first day, you will know what
you will be "looking for" in her short stories. Before Thursday, you will do your part of the cluster work and
you will write a one-page word processed Position paper to some aspect of your "part" of the novel's
guidelines. And print out the responses to bring to class Thursday.
In summary, beginning the first day, you will be part of a cluster, a work group with guidelines and much
independent learning opportunity. Once you get in the groove, the system works quite well. This week is the
shakedown cruise with no grading so relax while you sort out the procedure—and consult the professor early
and often.
The course is student-active and student-centered with your involvement and participation during every
class period crucial to your progress. Naturally, you are expected to take heavy notes both from my formal
lectures, casual remarks, group presentations, and class discussions; you are responsible for maintaining a
complete set of class notes for all class meetings, whether you are absent or present. Your contribution in
cluster -work is explained in the section on the Cluster Method.
II FOCUS OF THE COURSE: English 403 comprises an upper level survey course on the eighteenth
century and incorporates a study of selected works, as well as the social, intellectual, and political
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influences during the century. We will be working with the Long Eighteenth-Century, as it is called, since it
covers the period from the Late Restoration, around 1680, to the end of the Napoleonic Era, 1814. We will do a
close reading and analysis of the works and place them in context of the period, which is sometimes called The
Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, and the Age of Revolution. The major authors include such notables as
Behn, Dryden, Rochester, Pepys, Pope, Swift, Johnson, along with women writers and periodicists.
The Norton text is a fine one, used in most universities, and it provides you with the majority of the course
material. The anthology costs a bit but includes many works. You will need to buy the $2.95 paperback
version of Robinson Crusoe. When I want you to have an extra document to read, I will employ handouts and
books from my personal library. These photocopies have been made for mv private study and not for
distribution: I will share them with you on a temporary in-class basis. You will return them to me. Some of
the extra material derives from my work in London libraries, such as first edition periodicals, and these will be
available on film for your viewing pleasure. These libraries do not require copyright approval for copies loaned
to you since they are essentially for my own private study in my personal library.
Film comprises an important part of the study—some will be shown in excerpts in class, like Restoration and
Robinson Crusoe (Tom Hanks version). In particular, the course requirements include your viewing the complete
film, Restoration, which won multiple Academy Awards for costumes and artistry; featuring Meg Ryan,
Robert Downey Jr., lan McKelland, and Hugh Grant, the work provides a great view of England 17th-18th
centuries. My copy of the film is available for weekend "checkout." Some of the plays (such as The Beggar's
Opera) are also vailable to you from my own library, and I will certainly let you borrow these for home
viewing.
While study of the eighteenth century is hugely enriched through film, art, cartoons, and music, one of the
major goals of the course involves the process of individual involvement with the text. Allowing the student to
work individually and collectively with the eighteenth-century canon (as the term is). For that reason,
pedagogy will include many learning modes short mini-lecture, teacher guided cluster assignments,
independent cluster work, film and tapes, individual and team presentations on both assigned and student
chosen material. We will begin today with a strong overview of the period, which immeasurably influenced
the literary products of the period. I will conduct the class with lectures, especially the first two nights, in
order to set the pace, and, especially, to establish some background in history and social factors for your
getting a handle on the reading assignments.
The student should expect paragraph quizzes on the reading, and this material will also become part of
midterm and final exam questions. A student who is not conversant with literary theory will have a chance to
sample and explore various approaches to works of the period, in a nonD threatening and comfortable way.
Should you wish to discuss this reading, I encourage you to do so and to use my "office" hours before class.
Formal writing assignments connected with exams and presentations appear in the syllabus; the
assignments allow growth and development of students' skills in critical writing. Additionally, you will do
informal short writing periodically.
Ill SEMESTER OVERVIEW:
Unit 1: Week 3
One-Hour Midterm Exam: Identifications and four Short Essays
Unit 2: Weeks 3-15 Presentations. See possible dates in syllabus.
Unit 3: Final Exam
Final Exam with Short and Long Essay. The ticket to the final will be the long essay. Possibly deriving
from position papers, it will encompass a small topic, not to be researched but will be text-based. Should you
find yourself "specializing" in a small topic (mother-daughter relations, for instance, or the use of Private
Space, or animals or travel or farmers or city dwellers or sex/marriage), your position papers on all the
literature may relate to this aspect, and the final paper as well. This kind of expertise is excellent. **But note
the following: If any research enters the field of study, however, then the long paper WILL INVOLVE
documentation, works cited page, and the whole nine yards. Stay in touch with the professor over your
projects, since you are required to submit the topic in advance for approval.
IV REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS AND MATERIALS:
Norton Anthology of English Literature Volume I Ed. Abrams et al. Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe In addition,
films, slides, and articles will be available for independent study as the semester progresses. The outside
reading, as well, should aid you in organizing your notes and encourage your research skills. In an
upper-level course, the student is expected to take charge of his or her own learning; when the student
realizes there are certain gaps in his or her knowledge, he or she will do extra research to fill in the knowledge
gaps, as well as to confer with the professor. For instance, the first week's lectures will make reference to
Shakespeare and Milton and their influence on the development of English literature. A student unfamiliar
with this would do some basic library research, and, therefore, the texts of the course may go beyond the text
book and will include outside work which you personally may need to do in order to catch up.
In addition to the printed texts, students will find handy a big binder for the many handouts, for notes on
class lectures and presentations, in addition to recording notes on outside reading assignments, film viewings,
and other required independent work. Students will also need inexpensive trapper-type portfolios with
pockets to contain drafts of papers and presentation researched work.
V COURSE REQUIREMENTS
CLASS ATTENDANCE: You are responsible for attending class and being prepared for the day's work, just
as you are responsible for taking notes, doing all class work, and participating in •writing workshops. You may
not exceed the 20% absence/cuts as established by the University Bulletin. You should save "Cuts" for
illness and other true emergencies. Once you use them, there are no more. If you are absent, you are
responsible for turning in missed work within the week you return to school and for ascertaining new
assignments or syllabus changes. Each cut over the limit will incur a 5-point penalty from the final grade.
Just as a student could not miss hours of work and keep the job, a student cannot miss hours of class work and
pass the semester. In-class work, such as reading quizzes and essays, cannot be made up and will earn a "0,"
if the student is late or absent.
ASSIGNMENTS: The syllabus contains the dates for assignments. Expect reading quizzes over assigned
reading. If I notice that several people are not reading, you may expect quizzes heavily weighted, and grades
of non-readers will drop greatly. You are expected to complete the reading of assignment before the first
lecture and class discussion on it. I urge you to be responsible in your work habits and submit your work in
timely fashion.
LATE WORK: The grace period for unexcused late work extends to 4:00 PM on the day after the paper is due.
You may take the paper to the secretarial staff in the English Department offices and the representative will
place the work in my mailbox. After that time, the grade lowers a letter each calendar day. It is your
responsibility for getting the late paper signed with the time and date by one of the English department
secretaries. At 4:30 PM on the third calendar day, including weekends, the paper receives an automatic F.
EVALUATIONS: The final grade will be the average of the five grades, with four counting 20%:
two unit assignments (see below): midterm, presentation with each accruing
20%
ten (10) one-page word-processed Position papers 20%, including positions on films completed out
of class
cumulative average grade for individual participation which includes informal writing
assignments, cluster assignments, oral participation, writers' workshops, and attendance
final exam, which counts
Professor discretionary points allocation
20%
25%.
5%
ACADEMIC HONESTY: You are expected to do your own work and to uphold the ideals of academic
honesty. See the University handbook for the policy concerning plagiarism, which involves submitting
another's work, words, ideas, trains of thought, and other derivations, published or unpublished, as your own.
RATIONALE FOR CLUSTER GROUPS AND ASSIGNMENTS: Each cluster will begin with each
member presenting his or her position paper, if one is due. Each member has talking time equally shared.
These ground rules follow business procedures. The aspect of teamwork and of learning and doing in
concord with others has become a key component in business as well as in university training.
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The pedagogical method of encouraging independent learning is also correlated with the concept of working
as a group; while the technique is on the cutting edge, research on it, including my own work in progress,
provides substantial support and results.
In facilitating this technique for critical thinking and critical learning, the professor has diverse
responsibilities to determine the lecture material, to set the grading framework and course standards, and to
fulfill her participation as consulting literary resource for academic aspects. In addition, the professorial role
includes providing the syllabus, the course description, the course material, the learning framework, the
guidelines, and in acting as a consulting literary source for academic aspects.
The student should realize that the process of critical thinking and critical learning rests with the student;
how much learning occurs (and the grade earned) depends on how much responsibility for this learning he or
she is willing to take. The student must actively pursue and take part in his or her own acquisition of
knowledge; the student must not expect to be a passive consumer in the classroom, to the exclusion of being
an active learner and aggressive participant. In order to help empower the student and encourage
independent learning, I employ several pedagogical methods, including the cluster technique.
To begin the semester, each student may choose his or her own cluster of no fewer than four and no more
than six participants. The clusters will change as I give different types of assignments. Basically, the format
will be as follows: On certain days, the cluster groups will be given guidelines or specific tasks which the
group must divide and make into individual assignments within a specific time frame, sometimes one class
period, sometimes two, or even three. The topics will involve certain important aspects of the text
assignment; instead of being the subject of a lecture, the assigned aspect will be explored within the cluster
group, using a list of guidelines which I provide to aid students in closely reading the play to follow the
development of the aspect.
In other words, I provide the broad topic TO COVER TRADITIONAL AND NON-TRADITIONAL
APPROACHES TO THE PIECE OF LITERATURE. And provide guidelines to get the cluster group
started. The members must decide how to narrow the topic, how to break it down into individual work
assignments. Occasionally, the cluster will be involved in outside research. In an upper level literature class
such as this one, I expect the student to continue the work outside of class until the assignment is completed.
The group may want to continue the meeting outside of class, or will want to confer with other members
through email (an excellent choice).
ESSAYS AND PORTFOLIO: For the presentations and the one-page essays and the course test essays, all
the elements must be present in the portfolio (a trapper-type with pockets): all rough notes and outlines,
readers' and writers' sheets, all drafts. Submitting only a "final" draft is unacceptable. If you work at a
computer, print each draft before proceeding to revise, as you are expected to turn in each successive draft. To
be graded, each folder must be complete with all drafts and notes. An incomplete folder earns an F. All
papers submitted must be word processed, which is standard for university-level work.
Because the unforeseen happens, you are required to make a duplicate copy of the contents of each paper in
case I should need it. Maintain your own files at home of work before you submit it. Make a copy of each
disk. Make two copies. Put it on hard drive. A crashed disk does not ever present an excuse for a late paper,
nor does waiting until the last minute to print.
VI COURSE SYLLABUS: ("Syllabus" is the Latin word for "week's work."). The syllabus for the semester
isflexible and may be changed for cause. If you are absent from class, you are responsible for ascertaining anv
changes in assignments.
Dr. P. S. Fields
English 403 Restoration and Enlightenment
Fall 2004
Syllabus
NOTE: 1) Reading the head note (prefatory material) that precedes each selection is part of the assignment.
2) All page numbers in parentheses refer to the first page of the assigned work in the Notion Anthology, but
the work should be read in its entirety. 3) "Reading Assignment" refers to the reading due for that class
period. 4) Position papers are word processed. 5) Position dates are bolded. 6) To plan ahead for the
semester, note Presentation opportunities.
Week One
T 8/31 Course Description, Syllabus Q & A
Inaugural Formalities of the Course
Introduction to the Restoration and the Eighteenth Century: Literary, Historical and Sociological Background.
Lecture and Visuals: Satirists' Visual Representations of the Eighteenth Century: Hogarth, Rowlandson,
Cruikshank.
TH 9/2 Introduction Concluded. Visual Interpretation of the English Upper Classes. First cluster assignment
and discussion. Reading Assignment out of class for today: Text introduction segment 2058-2065. Handout
of Aphra Behn , "On a Locket of Hair Wove in a True-Love's Knot" (415). In-class Position 1 concerning
"your take" on the poem. Bring notes as this writing is a type of diagnostic.
NOTE: Behn's play The Rover (which features cross dressing in a major way) offers an opportunity for a team
presentation. See me the first week if you may be interested in doing a "first" presentation.
Film Segment: The Raver. PROJECTING AHEAD: Along with Thomas Hobbes' contemporaneous book, Leviathan, a
philosophy on human life as "nasty, brutish, and short,''Restoration plays were bawdy on purpose and incorporated a dark view of
humans as animals only capable of excrement and sex. Swift later postulated the same view. Anyone who wants to read and do a
presentation on Wycherly, The Country Wife should be able to handle [very funny] adult material. Play concerns an unmarried
man and woman about your age.
*****************************************************************
Week Two
T9/7 Labor Day holiday.
Th 9/9 Reading Assignment: Read over all the assigned work but "speciatee" in one of the pieces.
Dryden, "Absolom and Achitophel" (2075). Position paper on gender relations as satire topics (your call).
Position 2
"MacFlecknoe" (2099)
"The Art of Satire" (1843)
Film Segments: Restoration. Each student is expected to view the film in its entirety by Week Three and write Vz
page review as a Position 3.
*****************************************************************
Week Three
T 9/14 Reading Assignment Handouts on "Marriage A la Mode" (2075) (along with the Hogarth drawings,
"Marriage A la Mode") Position 4
John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, "Disabled Debauchee." (2162) X+-Rated
Anne Finch "The Introduction" (2291)
Pepys, Excerpts from the Diary (2123) and "The Great Fire" (2123) and "The Plague." R+ Rated. Reading for adults
*only*. The diary, written in code, was private and never meant for others' eyes. Translated in 1800's, it could not be published until after
1960's due to the subject matter. Since never-shy Pepys went everywhere and knew everybody famous, his Diary is the world's *only* source
for the plague, daily living, drunkenness, clothing, sex lives, eating, amusements, actors/actresses, and tons of gossip about the kind and his
mistresses. Pepys, "Secretary" to the Royal Navy, sailed on the ship with Lard Sandwich when Charles II, poor and scared, was brought from France to be
"restored" to the English throne.
All contents copyright 2004 Dr. Polly Stevens Fields
All rights reserved
Dr. P. S. Fields
English 403 Restoration and Enlightenment
Fall 2004
TH 9/16 Pepys Diary continued. Position Find in the index five entries you want to read and write a position on an
overview of all five. Position 5
Week Four
T 9/21 Reading Assignment Defoe, Robinson Crusoe. Handouts on travel literature, English shipping and colonizing.
Read novel by 9/21
Position 6
TH 9/23 Reading Assignment Defoe, Robinson Crusoe and film excerpts
Cluster Assignment and Study Guidelines
Opportunity for Presentation
Week Five
T 9/28. Defoe, Robinson Crusoe and film excerpts
TH 9/30 Swift, "City Shower" (2300)
"A Modest Proposal" (2473)
Position 7
Selected "Stella" poems. Some are R+ -Rated and require adult understanding
Week Six
T 10/5 Reading Assignment Poetry: Swift, "Lady's Dressing Room" (2585); Montague "The Reasons . . . Dr.
Swift." (2588); Pope, "Impromptu" (2590); Finch, "The Answer to Pope's Impromptu" (2591)
TH 10/7. Swift Gulliver's Travels (Ted Danson version) Film Segments and corresponding Part 3 and 4 to be read. .
Week Seven
T 10/12 Swift Gulliver's Travels (Ted Danson version) Film Segments and corresponding Part 3 and 4 to be
read. Position 8
TH 10/14 Midterm
Week Eight
T 10/19. Reading Assignment Reading Assignment Age of Johnson and Boswell
Johnson, Rambler: no. 32, 981, 71, 988, 180, 1005. Choose two according to your taste and write a Position.
"Vanity of Human Wishes."
"Preface to The Plays of William Shakespeare"
"Letter to Lord Chesterfield, Feb. 1755" Considered the world's finest blow-off.
Boswell, From The Journal. R+ reading for adults only.
TH 10/21. Reading Assignment Age of Johnson and Boswell
"To Dr. William Dodd, June 26, 1777" Handouts: Broadside ballads on his execution.
Boswell, From The Journal Excerpts.
Opportunity for Presentation
All contents copyright 2004 Dr. Polly Stevens Fields
All rights reserved
Dr. P. S. Fields
English 403 Restoration and Enlightenment
Fall 2004
Week Nine
T 10/26 Alexander Pope, "The Rape of the Lock" Position 9
TH 10/28 "An Essay on Criticism" (2509), "An Essay on Man" (2554). Selections from Broadside Ballads from
the British Library, in the professor's collection.
Week Ten
Tll/2 Gay, The Beggar's Opera (2606). Film & Handouts on 1 8th century stage Gay,
The Beggar's Opera Film
TH 11/4 Gay, The Beggar's Opera Film
Week Eleven
11/9 Gay, The Beggar's Opera Film Position 10
11/11 Presentation Opportunities for individuals or pairs: Total Four Students *Only.* First-come roster signing
began 10/19
Week Twelve
11/16 Presentation Opportunities for individuals or pairs: Total Four Students *Only.* First-come roster
signing began 10/19
11/18 Periodicals. Hands-on workshops with first editions of British Library holdings from the professor's library.
Week Thirteen
11/23 Periodicals. Hands-on workshops with first editions of British Library holdings from the professor's
library.
•T- -^ -"K •¥ -^ ^K -T
11/24 - 11/29 8:00 AM USA Thanksgiving Holidays
Week Fourteen
11/30 Late 18th century poetry study: Goldsmith and Cowper selections, TBA. Part I William Blake poetry and
art Optional Position 11 for EC
12/2 Late 18th century poetry study: Part II William Blake poetry and art.
All contents copyright 2004 Dr. Polly Stevens Fields
All rights reserved