ENGL 3363 18th Century Literature I  

David Buck, English Instructor	Fairleigh Dickinson University
E-mail: dbuck@bcc.edu	Webpage: http://www.davidbuckenglish.com
Office: Parker 319 R	Telephone: 609-894-9311 OR 856-222-9311 EXT.1322

In this course we will study the major authors, literary forms, ideas, and history of the Eighteenth Century, both in England and in America.  Authors studied will include Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson.  We will cover the poetry, fiction, and prose of the era, as well as its philosophical, political, religious, and scientific developments.  The period is often characterized as The Age of Enlightenment (or The Age of Reason) because of its break with the religious past, but we will examine its cross-currents and contradictions and the ways it anticipated the Romantic Age and the cultural revolutions that were to follow.

Learning Assessment:
1.  Blackboard Discussion:  Since we will conduct this course as a Hybrid Course (a weekly schedule of one onsite class meeting and one online class meeting, or a Saturday onsite meeting from 9-12), our class discussions will be continued on FDU's Blackboard; your participation is expected and will be mandatory.   Specific directions will be posted for each Blackboard online discussion.
2.  Midterm and Final Exams:  Both exams will be comprised of objective questions taken from class lectures, discussions, and the readings.
3.  Two Formal Papers:  Both Formal Papers will analyze a specific text for its meaning and relevance to the philosophical, political, religious, and scientific contexts from which it is taken.  Formal Paper #1 shall be two (2) pages in length; Formal Paper #2 shall be four (4) pages in length.  Both Formal Papers will follow the MLA guidelines as explained in the Diana Hacker text listed below; in addition, they will be assessed according to the Essay Grading Rubric linked (or attached) to this syllabus.
4.  Class Participation: since ENGL 3363 will be considered a student-centered, participative course, it is your responsibility to read the assigned texts and be prepared for each class session to contribute to the ongoing class discussion or writing.  This means that you should be prepared to make substantive oral comments during EACH and EVERY onsite class session.  This participation may also involve a presentation component.  Active, motivated, and engaged behavior will be expected!

Style Manual for Papers:
Diana Hacker. A Pocket Style Manual. Boston: Bedford Books/ St. Martin's Press, 1993. The proper guide for making references to on-line sources is the MLA style sheet. It is not available on line. However examples of correct references may be found at the University of Georgia Libraries' MLA Style Sheet site.

Academic Integrity:  Please note the university's policy on cheating, plagiarism, and other violations of integrity in the Student Handbook. Click on Academic Regulations.

Attendance Policy:
It is expected that you will attend every class session during the entire term.  However, if an absence is unavoidable, it is your responsibility to notify the instructor of your absence and to contact a peer to obtain any necessary information/materials that have been missed.  Excused absences will consist of documented illness, death in the family, or a university-sponsored event.  Excessive unexcused absences and/or latenesses will result in the instructor's consideration of a final grade reduction.

NOTE: ALL cell phones, pagers, and electronic devices must be turned OFF during class time.  Please be considerate of your instructor and fellow classmates!  If a problem continues to exist, a grade reduction may be considered by the instructor.

University Education:  "By a crude mathematical formula, it can be suggested that what students teach students should be one-third of an undergraduate education, what professors teach students should be another third, and what each student does alone in the library, the laboratory, and the study should be the remaining third."
From Jeroslav Pelikan, The Idea of the University: A Reexamination (New Haven: Yale UP, 1992): 61.

Course Grading:  

Blackboard Contributions	20%
Midterm Exam	15%
Final Exam	15%
Two Formal Papers	40%
Class Participation and Effort / Attendance	10%

 

92-100=A	75-77=C
90-91=A-	70-74=C-
88-89=B+	65-69=D
82-87=B	64-below=F
80-81=B-
78-79=C+

                                Session Number                                                                                                                                                                  Text

Date #1 (or Saturday #1)	Course Introduction and Overview
Date #2 (or Saturday #1)	Aphra Behn (1640-1689): Oroonoko; or, The Royal Slave
Date #3 (or Saturday #1)	Aphra Behn (1640-1689): Oroonoko; or, The Royal Slave
Date #4 (or Saturday #2)	Thomas Gray (1716-1771): "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard"; "Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes" Samuel Johnson (1709-1784):  "Vanity of Human Wishes"
Date #5 (or Saturday #2)	Immanuel Kant (1724-1804): "What Is Enlightenment?" Alexander Pope (1688-1744): "An Essay on Man: Epistle I"
Date #6 (or Saturday #3)	"A Day in 18th Century London: Texts and Contexts" (left-hand toolbar) -- Read >"Morning" (Dodsley, Swift, Addison, and Hogarth), "Afternoon" (Garretson, Jordan, Addison, and The Female Tatler), "Evening" (Pleasure Gardens and Playhouses), and "Night" (Boswell)
Date #7 (or Saturday #3) First Formal Paper Due	Jonathan Swift (1667-1745):  "A Modest Proposal" "A Satirical Elegy"
Date #8 (or Saturday #4)	Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758): "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" William Byrd II (1674-1744): from The Secret Diary  and The Secret Diary [Part II] J. Hector St. John De Crevecoeur (1735-1813): "Letters . . . What Is an American? [Read up to HISTORY OF ANDREW, THE HEBRIDEAN ]"
Date #9 (or Saturday #4)	Midterm Exam
Date #10 (or Saturday #5)	Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790): "The Way to Wealth"; "Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America"; from The Autobiography [Part One] -- Chapter One, Chapter Six, and Chapter Seven.
Date #11 (or Saturday #5)	Thomas Paine (1737-1809): Common Sense; The Crisis  Philip Freneau (1752-1832): "The Republican Genius of Europe"; "Ode"; "On the Universality and Other Attributes of the God of Nature"
Date #12 (or Saturday #6)	Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826): The Declaration of Independence; Rough Draft of Declaration  Olaudah Equiano (1745?-1797): from Narrative of the Life
Date #13 (or Saturday #6) Second Formal Paper Due	The Federalist: No.1 [Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804)]; No.2 [John Jay (1745-1829)]; No.10 [James Madison (1751-1836)]  -- Use the RED toolbar box in the lower left-hand corner!
Date #14 (or Saturday #7)	Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784): "On Being Brought from Africa to America"; "To the University of Cambridge, in New England";  "Thoughts on the Works of Providence"; "To S.M., a Young African Painter, on Seeing His Works";  "To His Excellency General Washington"
Date #15 (or Saturday #7)	Final Exam