Age of Johnson ENL3231
Spring 2001 (Craddock) T5-6, R 6
Office: TUR 4332 Email pcraddoc@english.ufl.edu Office phone:
392-6650 x259 Web URL http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/pcraddoc Office
hours: T and F 7th period, and by appointment
The Age of Johnson, Year
by Year--Timeline with Web Links, by the students of ENL3121
University of Florida, 2001
Jack Lynch's Eighteenth-Century
Chronology (Rutgers)
[N.B. both are works-in-progress, and the former is gratefully modelled
on the latter]
INFORMATION
Required supplies: The
Norton Anthology of English Literature, volume 1-C; Dover editions
of Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer and Sheridan's School
for Scandal (any unabridged edition may be used; these are by far the
cheapest, but have no notes); World's Classics (or other unabridged) editions
of Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent, Johnson's Rasselas, and Walpole's
The
Castle of Otranto. All are available at Goerings Bookstore.
If you have Volume 1 of the big Norton Anthology of English Literature,
7th edition, it will have the same material in it. You will also need a
packet
of 3x5 index cards.
GRADES
5 point project: Report on an 18th-century
magazine
5 point project: Time line: two assigned years
10 points Attendance and class participation
10 point project: Person Profile
10 points quiz 1
10 points quiz 2
10 points paper: "a night at the theatre"
20 point research project: eighteenth-century life
20 point interpretative paper (poetry or fiction)
Explanation of projects:
(Note: Plagiarism is the
unforgiveable sin. DOCUMENT YOUR WORK AND DO IT YOURSELF! Form of
documentation isn't important, except that you should be consistent; completeness
is crucial.)
Eighteenth-century magazines are available
in the library on microfilm; a few may be available on paper or online.
Find one from the list that will be provided; then choose ONE issue and
write a one-page report about its contents, especially those features that
might surprise today's magazine readers Due January 25
LISTTime Line: everyone will be assigned two
years, from 1735-1800. For those two years, select a total of 8 or
10 events that would affect the life of an ordinary English person living
in those years. Do not select, for instance, the birth of a person
who would later be famous, or a change from one Secretary of Defense to
another. Due January 16.
Class attendance and participation:You will
receive 1 point for every class you attend (Tuesdays count as two classes).
You will lose 2 points for every unexcused
absence, i.e. 4 on Tuesdays. To be
credited with attendance, you will need to turn in a 3 x 5 card with your
name, the name of your discussion group, and the date
on it. You may earn additional "performance"
points by writing a comment or question on the card that shows you have
been thinking about the assigned reading.
Such points are not available on days when
we have quizzes, but you could earn up to 39. In addition, if you
act as reporter for your group when we
have group discussions, you will earn a point.
Grades for this portion of the course: Under 30 points=F; 30-32 = D; 33-34=D+;
35-37=C, 38-39=C+, 40-42=B,
43-44=B+, 45-50=A. Points above 50
may be used to improve your grade in other aspects of the course.
In no case, however, will extra credit points beyond those used for class
performance raise your grade more than one level (B to B+, or C+ to B,
for example).
Historical research paper: Each person will
choose a topic about eighteenth-century life (between 1735 and 1800) to
research; the papers should be useful to your classmates who are trying
to profile their selected or created persons. Topics would include
subjects like schools for boys, schools for girls, governesses and tutors,
servants, religion, sports and games, parent-child relations, courtship,
women's opportunities, careers in law, army, navy, medicine, etc., clothing
and fashion, food and drink, music, art, popular amusements . . . . You
get the picture. If you already have a subject in mind, write it
on your index card. Otherwise, I'll pass around a signup sheet. Due
February 15.
Person profile: Research the childhood and
young adulthood of a real person from our period, or create an imaginary
person whose life is based on real eighteenth-century ways of life.
Write a profile, that is, a brief description and biography, or a
(partially imaginary) "day in the life of" your chosen person, stopping
at some age between 17 and 25. Due March 13
A Night at the Theatre: Your person has seen a performance of
one of the plays that we have read. Write an account of his/her visit
to the theatre, in the form of a story, a dialogue (perhaps with you),
an imaginery diary entry, etc. Be sure to include his/her opinions
of the play and explanations for them--analysis of the play itself is an
important aspect of the paper. Comment also, either as an introduction
or afterword, or in notes, on your own opinion of the play, as a 21st century
person. Due March 29
Interpretative paper (due April 19; I will
gladly read and respond to drafts)
Select one of the works
we have read this semester and relate it to the 21st century in one of
the following ways:
Treat it as "Clueless" treats Jane Austen's
Emma, i.e., write a
parallel work that reuses and refers to the plot and theme of the original,
but makes new points about our time. Or, try to persuade a friend/family
memory that they would enjoy the work, explaining the parts that might
confuse him/her, but analyzing the ways that the work is still relevant
and enjoyable.
OR
Compare and contrast two poems or two prose works we have read this semester
in both form (everything about the work that can't be reproduced in a paraphrase)
and content. Alternatively, you may compare one work we have read this
semester to another from the same period (1735-1800) that we have not studied
in class. Check with me first!
TIMETABLE
For information about paper
topics and basis for grades, see the "information" section after this timetable.
Note that the books available for purchase are at Goerings Bookstore, 1st
Avenue NW between 17th and 18th streets (“Books and
Bagels”). MANY ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE AVAILABLE ONLY VIA INTERNET OR LIBRARY
RESERVE OR PERSONAL PHOTOCOPYING. Since 10% of your grade will be based
on class participation, as measured especially by evidence that you have
kept up with the reading, do not overlook these assignments.
Writing About the Present
JANUARY
9 Introduction
11 Read Introduction to the Norton volume. You may skim the
sections on "Literary Principles," to which we will return, and "Restoration
literature," which is the period just preceding ours. Read also the
biographical introduction to Samuel Johnson. "Read"--i.e., examine
the pictures and the commentary on them, Hogarth's Marriage a la Mode,
in Norton and online. Commentary
online Color plates available from the National
Gallery, London
DAILY LIFE
16-18 Johnson's London,
on line. Also, Blake's London
. Johnson's Rambler 5, Idler 31, Rambler 60, and introduction, Preface
to Dictionary, sample definitions, all in Norton TIMELINE
DUE
JANUARY 16
23 Selections from Boswell's Life of Johnson
in Norton.
25 Goldsmith, On line Selections
from the Citizen of the World, TheTraveller
MAGAZINE PROJECT DUE
30 Selections from Frances Burney in Norton
FEBRUARY
POEMS OF ORDINARY LIFE (all in Norton except
those underlined, which have weblinks)
1 "Debating Women" in Norton
6-13
Barbauld,
Selected
Poems, especially "The Rights of Women" and "The Washing Day"
Collins, "Ode to Evening"
Cowper, Excerpts from The Task
Gray, "Elegy written in
a Country Churchyard, " "Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat," "Ode on a
Distant Prospect of Eton College"
Smart, "Jubilate Agno"
Thomson, "
Winter"
from
The Seasons20-22 Special Cases: poetic
reportage; slavery (all online and in Norton)
Goldsmith: "Deserted
Village"
In Norton, "Slavery and Freedom"
27-March 1 Writing about Religion
Hume on Miracles
Johnson, Review of Soame
Jenyns
Wesley, sermon
MARCH
6-8 Spring break--no classes
15 Quiz 1
20 PERSON PROFILE due
20-29
Goldsmith, She Stoops
to Conquer (Dover)
Sheridan, The School for Scandal (Dover)
Cowley, on line, TBA
Relevant website
Criticism:
-
Samuel Johnson, Prologue
spoken at the opening of Drury Lane Theatre, 1747
-
Johnson, Preface and notes to Shakespeare
March 29 Short paper, "A
NIGHT AT THE THEATRE," due
APRIL
The Long View
3 Johnson, Vanity of Human
Wishes
5 Gibbon, Excerpts
from The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire; chapters 1-3, chapter
6, and the first part of chapter 15.
Experiments in Fiction and Poetry
10 Johnson, Rasselas
(World's Classics--not just excerpts in Norton)
12 Walpole, Castle
of Otranto (World's Classics);
17 Edgeworth, Castle Rackrent (World's Classics)
19 Interpretative paper due; review
for quiz
24 Final quiz