This syllabus is still under construction.

Dr. Derrick G. Pitard
Class Meetings for Spring, 2008: Th pd. U, SWC 309
Office: SWC 313L
Office Hours for Spring, 2008: M 10am-1pm, T and Th 11-12 pm, and of course by appointment.
Contact: (738-)2369, or

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In this course, students will:

1. Display an extensive familiarity with the authors, genres, and cultural history of the period;
2. Display a comprehensive knowledge of the history of the criticism of the period and its literary culture;
3. Demonstrate an ability to build upon this knowledge of the period and its criticism to formulate their own oral and written arguments;
4. Write a thoughtful and sustained critique of some aspect of the literature and culture of the period in a fully documented, publishable-length research paper;
5. And contribute substantively to the class in presentations and in-class discussions.

All of the texts for the course will be in the bookstore, but of course you may buy them were you like. Where-ever you buy them, however, make sure that you get these editions.

1. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 8th ed., vol. 1 (parts a-c). Get the whole of volume 1, not just the third part, since Milton is in Part b. Using this will save money because it includes many texts which we won't have to buy separately; but, it often only includes pitifully few selections, or only fragments of texts, when we will be reading more. Our reading will NOT be confined by its contents.
2. Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, ed. Richetti
3. Richardson, Pamela, ed. Keymer and Wakely
4. Boswell, The Life of Johnson, ed. Hibbert
5. Shesgree, ed., Engravings by Hogarth
6. Burney, Evelina, ed. Doody
7. Mackie, ed., The Commerce of Everyday Life
8. Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience (not in the bookstore, but we will read it)
9. Haslett, Pope to Burney, 1714-1779
10. Dentith, ed., Bakhtinian Thought: An Introductory Reader (recommended only)
11. If you don't own one already, get the MLA Style Manual, 2nd, ed. or the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed., and use it religiously during the course for all aspects of format and documentation.
12. Bring a manila folder with your name on it to class ASAP; all of your graded work will be kept in this folder.

Contribution to class. Please do! A master's degree is a professional degree: this is what you do, so dig in and enjoy. Class is where you share your ideas, where you push them out to sea and find out whether they float. If you don't share them, they'll sink.

Weekly Work. You will hand work every week as answer to prompts which I hand out (and which will be on the Calendar as .pdf files). They may ask for some research, or some work towards a paper. They can be places to begin working on essay topics. These assignments comprise a crucial part of the course, since they are where you begin to actually work on the texts. There is a principle behind them: that to think, you need to write. Their importance is implied in the percentage of the final course grade assigned to them collectively: 40%. These assignments should be presented professionally, in full MLA style.

Presentation. Everyone will present once during term on a topic of their choice; you will choose the week you would like to present on (beginning after the first two or three weeks), and this choice will dictate your topic. For more, see the page on Presentations.

Papers. There will be either one or two papers due during term--the choice is yours. Due dates in either case are on the Calendar. These are persuasive or argumentative papers in which you'll gather evidence--especially linguistic evidence--to argue a point. See the Papers page for more specific information.

1. All work must be completed to pass the course.
2. Absence policy: I have none. If you miss, that's your loss. Please don't; I'll miss you, and so will everyone else.
3. If you turn in late work, points will be deducted without a valid excuse. For each day that an assigment is late, 5% will be deducted from its grade. I realize that there are other commitments, but you have committed now to this class, too. If you need to turn in something late, please clear it with me beforehand.
4. Work must be finished on the day assigned. If it is not, or if you are not otherwise prepared for class, you may be asked to leave and to take an unexcused absence for the day.

1. Grades will be determined by a percentage system.
   • The weekly assignments are worth 40% of the final grade.
   • The presentation is worth 10% of the final grade.
   • The papers (one or two) are worth 50% towards the final grade (25% each, if you choose to write two). Fill out and hand in this form by February 7th to designate your choice of paper options AND to designate your presentation date.
   • And participation (showing up, contributing, being a good citizen of the seminar, and documented improvement in written work over the course of the term) is up to 5% more. Again, this is what you do--so, please dig in!
2. Note that I have to give a grade based on work that you have done--I can't give a good grade for being a hard worker ("effort") if you at the same time (for whatever reason) haven't been able to complete work for the course. If your paper grades improve over the course of the term, this is concrete evidence. If you feel you are working hard and they still aren't, ask about it!

3. Plagiarism will be punished with immediate failure and/or submission of a report to the Department and the Dean for further disciplinary action.