Studies in Individual Authors: The Life & Literary Career of Alexander Pope

English 804.6 (2005-2006)
Raymond Stephanson

Course Description

A study of eighteenth-century England’s most famous and successful poet, this seminar examines the many ways in which Alexander the Little—dwarfed, hunchbacked, Catholic, unmarried—became a cultural emblem of the new professional author in the marketplace of letters. Examining his life, correspondence, and his brilliant couplet art that so enraged some of his contemporaries (and for others made him the most revered poet of the day), we will attempt to sort out his “position” in eighteenth-century literary history. The main thematic centers of our investigations: the origins of “wit,” the crippled body and brilliant mind, capitalism and the “literary,” male friendship and the republic of letters, political satire, women and sex and men and sex .... but mainly the poetry!

Times of weekly seminars: Wednesdays, 6:30–9:00 p.m.

Required Texts: All Paperbacks

1. John Butt, ed., The Poems of Alexander Pope (Yale Univ Press / ISBN: 0-300-00030-8)
   
2. Maynard Mack, Alexander Pope: A Life (Norton / ISBN: 0-393-30529-5)
   
3. John Dryden, translator, Virgil’s Aeneid (Penguin Classic / ISBN: 0-14-044627-3)
   
4. Jacob Fuchs, translator, Horace’s Satires and Epistles (Norton / ISBN: 0-393-09093-0)
   
5. Roy Porter, English Society in the 18th Century, Revised Edition (Penguin / ISBN: 0-14-013819-6)

Assignments

FIRST TERM READING SCHEDULE (2005)

SECOND TERM READING SCHEDULE (2006)

SEMINAR PRESENTATION SCHEDULE (max. 2 students per week/topic)

BOOKS ON 4-HOUR RESERVE

Listed by Call No. / Author or Editor / Title

PR 3621 .A92 / Ault / The Prose Works of Alexander Pope

PR 3634 .E26 / Edwards / This Dark Estate

PR 3633 . M15 / Mack / Essential Articles: Alexander Pope

PR 3634 .P66 / Mack, Winn / Pope: Recent Essays

PR 3634 .A7 / Erskine-Hill, Smith / The Art of Alexander Pope

PR 3630 .I .53S73 / Stack / Pope and Horace

PR 3633 .M15C6 / Mack / Collected in Himself

PR 3634 .W4 / Weinbrot / Alex. Pope and the Traditions of Formal Verse Satire

PR 3633 .G7 / Griffin / Alex. Pope: The Poet in the Poems

PR 3627 .N87 / Nuttall / Pope’s Essay on Man

PR 3630 .I53 / Fuchs / Reading Pope’s Imitations of Horace

PR 3633 .H34 / Hammond / Pope

PR 3633 .R94 / Rumbold / Women’s Place in Pope’s World

PR 3634 .A85 / Atkins /Quests of Difference

PR 3634 .D36 / Damrosch / The Imaginative World of Alex. Pope

PR 3634 .E53 / Rousseau, Rogers / The Enduring Legacy

PR 3634 .B68 / Bogel / Acts of Knowledge

PR 3634 .J3 / Jackson / Vision & Re-Vision in Alex. Pope

PR 3634 .M67 / Morris / Alexander Pope

PR 3634 .B76 / Brown / Alex. Pope

PR 3634 .D62 / Dixon / Alexander Pope

PR 3630 .O.31 / Wasserman / Pope’s Epistle to Bathurst

PR 3632 .A3G93 / Guerinot / Pamphlet Attacks on Alex. Pope

PR 3633 .A4, vols. 1-5 / Sherburn / Correspondence of Alex. Pope

PR 3633 .A92 / Ault / New Light on Pope

PR 3633 .E7 / Erskine-Hill / The Social Milieu of Alex. Pope

PR 3621 .B98 vols. 1-10 / Pope / Poems of Alexander Pope

PR 3622 .C69 / Cowler / The Prose Works of Alex. Pope

PR 3627 .W58 / White / Pope and the Context of Controversy

PR 3629 .H94 / Hunt / Pope: The Rape of the Lock

PR 3629 .R3 / Kinsley / The Rape of the Lock

PR 3634 .C75 / Jackson, Yoder / Critical Essays on Alex. Pope

PR 448 .M37S74 / Stephanson / The Yard of Wit

PR 3632 .R64 / Rogers / The Alexander Pope Encyclopedia

PR 3634 .D48 / Deutsch / Resemblance and Disgrace

PR 3625 .A2R86 / Rumbold / The Dunciad in Four Books

PR3625 .M67  / Ingrassia, Thomas / More solid learning : new perspectives on Alexander Pope's Dunciad

PR3637 .W6T48 / Thomas / Alexander Pope and his eighteenth-century women readers

HOUSEKEEPING

Students are expected to attend lectures and seminars regularly and to complete all written assignments and examinations. In cases of incomplete course work, absence from final examinations, and late withdrawal, students will be assigned a numeric grade not exceeding 49% regardless of the weighting of marks indicated on this course outline. The university regulations concerning examinations are available at http://students.usask.ca/academic/exams. See especially sections 1.4.7a.i and iii.

Plagiarism: You are plagiarizing if you present the words or thoughts of someone else as if they were your own (Exceptions are proverbial sayings or common knowledge.), or if you submit without approval of the instructor any work for which credit has previously been obtained or is being sought in another course. Avoid charges of plagiarizing by acknowledging your sources in the essay and including them in the list of works cited. When quoting, make sure that all words and phrases from the source are in quotation marks. When paraphrasing, acknowledge the source of the idea but rewrite in your own language. For further information see the Department of English Requirements for Essays, which is also on the Department web site. Plagiarism, whether from the Net, from other students, or from published sources, is a serious academic offense that bears severe consequences. Instructors will report such offenses to the dean of the student?s college, and any allegations will be reviewed by the university?s committee on Student Academic Dishonesty. Penalties can range from a ?0? on an essay to a reduced mark for the course to expulsion from the University. Records of penalties assessed are kept on file by the University Registrar; penalties become more severe for subsequent offences. For more information on plagiarism, see http://www.usask.ca/honesty.

Students with Disabilities: The University of Saskatchewan is guided by a policy and procedures document with respect to students with disabilities. You may obtain a copy of this document at the web site for Disability Services for Students. If you have a disability, you are urged to identify yourself to your instructors, explaining the nature of your disability in order that your instructional needs can be met.