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Reason and Passion: Literature of the Long Eighteenth Century

Module description

Welcome to Reason and Passion - the eighteenth-century literature module. It was a time that saw the birth of modern society in market capitalism and financial crashes; the growth of secularism and materialism; the mass consumption of novels, poetry, and plays; and the emergence of popular politics and global imperialism. And yet it can be a strange and disorientating place for modern readers: the literature seethes with hyperbolic emotions, writers experiment with new radical new forms. This module will guide you through the literature, culture, and history of Britain and Ireland, from the urbane neoclassicism of Pope at the beginning of the century, to the debates about sensibility and emotion by the end.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The module intends to give you a broad overview of the period in question. In particular, it aims to offer a reflective sampling of major genres and modes, and will enable you to respond to the texts in light of knowledge of the conventions of those genres and modes. The module also aims to historically place its texts, introducing you to current critical thinking and debates on the relationships between contexts and texts.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate informed appreciation of specific eighteenth-century literary texts and authors.
• 2. Describe essential eighteenth-century literary history

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Analyse the literature of an earlier era and relate its concerns and its modes of expression to its historical context
• 4. Interrelate texts and discourses specific to their own discipline with issues in the wider context of cultural and intellectual history

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Through seminar work, demonstrate communication skills, and work both individually and in groups
• 6. Through writing assessments, demonstrate appropriate research and bibliographic skills, construct a coherent, substantiated argument, and write clear and correct prose
• 7. Through the final exam, draw on a body of knowledge and compose an essay under exam conditions

Syllabus plan

This is an indicative syllabus. Contact the module convenor for an up-to-date reading list:

• C18th satire
• Representations of love and marriage in C18th literature
• C18th Aesthetics
• Antiquarian and sentimental poetry
• The C18th stage
• The C18th novel

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to sit a further examination. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of referral will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

This is an indicative list of potential primary texts. Contact the module convenor for an up-to-date reading list before making any purchases:

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE page: https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=7692

Key words search

Eighteenth-century, literature, enlightenment