English Studies (ENGL) - Vice and Folly: The Age of Satire, 1660-1730

ENGL 3097  Vice and Folly: The Age of Satire, 1660-1730

Prerequisites:

Six credits of 2000 level English (excluding ENGL 2001, ENGL 2002 and ENGL 2011).

Antirequisites:

ENGL 3095

Hours:

Three hours of lecture per week for one term.

Credits:

3

Description:

“Satire,” wrote Jonathan Swift, “is a sort of Glass, wherein Beholders do generally discover every body’s Face but their Own.” At once despondent and ironic – satiric, really – Swift’s statement points to a central question that haunted the practice of satire even in the era when it most flourished: what’s the point of it? Students examine this question through a close consideration of theory and practice in the Age of Satire. Particular attention is given to works by Dryden, Swift, and Pope.