BA English Literature and American Studies

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This course introduces a variety of different modes of writing from the English Renaissance, including drama, prose, poetry and writing by Shakespeare. We look at the cultural and historical contexts of these works. The course is structured around key themes, each of which highlights an area of keen concern in the writing of the era as well as in recent critical approaches to Renaissance literature and culture: religion and identity, travel and colonialism, women and authorship, science and humanism, and city and country.  The course therefore offers an introduction to some of the most innovative theoretical and critical readings of Renaissance literature and culture as well as to a broad range of texts from this era.

 • To introduce a range of different forms of writing from the Renaissance period, including drama, poetry and prose 

• To equip students to analyse literary texts from this period in relation to their historical and cultural context and in relation to critical and theoretical debates 

• To encourage independent readings of Renaissance texts, both canonical and lesser known 

• To encourage oral presentation skills through the use of student presentations and seminar discussions 

• To develop skills in written expression and the presentation of a coherent argument at a level appropriate to second-year undergraduate degree work 

Please see recommended reading.

 By the end of this course students will be able to:

• demonstrate an understanding of a range of texts from the English Renaissance
• discuss Renaissance texts in detail in relation to their cultural and historical contexts as well as in relation to current critical and theoretical debates

By the end of this course students will be able to:

• understand and analyze a range of English Renaissance texts
• engage critically with secondary material and critical debates

By the end of this course students will be able to: 

• identify and locate relevant primary and secondary material
• present written work in an appropriate form
• deliver a coherent oral presentation
• participate in group discussions

By the end of this course students will be able to:

• present a coherent written argument
• put forward independent ideas in group discussions and in oral presentations
• introduce unfamiliar material to a wider audience

• Oral feedback on group presentation
• Written feedback on critical introduction and essay
• Additional one-to-one feedback (during consultation hour or by making an appointment)

Week-by-week outline
1. Introduction: The Global Renaissance (Extracts on Blackboard)
2. Philip Sidney and Mary Wroth, Sonnets (Poems on Blackboard)
3. Isabella Whitney and Aemilia Lanier, Selected poems (Poems on Blackboard)
4. Christopher Marlowe, Dr Faustus
5. John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi
6. READING WEEK
7. Middleton and Rowley, The Changeling
8. Philip Massinger, The Renegado
9. John Fletcher, The Island Princess
10. Margaret Cavendish, The Blazing World
11. Aphra Behn, Oroonoko
12. Essay planning

Books to buy:
• Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus and Other Plays, ed. by David Bevington and Eric Rasmussen (Oxford World’s Classics) 
• John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi and Other Plays, ed. Rene Weis (Oxford World’s Classics)
• Middleton and Rowley, The Changeling (Revels Student Edition, Manchester University Press) 
• Philip Massinger, The Renegado, ed. by Michael Neill, Arden Early Modern Drama (London: Arden Shakespeare, 2010). 
• John Fletcher, The Island Princess, ed. by Clare McManus, Arden Early Modern Drama (London: Arden Shakespeare, 2012). 
• Margaret Cavendish, The Blazing World and Other Writings, ed. by Kate Lilley, Penguin Classics (London: Penguin, 1994). 
• Aphra Behn, Oroonoko, ed. by Janet Todd, Penguin Classics (London: Penguin, 2003).