This module explores a wide range of poetry, prose, and drama, this year from the period 1500–1640, paying particular attention to how the themes and genres of literary texts engage with their historical context. The early modern period (the Renaissance) sees literature not as some fiddly ornament, but as fundamental to civil society. It should move readers to want to do well, teach them what is best to do, and delight them in being thus moved and taught. Fashionable literary forms studied here (such as the sonnet, the allegorical epic, the tragedy, the satire, the eulogy, and the devotional lyric) respond to pressing problems in politics and religion, in works by Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, and George Herbert. The module draws on skills students already have in practical criticism (that is, the detailed examination of a small amount of text, guided by teachers), to encourage them to develop new skills in the independent reading of a substantial volume of complex fictions.

· demonstrate an awareness of some of the key literary texts and contexts of literature from 1500-1650

· analyse this literature with critical skill, theoretical understanding, and a sense of historical context

· analyse the relationship of individual passages to the overall structure of a text, in terms of theme, language, and, where relevant, staging

· achieve scholarly standards of presentation and of writing accurately, clearly and effectively

· 9 hours a week private study (reading the text set for that week, and reading criticism about it)

· an hourly small group seminar (in which students discuss their own readings of that week’s text)

· 2 weekly lectures (the first analyses texts against their historical and cultural contexts, the second does practical criticism)

· critical skills in the close reading, description and analysis of texts

· ability to articulate knowledge and understanding of complex texts, concepts and theories

· sensitivity to generic conventions and to the shaping effects upon communication of circumstances, authorship, textual production and intended audience

· responsiveness to the central role of language in the creation of meaning and a sensitivity to the affective power of language

· rhetorical skills of effective communication and argument, both oral and written

· command of a broad range of vocabulary and an appropriate critical terminology

· bibliographic skills appropriate to the discipline

How the module will be assessed

Type of assessment

%

Title

Duration (exam) /

Approx. Date of assessment

Examination

100

3 hours

End of module

THE OPPORTUNITY FOR REASSESSMENT IN THIS MODULE:

In accordance with University regulations, students are allowed two attempts at retrieval of any failed assessment, capped at 40%.

Assessment Breakdown

Type

%

Qualifying Mark

Title

Duration(hrs)

Period

Week

Examination - Autumn Semester

100

40

Texts In Time 1500-1800

3

1

N/A

Unlike school, university lectures neither read the text with you, nor introduce the texts so you can subsequently decide whether you will read it. They discuss complex theories about the texts, and assume that you have read the set text beforehand. Similarly, seminars allow you to discuss your understanding of the text. Thus, you must read the primary text and some literary criticism on it, and digest your ideas, before each seminar.

Bring your set text to both lecture and seminar, so that you can analyse passages with the lecturer or tutor.

Week (A/B refers to the first or second lecture that week)

1A Introduction to the module.  How to read an early modern poem (poems by Marlowe, Raleigh, and Donne, in Norton, pp. 1126, 1024, and 1384)

1B How to select, read and use literary criticism.

2A Sidney - from Astrophil and Stella (published 1591; Norton, pp. 1084-1102) – the formal properties and uses of the genre of the sonnet

2B Sidney – practical criticism

3A Sidney - sex, gender and desire; the position of the Elizabethan courtier

3B Sidney – practical criticism

4A Marlowe - Dr. Faustus (published 1604; Norton, pp. 1128-63) - early modern staging

4B Marlowe – practical criticism

5A Marlowe - faith; plays as thought experiments; humanist ambitions

5B Marlowe – practical criticism

[week 6 is a reading week]

7A Practising for the examination – how to answer thematic questions

7B Practising for the examination – how to answer practical criticism questions

8A Spenser - from The Faerie Queene, book 1, cantos 1-5 (published 1590; Norton pp. 781-843 ) - the formal properties and uses of the mode of allegory

8B Spenser – practical criticism

9A Spenser – the formal properties and uses of the genre of romance

9B Spenser – practical criticism

10A Jonson - from Epigrams, The Forest, and The Underwood (published 1612, 1616, and 1640; Norton, pp. 1539-58) - the formal properties and uses of the genres of satire, eulogy, and epigram

10B Jonson – practical criticism

11A Herbert - from The Temple (1633; Norton, pp. 1707-25) – the formal properties and uses of the genre of the religious lyric

11B Herbert – practical criticism

All the set texts are contained in The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume 1, 9th edition, ed. Stephen Greenblatt et al. (New York: Norton, 2012). This is published in two formats, either of which is acceptable: volume 1 (covering medieval to eighteenth century literature) OR volume B (covering the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries).

None given.