This module looks at the different ways the topics of love and death are handled in Renaissance texts before looking at a number of plays on marriage.

discuss the themes of love and marriage in Renaissance texts from several perspectives; demonstrate a clear understanding of the nature of Renaissance drama together with an understanding of the issues that inform Renaissance marriage.

Timetabled sessions include lectures and discussion sessions where students may have the opportunity to make presentations and/or lead discussion. Lectures are usually supplemented with handouts or slides summarising content at a reasonable level of detail. These are usually made available to students on Learning Central at least 24 hours before the session. There will be a weekly lecture across the year supported by a weekly seminar. The lectures aim to provide key knowledge and critical perspectives on all the texts on the module; the seminars provide the opportunity for close analysis and small group discussion. The module essentially comprises two units of study divided across the autumn and spring semesters.

The particular skills of the module bear upon close reading of various genres of Renaissance texts, Shakespeare’s sonnets, from a particular historical period; this requires careful scholarship, sensitivity to language and historical awareness. Employability skills include the ability to synthesise information, operating in group-based discussion involving negotiating ideas and producing clear, informed arguments in a professional manner.

The module is assessed by two pieces of written work. The first essay allows students to explore the different forms of Renaissance drama. The second essay allows students to focus on Renaissance plays about marriage.

 

Type of assessment	%	Title	Duration (exam) / Word length (essay)	Approx. date of assessment
Essay	50		1600 words	January
Essay	50		1600 words	May

 

The module is assessed according to the Marking Criteria set out in the English Literature Course Guide.There are otherwise no academic or competence standards which limit the availability of adjustments or alternative assessments for students with disabilities.

 

The main readings for this module are texts and journal articles.Students should contact the module leader as early as possible if they will require readings in an alternative format

 

Syllabus Content (Autumn semester)

 

Primary texts (any modern edition)

1. Marvell: 'To His Coy Mistress'

2. Shakespeare: Venus and Adonis

3. Donne: Holy Sonnets or/and Songs and Sonnets

4. Shakespeare's Sonnets

5. Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet

6. John Ford: 'Tis Pity She’s A Whore

 

INDICATIVE READING AND RESOURCE LIST:

 

 Secondary reading (indicative): Autumn

 

Georges Bataille, Eroticism: Death and Sensuality (San Francisco: City Light Books, 1986)

Catherine Belsey, Desire: Love Stories in Western Culture (Oxford: Blackwell, 1994)

Stevie Davis, John Donne (Plymouth: Northcote House, 1994)

Margreta de Grazia et al, Subject and Object in Renaissance Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996)

Michael Neill, Issues of Death (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997)

Sasha Roberts, Romeo and Juliet (Plymouth: Northcote House, 1998)

Julie Sanders, Caroline Drama (Plymouth: Northcote House, 1999)

Jonathan Sawday, The Body Emblazoned (London and New York: Routledge, 1995)

William Zunder and Suzanne Trill (eds),Writing and the English Renaissance (London: Longman, 1996)

 

Journals:

Renaissance Drama

Shakespeare Survey

Shakespeare Quarterly

 

Syllabus content Spring

 

Primary texts (any modern edition)

1. Henry Medwall, Fulgens and Lucrece

2. John Webster,The Duchess of Malfi

3. Thomas Heywood, A Woman Killed with Kindness

4. Anon,Arden of Faversham -

and, if there is time, one or both of :

Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

Thomas Middleton, Women Beware Women

Many of the above can be found inArthur F. Kinney (ed.), Renaissance Drama: An Anthology of Plays and Entertainments (Oxford: Blackwell,1999).

 

INDICATIVE READING AND RESOURCE LIST:

 

Secondary reading (indicative)Spring

 

Catherine Belsey, The Subject of Tragedy (London: Methuen, 1985)

A. R. Braunmuller and Michael Hattaway (eds), The Cambridge Companion to English Renaissance Drama (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003)

Frances E Dolan (ed.), The Taming of the Shrew (Texts and Contexts series) (New York: Bedford Books, 1994) contains useful contextual material, criticism and reading list

Jonathan Dollimore, Radical Tragedy (Hemel Hempstead: Harvester, 1984)

Andrew Gurr, The Shakespearian Stage 1574-1642 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970)

Helen Hackett, A Short History of English Renaissance Drama (London: I. B.  Tauris, 2013) has a useful bibliography

D. Kastan and P. Stallybrass (eds), Staging the Renaissance (London: Routledge, 1992)

Kate McLuskie, Renaissance Dramatists (Hemel Hempstead: Harvester, 1989)

 

Journals:

Renaissance Drama

Shakespeare Survey

Shakespeare Quarterly

 

Copyright Cardiff University. Registered charity no. 1136855