Annotation
LECTURE:
Renaissance literature. The emphasis is put on the growth of the English drama and on the theatre of Shakespeare. Drama before and after Shakespeare is discussed, including Restoration drama and English theatre in the 18th century.
SEMINAR:
OBJECTIVES
The course will provide an introduction to Elizabethan and Jacobean literature. It will examine various aspects and complexities of Renaissance writings, especially poetry and drama. The focus will be on practising close reading and on discussing selected texts, but we shall also consider wider cultural, historical and social issues.
MATERIAL
Authors and topics to be discussed will include: selected prose by Thomas More, Sir Philip Sidney; sonnets by Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare, poems by John Donne (early poems by John Milton); Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
ASSESSMENT
Students are required to read the appropriate texts before they attend the class.
- 2 short essays (about 1,000 words)
- 1 test satisfactory attendance and active participation in seminar discussions