2008/09 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

ENGL3239 Representing Kingship 1595-1625

20 creditsClass Size: 10

School of English

Module manager: Dr Jane Rickard
Email: j.rickard@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2008/09

This module is not approved as an Elective

Objectives

Students will gain a fresh perspective on a number of canonical texts and an awareness of their relation to other contemporary texts and debates.

Students will deepen their understanding of some of the theoretical and methodological questions surrounding how and why we read different kinds of texts.

Students will develop their skills in analysing texts in a range of genres, and in exploring the relationship between them.

Learning outcomes
Students will have developed:
the ability to use written and oral communication effectively;
the capacity to analyse and critically examine diverse forms of discourse;
the ability to manage quantities of complex information in a structured and systematic way;
the capacity for independent thought and judgement;
critical reasoning;
research skills, including the retrieval of information, the organisation of material and the evaluation of its importance;
IT skills;
Efficient time management and organisation skills;
the ability to learn independently.

Skills outcomes
Skills for effective communication, oral and written.
Capacity to analyse and critically examine diverse forms of discourse.
Ability to acquire quantities of complex information of diverse kinds in a structured and systematic way.
Capacity for independent thought and judgement.
Critical reasoning.
Research skills, including information retrieval skills, the organisation of material, and the evaluation of its importance.
IT skills.
Time management and organisational skills.
Independent learning.

Syllabus

The monarch was the single most powerful figure in England and Scotland in the Renaissance. Much of the literature of this period was centrally concerned with exploring, debating, promoting, or contesting that power. King James (crowned James VI of Scotland and, later, James I of England) sought to encourage those writers whose works reflected his authority and to censor those who attempted to contest it. He also, unusually for a monarch, wrote and published many works of his own. This module will examine the ways in which a range of texts by Shakespeare, Jonson, and Donne represent kingship, focusing on the interaction between these works and the King's own writings. After setting the scene by examining Shakespeare's "Richard II", a play of the late Elizabethan period, we will examine a number of Shakespeare plays, Jonson's court masques and poems, and Donne's sermons and poems, in relation to James's treatise on witchcraft, "Daemonolgie", his handbook on kingship, "Basilikon Doron", and a selection of his poems. We will consider the potential for each of these texts either to contest or to reinforce authority. Questions to be discussed include: what political power do literary texts have? What is the relationship between authorship and authority? How should we read texts written by a king? How do ideas about kingship circulate between the King's works and other literary texts? How helpful are topical readings of literary texts, and what might the limitations of such readings be?

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Meetings	5	1.00	5.00
Seminar	10	1.00	10.00
Private study hours			185.00
Total Contact hours			15.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			200.00

Private study

Teaching will be through weekly seminars (10 x 1 hour) plus up to 5 additional hours (content to be determined by the module tutor). The 5 additional hours may include lectures, plenary sessions, film showings, or the return of unassessed/assessed essays.

Private Study: Reading, seminar contribution, essay writing.

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Seminar contribution.

1st assessed essay.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	1700 words	33.30
Essay	2750 words	66.70
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 24/04/2008

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