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2022/23 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

ENGL2029 Renaissance Literature

20 creditsClass Size: 140

School of English

Module manager: Professor Martin Butler
Email: m.h.butler@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable

Year running 2022/23

Pre-requisite qualifications

Grade B at 'A' Level in English Language or Literature or equivalent or an achieved mark of 56 or above in a Level 1 module in English.

This module is mutually exclusive with

ENGL2011Renaissance Literature

Module replaces

ENGL2011

This module is not approved as a discovery module

Module summary

This module studies the rich literature of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries in its historical and cultural context. We focus mainly on the decades 1580-1630, reading mostly poetry and drama by both male and female writers. These will include such authors as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, Aemilia Lanyer and Mary Wroth, John Donne and George Herbert, Ben Jonson and John Webster. The selection of authors will represent the richness and diversity of the period's culture, and will vary from year to year. Renaissance literature captures a world in transition between medieval and modern. It registers the impact of the printing press, the emergence of a rapidly growing urban culture, the presence of a vibrant court society focussed on the Tudor and Stuart monarchs, and the upheavals caused by globalization, intellectual change, and shifts in religious belief. We look at literature of the private life, such as love sonnets and the poetry of faith; tragedies focussed on the court, the political world and social justice; and satirical literature dealing with city life and the marketplace. Recurrent topics include the representation of the body and the self; writing by and about women; humanism and the 'good life'; rhetoric and the arts of language; issues of religious identity; the early modern theatre and its stagecraft. Through our texts we explore the multifarious ways that Renaissance writers voiced their experience of the radical and often stressful upheaval of their times.

Objectives

This module will introduce students to a range of literature written between 1500 and 1640, in order to gain a sense of the richness and variety of the period. Through study of this literature students will develop their knowledge and understanding of some of the major figures in literary history.

At the same time the literature will be placed within the cultural, intellectual and social crosscurrents of the period, and students will be encouraged to refine their understanding of the ways in which the contextualisation of literary texts contributes to a fuller understanding of the drama and poetry of the period.

Learning outcomes
Skills outcomes and Graduate Attributes

In terms of Academic Excellence this module develops critical thinking, flexibility of thought and analytical skills. It supports and develops the ability to work autonomously, initiative, planning and organisational skills. Students will learn to analyse information, synthesise views and make connections; students will be critically aware of, and be informed by, current knowledge; and will develop research skills. In short:

- 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.

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

This module studies the rich literature of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries in its historical and cultural context. We focus mainly on the decades 1580-1630, reading mostly poetry and drama by both male and female writers. These will include such authors as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, Aemilia Lanyer and Mary Wroth, John Donne and George Herbert, Ben Jonson and John Webster. The selection of authors will represent the richness and diversity of the period's culture, and will vary from year to year. Renaissance literature captures a world in transition between medieval and modern. It registers the impact of the printing press, the emergence of a rapidly growing urban culture, the presence of a vibrant court society focussed on the Tudor and Stuart monarchs, and the upheavals caused by globalization, intellectual change, and shifts in religious belief. We look at literature of the private life, such as love sonnets and the poetry of faith; tragedies focussed on the court, the political world and social justice; and satirical literature dealing with city life and the marketplace. Recurrent topics include the representation of the body and the self; writing by and about women; humanism and the 'good life'; rhetoric and the arts of language; issues of religious identity; the early modern theatre and its stagecraft. Through our texts we explore the multifarious ways that Renaissance writers voiced their experience of the radical and often stressful upheaval of their times.

Teaching methods

Delivery typeNumberLength hoursStudent hours
Lecture221.0022.00
Seminar101.0010.00
Private study hours168.00
Total Contact hours32.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)200.00

Private study

Seminar preparation, reading, essay writing.

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

- Seminar contribution.
- Submission of assessed essays.

Methods of assessment


Coursework
Assessment typeNotes% of formal assessment
Essay1,500 words including quotations and footnotes. Students must submit/sit and pass all elements of assessment. Students who fail any element (even as a result of penalties) will have to resit the failed element in order to pass the module.33.30
Essay2,500 words including quotations and footnotes. Students must submit/sit and pass all elements of assessment. Students who fail any element (even as a result of penalties) will have to resit the failed element in order to pass the module.66.70
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)100.00

Students must submit/sit and pass all elements of assessment. Students who fail any element (even as a result of penalties) will have to resit the failed element in order to pass the module.

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 17/10/2022

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