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EAS2026 - Desire and Power: English Literature 1570-1640
2020/1 Module description
| Staff | Professor Ayesha Mukherjee - Convenor |
|---|---|
| Credit Value | 30 |
| ECTS Value | 15 |
| NQF Level | 5 |
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Co-requisites | None |
| Duration of Module | Term 1: 11 weeks; |
Module description
In this module you will be introduced to a wide variety of literature written during the most important years of the English Renaissance, when society was in the process of enormous change and upheaval at every level.
The module explores works by Shakespeare, Marlowe, Spenser, and Donne, as well as other important writers of the era including Queen Elizabeth I, Mary Wroth, Philip Sidney, Francis Bacon, John Webster and Thomas Nashe. You will engage with a wide range of topics including eroticism, religion, authorship, social change, and anxiety about the power of the monarchy.
Module aims
- To introduce English literature written during the most important years of the English Renaissance, when society was in the process of enormous change and upheaval at every level. It covers the work of important dramatists of the era, including Shakespeare, Marlowe, and Webster, and poets including Elizabeth I, Shakespeare, Spenser, Donne, Herbert and Wroth. Some of the topics considered are eroticism, religion, social change, and anxiety about the power of the monarchy.
ILO: Module-specific skills
- 1. Demonstrate informed appreciation of specific Renaissance authors and texts, and of sixteenth-century and seventeenth-century literary history
- 2. Demonstrate an informed critical understanding of the relation between Renaissance literature and important historical and intellectual developments of the time
- 3. Demonstrate a developed capacity to apply appropriate critical and theoretical ideas to illuminate Renaissance literary works, their rhetorical strategies and conventions
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
- 4. Demonstrate an ability to analyse the literature of the English Renaissance and to relate its concerns and its modes of expression to its historical context
- 5. Demonstrate an ability to interrelate texts and discourses specific to your own discipline with issues in the wider context of cultural and intellectual history
- 6. Demonstrate an ability to understand and analyse relevant theoretical ideas, and to apply these ideas to literary texts
ILO: Personal and key skills
- 7. Through discussion, demonstrate communication skills, and an ability to work both individually and in groups
- 8. Through essay-writing, demonstrate appropriate research and bibliographic skills, a capacity to construct a coherent, substantiated argument and a capacity to write clear and correct prose
- 9. Through research for seminars and essays, demonstrate proficiency in information retrieval and analysis, and the capacity to question assumptions, to distinguish between fact and opinion, and to critically reflect on your own learning process
- 10. Through sitting your final examination, demonstrate proficiency in the use of memory and in the development, organisation, and expression of ideas under pressure of time
Syllabus plan
Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:
Section 1: Elizabeth I and Elizabethan Literature
- Queen Elizabeth: letters, poems, and speeches.
- Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book I.
- William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream
Section 2: Devils and Machiavels in the 1590s
- Christopher Marlowe, The Jew of Malta
- Thomas Nashe, Pierce Penniless His Supplication to the Devil
- William Shakespeare, Richard III
Section 3: Elizabethan to Jacobean
- Francis Bacon, Essays
- The sonnet: selection from Philip Sidney, Shakespeare, Lady Mary Wroth
- John Donne and George Herbert, poems
Section 4: Jacobean Women
- John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi
- Woman Writers in Jacobean England: Lady Mary Wroth, Rachel Speght and Ester Sowernam
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 38 | 262 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 14 | Lectures |
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 22 | Seminars |
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 2 | Workshops on reading Renaissance literature |
| Guided independent study | 33 | Study group preparation and meetings |
| Guided independent study | 70 | Seminar preparation (individual) |
| Guided independent study | 159 | Reading, research and essay preparation |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Written critical commentary | 700 words | 1-6, 8-9 | Oral feedback from tutor and peers in seminar, with opportunity for tutorial follow-up |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 45 | 45 | 10 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | 45 | 2000 words | 1-6, 8-9 | Feedback sheet with opportunity for tutorial follow-up |
| Examination | 45 | 2 hours | 1-6, 8-10 | Feedback sheet with opportunity for tutorial follow-up |
| Module participation | 10 | Continuous | 1-9 | Oral feedback with opportunity for office hours follow-up |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | Essay | 1-6, 8-9 | Referral/Deferral period |
| Examination | Examination | 1-6, 8-10 | Referral/Deferral period |
| Module participation | Repeat study or Mitigation | 1-9 | N/a |
Re-assessment notes
Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.
Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Core Reading:
- The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Ninth Edition: Volume B (16th and Early 17th Century), ed. Stephen Greenblatt et al. (London: W.W. Norton, 2012) OR Tenth Edition, Package 1 (2018).
- Christopher Marlowe, The Jew of Malta (New Mermaids, Oxford or Revels editions).
- Thomas Nashe, The Unfortunate Traveller and Other Works, ed. J.B. Steane, Penguin Classics (London: Penguin, 1972; repr. 1985).
- William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream. (Oxford Shakespeare or Arden Shakespeare editions).
- — The Tragedy of King Richard III (Oxford Shakespeare or Arden Shakespeare editions).
Secondary Reading:
- Stephan Greenblatt, Renaissance Self-Fashioning (U California P, 1980).
- Contance Jordan, Renaissance Feminism (Cornell UP, 1990).
- Katherine Maus, Inwardness and Theater in the English Renaissance (U Chicago P, 1995).
- David Norbrook, Poetry and Politics in the English Renaissance (Routledge, 1984).
- Michael Schoenfeldt, Bodies and Selves in Early Modern England (Cambridge UP, 1999).
Module has an active ELE page?
Yes
Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources
Extensive web resources will be available in conjunction with this and other Renaissance Studies modules through the Exeter Learning Environment, providing syllabus information, reading lists, lecture lists, links to Renaissance sites on the Web, and a forum for discussion.
Indicative learning resources - Other resources
Reading for week 1:
- Elizabeth I, poems and prose (selections in Norton Anthology and module ELE site).
Students are also advised to read as much as possible of Book I of Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (the text for week 2) before the start of term.
Available as distance learning?
No
Origin date
01/10/2011
Last revision date
07/07/2020
Key words search
English, literature, Renaissance, Early Modern, desire, power
Important please note
Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the module descriptors for the Online Module Selection process, please be aware that on rare occasions it may be necessary to remove proposed modules for reasons beyond our control. In addition, there are still some new modules going through the accreditation process. These will be offered in due course by the relevant discipline.
All modules displayed below have been approved by the approval process but may require further minor amendments before the commencement of teaching.
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Foreign Language Centre modules 2020/21
Term 1 module codes listed above ending with C, i.e. FLF1115C, are only available to outbound students who are away in Term 2. Students studying all year must select the standard module across both Term 1 and 2.