ENH4660

Literature and culture in renaissance England

Not offered in 1999

G Hiller

12 points - 2 hours per week - Second semester - Clayton

Objectives Students taking this subject should have a good understanding of the work of the major poets of the English renaissance, of the many genres of renaissance poetry as they are represented in a wide selection of poetry both within and outside the 'canon', and of the political, social, and cultural contexts in which poets of the period were writing.

Synopsis The subject comprises a study of renaissance poetry 1579-1631. Particular emphasis will be placed on the work of Spenser, Donne and Jonson; attention will also be paid to many other writers in the various literary genres of epic, pastoral, sonnet, complaint, and verse epistle. Consideration will be given to the nature of genre study -its benefits and limitations - and also to various literary/cultural issues such as the idea of the courtier and courtship, conceptions of poetry in theory and practice, representation of women (and the Queen) and their status in literature, client-patron relationships, and the tactics of self-representation in poetry.

Assessment Two seminar papers (1500 words): 15% each Essay (2500 words): 30% Essay (3500 words): 40%

Prescribed texts

Brooks-Davies D (ed.) Silver poets of the sixteenth century rev. edn. Dent
Daniel Selected poetry and A defense of rhyme ed. Hiller and Groves, Pegasus
Donne J The complete English poems ed. Patrides, Penguin
Jonson B The complete poems ed. Parfitt, Penguin
Shakespeare The sonnets ed. Blakemore Evans, CUP
Spenser Poetry ed. Maclean and Prescott, 3rd edn, Norton

Preliminary reading

Briggs J This stage-play world OUP
Healy T New latitudes: Theory and English renaissance literature Arnold
Rivers I Classical and Christian ideas in English renaissance poetry Allen and Unwin

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