SFE20113 British Studies: The Renaissance; Literature and Civilization (Autumn 2013)

The course is connected to the following study programs

Obligatory part of the English Extension course.
The course may also be part of the BA in Society, Language and Culture.

Lecture Semester

English Extension: 1st semester (autumn).
BA in society, language and culture: 3rd or 5th semester (autumn).

The student's learning outcomes after completing the course

KNOWLEDGE
The students have comprehensive knowledge about the English Renaissance.

SKILLS
The students have skills in imparting distinctive features of Renaissance people's conception of reality during the transition from the Middle Ages to the modern period.

GENERAL COMPETENCE
The students can further attitudes which stimulate insight into substantial aspects of early modern English literature and society.

Content

The study of a selection of representative texts in English from about 1500-1660. Drama (comedy and tragedies), a varied selection of poetry and different types of prose will be the object of relatively close analysis.
Insight into the society and world of ideas of the time will partly be a fruit of the study of primary texts but will be deepened by the reading of secondary literature.

Forms of teaching and learning

The teaching will be in the form of lectures and seminars.

Coursework requirements - conditions for taking the exam

One oral presentation. The written version of the presentation must be handed in, including a bibliography giving the sources.
The coursework requirement must be met and approved before the student can sit for the exam.

Examination

A five-hour school exam. Permitted aids: English-English dictionary.

The grading is A-F.

Course evaluation

The course is evaluated by the students in the middle of the semester and in the end of the semester.

The evaluations from the students are treated by the staff, the head of studies and the committee for programme quality.

Literature

Most texts are in the anthlogy, The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol.  1, ed. M.H. Abrams. Other texts, except one play, will be copied.

'A passage from the Bible', in five different translations (in the anthology).

Anonymous, 'In Praise of a Contented Mind'.

Richard Hooker, excerpt in the anthology from Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity.

A copied excerpt of representative sermons.

Christopher Marlowe, Dr. Faustus (in the anthology)

Francis Bacon, 'Of Truth'; 'Of Studies' (in two versions), from Essays; and the excerpt in the anthology from Novum Organum.

Shakespeare, Sonnets 15, 18, 55, 73. Shakespeare, Othello.

Ben Jonson, Volpone (in the anthology)

John Milton, Paradise Lost (excerpts). 

Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, the excerpt in the anthology from The History of the Great Rebellion.

A selection of poems by representative authors. The list will be distributed at the beginning of the semester.  

The lecturer's Compendium for the course and copied surveys will give insight into the time period and its world picture.

For supplementary reading and reference

Literary history:
C. Ricks (ed.), The Sphere History of Literature in the English Language, Vol. 2: English Poetry and Prose 1540-1674 (Sphere Books, rev. ed. 1986), especially chapters 5, 7 and 8.
C. Ricks (ed.) The Sphere History of Literature in the English Language, Vol. 3: English Drama to 1710 (Sphere Books, rev. ed. 1987), especially chapters 1, 4 and 5.
Maurice Hussey, The World of Shakespeare and his Contemporaries (London, 1972 and later editions).
B. Ford (ed.), The New Pelican Guide to English Literature (Penguin, 1983-). Vol. 2: The Age of Shakespeare and Vol. 3: From Donne to Marvell.     Literary theory, ideas and world picture:
Julia Briggs, This Stage-Play World:  English Literature and its Background 1580-1625 (Oxford, 1983).
Christopher Hill, The Century of Revolution 1603-1714.
T. Healy, New Latitudes: Theory and English Renaissance Literature (Edward Arnold, 1992).
I. Rivers, Classical and Christian Ideas in English Renaissance Poetry: A Student's Guide (Allen & Unwin, 1979).
C.S. Lewis, The Discarded Image (Cambridge, 1964).
E.M.Tillyard, The Elizabethan World Picture (1943).

About the texts and authors: Joan Bennett, Five Metaphysical Poets (Cambridge U.P., 1966).
Harry Blamires, Milton's Creation: A Guide through Paradise Lost (Methuen, 1971).
Laurence Lerner, (ed.), Shakespeare's Tragedies: An Anthology of Modern Criticism (Penguin, 1963). Penguin Master Studies, Othello
Kiernan Ryan, Shakespeare (Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1989).
Helena Shire, A Preface to Spenser (Longman, 1978).
James Winney, A Preface to Donne (Longman, 1970).