The aims of this module are: to develop in students an informed and sophisticated understanding of a selection of Renaissance and eighteenth-century literary forms, modes, and genres; to advance students' knowledge of poetic form and literary genre, and their employment, development, and adaptation by a wide range of Renaissance and eighteenth-century authors; to explore some key developments in literary history, and in some related aspects of cultural and social history, over the course of both the Renaissance and eighteenth-century periods; to enhance a critical awareness of the problems and insights raised by an interdisciplinary approach to the study of literature in the contexts both of the Renaissance and of the eighteenth century; to provide students with a formal text-based reading course that complements other modules in the programmes.

(LO1) Students will have the ability to read, analyse, interpret and compare with competence and independence a wide variety of literary texts

(LO2) Students will have an advanced knowledge and systematic understanding of the political and ideological aspects of literary texts and how they can be situated within appropriate cultural and social contexts

(LO3) Students will have a critical appreciation of the ways in which texts can be situated within literary history, including issues of genre, influence, and creation and reception

(LO4) Students will have an advanced knowledge and critical awareness of current and new literary, critical and theoretical debates

(LO5) Students will have new skills fostering continued independent learning and a critical appreciation of complex issues within the broader context of the Arts and Humanities

(S1) Students will have a systematic knowledge and critical awareness of current debates and new insights within the field of literature and its contexts

(S2) Students will have advanced critical and analytical skills in relation to diverse forms of discourse

(S3) Students will have advanced literacy, interpersonal and communications skills, and the ability to present sustained and persuasive written and oral arguments to specialist and non-specialist audiences

(S4) Students will have the ability to comprehensively understand and apply a variety of theoretical approaches to literature

(S5) Students will have the ability to handle complex information and argument in a critical, creative and self-reflective manner

(S6) Students will have the ability to use IT and other relevant tools and resources to present written and oral work to a professional, scholarly standard

(S7) Students will have advanced skills and experience in selecting and using electronic and/or archival resources for planning and undertaking research and writing

(S8) Students will have organisational skills in managing time and workloads, and in meeting deadlines

The syllabus for this module may typically include the following: Seminars 1 & 2: The Sonnet, examining selections from Wyatt and Surrey, Sidney and Spenser, to Gray, Bowles and Charlotte Smith; and the erotic or Ovidian elegy (Donne and Marlowe to Behn, Rochester, and Dryden). Seminars 3 & 4: The funeral elegy (from Spenser and Milton to Thomas Gray); and the country house poem (from Ben Jonson’s ‘To Penshurst’ to Mary Leapor’s ‘Crumble Hall’). Seminars 5 & 6: Epic and Mock-Epic, examining aspects of Milton, Paradise Lost; Pope, Rape of the Lock; and the psalm in translation (from Wyatt and Philip and Mary Sidney, to Christopher Smart).

Reading preparation for the set texts/support materials for each seminar; library research towards essay work; consultation.