123020 VO Literature Survey 1 (2013S)

This course provides a historical survey of the Tudor and Stuart reigns and looks at the roles played by religion, the voyages of discovery and the cult of Queen Elizabeth. A brief outline of the Elizabethan world picture as presented by Tillyard will be the starting point for a presentation of some more recent literary theories that are especially relevant to Renaissance studies, above all New Historicism. The discussion of the literature includes the four major genres, starting with 16th century prose fiction and the epic. Poetry will mainly be discussed in terms of the development and analysis of the sonnet, but will also include poems by the Metaphysical Poets. The development of drama will be traced from its medieval origins to the closing of the theatres by the Puritans and will mainly focus on plays by Marlowe and Shakespeare.

This survey will outline the history of English literature and its historical and cultural contexts from the beginning of the Tudor Age (1495) to the Civil War and the closure of the theatres (1642). Although developments in poetry and prose will be covered as well, the major focus will be on the evolution of drama with particular emphasis on the major Elizabethan dramatists (Marlowe, Shakespeare, Jonson).