Early Modern Literature

Code

LL216

Level

2

Credit rating
(points)

20

Prerequisites

None

Type of module

Taught

Aims

The aims for this module are set into the context of the QAA Framework for Higher Education Qualifications and they relate to the SEEC level descriptors for level 2 study.

This modules aims to study examples of poetry and prose texts from c1600-c1750 in the light of the social and political events and cultural developments of the period.

Learning outcome/objectives

In relation to the QAA Framework for Higher Education Qualifications and the SEEC level descriptors for level 2 study, by the end of the module students should have:

• critical familiarity with selected texts;
• understanding of the interdependent relations between texts and contexts and awareness of the roles played by texts and writers in social processes of the period;
• ability to articulate their own individual critical responses in the contexts of those of other students through the assignment.

Content
(for contact time and non-contact time)

• A range of texts written between c1600 and c1750 in poetry and prose, fiction and non-fiction by canonical and non-canonical writers, including Shakespeare, women writers, and writings on race, colonialism and sexuality.
• The application of critical and theoretical understandings acquired in earlier modules to texts from the period.
• Discussion of the major historical developments and movements of the period as reflected in the texts (such as Early Modern feminism, religious and political controversies, the Revolution and the Republic, colonialism, the slave trade).

Teaching and learning strategies

Discussions in seminars, workshop activities, lectures.
Reading a range of primary texts and secondary sources.
Working in groups, and through tutorial support, to put together a coherent ‘book’ of individual ‘chapters’.

Learning support

Books:

Aughterson, K.  (1998)  The English Renaissance: Sources and Documents 1550-1660,  London: Routledge
Briggs, J.  (2nd edition, 1997)  This Stage-Play World,  Oxford: OUP
Braunmuller, A. (Ed.)  (2nd edition, 2003)  Cambridge Companion to English Renaissance Drama Cambridge: CUP
Corns, T. (Ed.)  (1993)  Cambridge Companion to English Poetry, Donne to Marvell  Cambridge: CUP
Danielson, D. (Ed.)   (2nd edition, 1999)  Cambridge Companion to Milton Cambridge: CUP
Dollimore, J.  (3rd edition, 2003)  Radical Tragedy, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
Hill, C.  (1977)  Milton and the English Revolution,  London: Faber
Jacobs, R.  (2001)  A Beginner’s Guide to Critical Reading: an Anthology of Literary Texts,  London: Routledge
Jardine, L.  (1997)  Reading Shakespeare Historically,  London: Routledge
Parry, G.  (1989)  The 17th Century: the Intellectual and Cultural Context of English Literature 1603-1700,  London: Longman
Sambrooke, J.  (1986)  The 18th Century: the Intellectual and Cultural Context of English Literature 1700-1789,  London: Longman

Journals:

Renaissance Quarterly (in JSTOR)
Shakespeare Quarterly (in JSTOR)
Shakespeare Survey (in University online resources)
Studies in the Renaissance (in JSTOR)

Electronic sources (All accessed May 2009): 
Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature  www.luminarium.org/lumina.htm

Mr William Shakespeare and the Internet  shakespeare.palomar.edu

Shakespeare’s Globe 
www.shakespeares-globe.org/globelink

Assessment task

Assessment will be in the context of the University of Brighton Assessment Policy and the Faculty Code of Practice in Assessment, and students will be required to complete the following tasks:

Students will work in small groups to produce a ‘book’ comprised of separate chapters written by each member of the group, together with a jointly written introduction. The book will be on an area, topic, context, or set of texts in context.

Students will be able to work on a chosen area, topic, context or set of texts under close tutorial supervision. The assessment will take the following form:

The written assessment is in two parts:

Task 1 – individual task: weighting 80%
Each student will contribute a chapter of the book (2500 words), which will engage with at least 2 texts in context. Each student’s chapter will be marked separately.

Task 2 – group task: weighting 20%
All members of the group will write together a short joint overall introduction to their book (1000 words), showing how the individual chapters form parts of a coherent whole. Each member of the group will be awarded the same mark.

Both tasks will be marked on a percentage basis.

Referral tasks:
Reworking of the original task(s) if the aggregate module mark is a fail (students communicating with each other as appropriate by email).

Assessment criteria

General criteria for assessment are framed by the SEEC descriptors for level 2.  Against specific criteria, credit will be awarded for:

• quality of interpretation of texts studied (LO1);
• understanding of the relevance of a variety of contexts in the analysis of texts, including the ability to develop ideas discussed in the module (LO2).

Task 2

• ability to articulate how the students’ individual ‘chapters’ cohere together to form their group’s ‘book’ (LO3).

All learning outcomes must be achieved in order to pass the module at the threshold level.

Brief description of module content and/or aims for publicity

This model introduces students to a range of literary texts from the Early Modern period; the focus is on the positioning of texts within the historical, social, cultural and political events and movements of the time and of texts (for instance Shakespeare’s plays) within and among other texts (for instance other Elizabethan and Jacobean playwrights).

Area examination board to which module relates

BALAST Media and English AEB

Module team/authors/co-ordinator

Kate Aughterson, Richard Jacobs

Normal duration

One semester

Site where delivered

Falmer

Date of first approval

June 2007

Date of last revision

N/A (module code amended from KE216 in August 2008)

Date of approval of this version

June 2009

Version number

2

Replacement for previous module

N/A

Field for which module is acceptable and status in that field

BA (Hons) Language Studies (English Language, French, German, Linguistics) and English Literature – required
BA (Hons) English Literature and Sociology – required
BA (Hons) English Literature and Education – required

Course(s) which module is acceptable and status in course

BA (Hons) Language Studies (English Language, French, German, Linguistics) and English Literature – required
BA (Hons) English Literature and Sociology – required
BA (Hons) English Literature and Education – required
BA (Hons) Media and English Literature - required

Departmental home

School of Humanities

External examiner(s)

Dr Andrew Maunder