123020 VO Literature Survey 1 (2015W)

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.