Introductory description

This module will study a number of works of medieval and early modern literature in the context of contemporary beliefs and historical and social developments. The module will be taught by means of language classes (first term only) to introduce students to Middle English; lectures on the historical, cultural and critical context; and seminars to discuss particular texts.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Term 1
Week 1 Introduction to the medieval period
Week 2 Chaucer, The Miller's Tale and The Reeve's Tale
Week 3 Chaucer, The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale
Week 4 Chaucer, The Merchant's Prologue and Tale
Week 5 Chaucer, The Pardoner's Tale

Term 2
Week 1 Introduction to the Renaissance and Reformation

Week 2 Thomas More, Utopia

Week 3 The wider world

Week 4 Philip Sidney, The Defence of Poesy

Week 5 Philip Sidney, Astrophil and Stella

Week 7 Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, bk 1 cantos 1-6

Week 8 Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, bk 1 cantos 7-12

Week 9 Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis

Week 10 Marlowe, Dr Faustus

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• By the end of this module you should have: 1. Acquired skill in reading Middle English and knowledge of the structure and history of the English language;
• 2. Acquired some knowledge of Medieval English literature (especially the work of Chaucer and his contemporaries), society and culture;
• 3. Developed awareness of the forms and metres of English poetry;
• 4. Obtained some knowledge of sixteenth-century English poetry, drama and prose and its intellectual and social context;
• 5. Improved your skills in textual analysis and essay-writing.

Indicative reading list

Andrew and Waldron (ed.) Poems of the Pearl Manuscript (Exeter)
L. D. Benson (ed.) The Riverside Chaucer (Oxford)
S. Greenblatt et al. (ed.) The Norton Anthology of English Literature. The Sixteenth Century and Early Seventeenth Century. Volume B (rev. 10th edition, Norton, 2018)
D. Aers, Community, Gender and Individual Identity: English Writing 1360-1430 (1988)
J.A. Burrow, Medieval Writers and their Work 2nd edn (Oxford, 2008)
Maurice Keen, English Society in the Later Middle Ages 1348-1500 (Penguin, 1990)
Jerry Brotton, The Renaissance: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2006)
S.J. Greenblatt, Renaissance Self-Fashioning: From More to Shakespeare, 1980
Peter Marshall, The Reformation: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2009)
J. Guy, Tudor England (Oxford, 1988)

View reading list on Talis Aspire

Subject specific skills

Show skill in reading Middle English and some understanding of the structure and history of the English language
Demonstrate some knowledge of Medieval English literature (especially the work of Chaucer and his contemporaries), society and culture
Show awareness of the forms and metres of English poetry
Demonstrate some knowledge of early modern literature and its intellectual and social context

Transferable skills

Essay writing and research skills