Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature – (M.A.)

Subject to validation

This course offers a thorough grounding in English literature of the Renaissance period and is excellent preparation for study at PhD level.

It is suitable for you if you are

* wanting to progress to doctoral study
* teaching or looking to teach English at A level
* wanting to work in a publishing or editing related field

You study a range of authors including Shakespeare, and are introduced to the central critical debates and issues.

The module, editing a Renaissance play offers hands-on experience of the practicalities and problems of editing a text from scratch. It also gives you a more general introduction to the principles of editing, which is currently one of the liveliest areas of Renaissance criticism.

Texts produced in the module are automatically published in the resources section of the online journal, Early Modern Literary Studies. A number of past students have turned their work on this module into scholarly publications in other journals.

In the module, Marlowe, Shakespeare and the British Empire you look at the impact of the discovery of America and the beginnings of the English colonial enterprise on literature of the English Renaissance. You also study the ways in which Marlowe and Shakespeare have been subsequently co-opted to serve the purposes of Empire.
The module, Elizabeth´s men: poetry and prose 1558-1603, looks at the work of Elizabethan poets including Sidney and Spenser, and at the prose of Thomas Nashe and other writers.

Our teaching staff includes four research active Renaissance scholars, which means that we can almost certainly cover any dissertation topic you are interested in. Staff are also heavily involved in journal editing so we can advise on the publication of your work on this course where appropriate. In the past dissertations have gone on to become articles in the journals, Style and Literature Compass.



The completed editions produced on the module, editing a Renaissance play have been used for a variety of purposes including undergraduate teaching and as the basis for a theatrical production and on a television show.