LIT204: English Renaissance Literature
Key details
| Accredited towards | Bachelor of Arts in the Liberal Arts |
| Unit type | Core unit |
| Credit points | 6 |
| Indicative contact hours | 3 hours per week |
| Prerequisites | None |
| Offered in | Semester 2 |
| Tuition fee | Learn more |
Overview
The Renaissance presented a vision of the human person as ‘noble in reason… infinite in faculty’ and ‘this quintessence of dust’ (in Hamlet’s words). The unit explores this and related animating tensions in the Renaissance period, including the ongoing effects of religious conflict and the intensification of religious feeling in the Reformation and its aftermath. Particular attention will be given to literature of the late sixteenth and seventeenth-century English Renaissance, with a special focus on Shakespeare. Works studied may include Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, As You Like It, the English Metaphysical poets, and Milton’s Paradise Lost.
Learning outcomes
On completion of this unit of study, students will be able to:
- Understand key aspects of selected literary works of the English Renaissance
- Locate and analyse the central literary, historical, and ethical ideas and qualities of Renaissance literature.
- Evaluate the ways in which key Renaissance authors developed Christian literary culture.
- Analyse and explain the relationship between Renaissance literature and major historical events, including the Reformation.
- Demonstrate the relationship between the practice of close, attentive reading and careful evidence-based argumentation in written work.
- Work constructively and courteously in class discussions to illuminate the meaning of selected works.
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