Registry

Module Specifications

Archived Version 2011 - 2012

Module Title	The Renaissance
Module Code	LIT4
School	Oscail
Online Module Resources
Module Co-ordinator	Mr James Brunton	Office Number	D102
NFQ level	8	Credit Rating	15
Pre-requisite	LIT1
Co-requisite	None
Compatibles	None
Incompatibles	None

Description

This module focuses on Renaissance poetry, Shakespearean drama, as well as examining writing in Ireland in the 1500s, in the historical and political context of Renaissance Britain and Ireland.

Learning Outcomes

1. Explain how the main features of Renaissance history, culture,religion and, in particular, the principal ideas of humanism informthe context in which sixteenth-century English writers worked
2. Judge how a range of literary and non-literary texts are informedby contemporary ideologies relating to power, politics and genderthrough the application of literary-critical reading strategies
3. Evaluate the art and uses of poetry by Skelton, Wyatt, Surrey,Sidney, Marlowe, Ralegh, Spenser, Shakespeare and others in relationto what they imply about language, translation, representation,identity and self-fashioning
4. Explore the complex relationships between poetry and national andsexual politics in the Elizabethan epic, Spensers Faerie Queene
5. Critique how the performance of the drama both in and outside thetheatre could be manipulated in order to promote and perpetuatecultural, political and sexual assumptions in plays by Shakespeare,Elizabeth Cary and others
6. Assess the relation of fantasies of the ideal state to thecontemporary practical problem of colonizing Ireland in a selection ofprose works, including Mores Utopia and Spensers View of the PresentState of Ireland

Workload	Full-time hours per semester
*Type*	*Hours*	*Description*
Tutorial	15	No Description
On-line learning	15	No Description
Independent learning	345	No Description
Total Workload: 375

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

Unit 1: Introduction to Terms and Key Concepts.
Unit 2: Methodologies and Critical Approaches.

Unit 3: Introduction to Humanism.
Unit 4: The Reformation and The Bible.

Unit 5: Functions of the Literature of Henry VIII's Court.
Unit 6: Poetics and the Functions of Poetry.

Unit 7: Writing the Elizabethan Epic I.
Unit 8: Writing the Elizabethan Epic II.

Unit 9: The Englishing of Petrarch.
Unit 10: Shakespeare's Sonnets.

Unit 11: Poetry and Gender Politics: The Case of Aemilia Lanyer's Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum.
Unit 12: A Midsummer Night's Dream: Pastoral, Power and Reigning Queens.

Unit 13: Othello.
Unit 14: Drama and Domestic Politics: Elizabeth Cary's Mariam.

Unit 15: The Jew of Malta: Christopher Marlowe's Theatre.
Unit 16: The Merchant of Venice, Money and Representations of the Other.

Unit 17: Antony and Cleopatra: Shakespeare's Romans: Power, Politics and Gender.
Unit 18: John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi.

Unit 19: Ben Jonson's Volpone.
Unit 20: John Donne and Metaphysical Poetry.

Unit 21: Herbert, and Poetry and Donne.
Unit 22: The Renaissance: Summary and Conclusions.

Assessment Breakdown
Continuous Assessment	50%	Examination Weight	50%

Course Work Breakdown
Type	Description	% of total	Assessment Date
Assignment	Assessment takes a variety of forms, including essays, reports, learning journals, presentations and group assignments.	50%	n/a

Reassessment Requirement
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories; 1 = A resit is available for all components of the module 2 = No resit is available for 100% continuous assessment module 3 = No resit is available for the continuous assessment component
Unavailable

Indicative Reading List

John Webster: 0, The Duchess of Malfi, (London: Methuen,2003). Or any other edition.,
William Shakespeare: 0, Antony and Cleopatra, (London and New York: Routledge, 1995). Arden Shakespeare series. Or any other edition.,
H. R. Woudhuysen,ed.: 1993, The Penguin Book of Renaissance Verse: 1509-1659, Penguin,
Christopher Marlowe: 0, The Jew of Malta, 3rd edn.(London: Methuen 2009). Or any other edition,
0: The booklist for this module is too long to present in its entirety here - please see moodle for additional readings and online resources.,

Other Resources

None

Programme or List of Programmes

Diploma/BA in Humanities

BAEH

Diploma/BA in English & History

BASM

BA Single Module

Timetable this semester: Timetable for LIT4

Archives: