106-210 Elizabethan Texts

Usually 25 points of first-year English, see Prerequisites.

This subject examines poetry, prose and drama written in England during the final decades of the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603). It is concerned with writings which take the Queen herself as their subject and engage directly or indirectly with the major political issues of the day. Topical material from controversial pamphlets will be studied, along with visual and material aspects of the cult of Elizabeth (particularly portraits and pageants), and the writings of Elizabeth herself. The main focus is on how texts which are now considered 'literary' were produced out of an engagement with contemporary political events. The subject is informed by feminist and historicist modes of analysis and will engage such general issues as the topical use of history writing; the intersection of cultural codes of masculinity and femininity; the social and political uses of writing; and the consolidation through such writing of an English national identity. Students who successfully complete this subject will be familiar with the main historical events, social practices and cultural production of the Elizabethan period; will have learnt how to analyse texts by Sidney, Spenser and Shakespeare; and will understand contemporary critical and cultural paradigms for the reading of Elizabethan texts.

A text-based exercise of 1000 words 25% (due mid-semester) and an essay of 3000 words 75% (due at the end of semester).

A subject reader will be available, including writings by Elizabeth I, poetry by Sidney and Raleigh, some Elizabethan pamphlet material and contemporary critical texts.

• P Sidney, The Old Arcadia. World's Classics.
• W Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream. World's Classics.
• W Shakespeare, Richard II. Penguin.
• W Shakespeare, Hamlet. World's Classics.
• E Spenser, The Faerie Queene. Penguin.