Title: THE ENGLISH RENAISSANCE: 1603-1660

PRQ:

This course explores British writers and texts from the Jacobean, Caroline, and Interregnum periods.  From this “Golden Age” of literature come some of our most accomplished authors, such as John Donne, Katherine Philips, and John Milton.  We will consider in roughly chronological order works that represent various literary forms and genres, as well as the contexts (political, religious, bibliographical, etc.) in which they were composed and disseminated.  Much of our class time will be devoted to explication of texts and to discussion of issues that they raise, such as religious reformations, Renaissance humanism, colonization and the New World, companionate marriage, the nature of monarchies and republics, censorship and copyright, and the “purpose” of literature. 

Two critical essays, occasional brief assignments, quizzes, a final exam, and class participation.

The Broadview Anthology of Seventeenth-Century Verse & Prose, eds. Joseph Black, Holly Faith Nelson, and Alan Rudrum (Broadview, 2001).