Course Description
A special topic not otherwise offered in the English curriculum. Topics and instructors vary from semester to semester.
Athena Title
Topics in Renaissance Lit
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in ENGL 4390
Non-Traditional Format
This course is writing intensive, which means that the course will include substantial and ongoing writing assignments that a) relate clearly to course learning; b) teach the communication values of a discipline—for example, its practices of argument, evidence, credibility, and format; and c) prepare students for further writing in their academic work, in graduate school, and in professional life. The written assignments will result in a significant and diverse body of written work (the equivalent of 6000 words or 25 pages) and the instructor (and/or the teaching assistant assigned to the course) will be closely involved in student writing, providing opportunities for feedback and substantive revision.
Prerequisite
Two 2000-level ENGL courses or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 3000-level ENGL course) or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 2000-level CMLT course)
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
• Students will become familiar with the plots, characters and major themes of a range of early modern works, and with some basic literary terms necessary for understanding and responding to them. • Students will learn to read Early Modern English comfortably or even with pleasure. • Students will become familiar with the historical and cultural background of the English Renaissance. • Students will learn to respond orally and in writing to the material that they are studying. • Students may become aware of or even critical of the significance of the early modern era in twenty-first century American culture.
Topical Outline
• Each instructor will have the freedom to vary the course structure, assignments, and material. • Topics might range from the representation of the early modern era on screen to race in Renaissance England to a consideration of books and printing in the age of Gutenberg. • Assignments might similarly vary. One instructor might assess students with examinations designed to draw out through short questions the knowledge they have acquired in the course; another might mandate essay examinations to assess students' new skills in discussion and synthesis. All instructors would emphasize class participation and discussion, some by requiring oral presentations, some by assigning short response papers or postings, some by requiring frequent quizzes.