Course Description
English drama from 1576 to 1642, exclusive of Shakespeare, emphasizing dramatists such as Marlowe, Jonson, Webster, and Middleton.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will be responsible for a more extensive syllabus, for secondary reading, and for more ambitious, sophisticated writing.
Athena Title
Renaissance Drama
Undergraduate 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)
Graduate Prerequisite
Permission of department
Semester Course Offered
Offered every odd-numbered year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
At the end of the course, students, having read a substantial body of literature, will be able to discuss the assigned works (orally and in writing) with a considerable degree of critical sophistication, to reread them with pleasure, to read and enjoy other works from the period, and to converse with fellow students about texts and issues related to the subject matter of the course.
Topical Outline
The choice and sequence of topics will vary from instructor to instructor and semester to semester. The topics will consist of selected works by various authors, to be read outside of class and discussed in class, examined individually and comparatively in the context of the times and the circumstances of their composition. Periodically during the semester, students will perform a number of graded tasks, including some combination of tests and out-of-class papers. A possible series of topics and assignments might resemble this: > Thomas Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy > Christopher Marlowe, The Jew of Malta > John Marston, The Malcontent > Cyril Tourneur (or Thomas Middleton), The Revengers’ Tragedy > John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi > Thomas Middleton, The Changeling > John Ford, ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore > Ben Jonson, Volpone
Syllabus