Tragedy, History and Sovereignty in Late Medieval and Early Modern Poetry and Drama (VS1) (U02385)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : LLC-3-U01982

This course will consider late medieval and early modern tragic poetry and drama as contributions to an enduring debate over sovereignty. The course will begin by examining a crucial mode of tragic writing: the 'fall of princes'in relation to fourteenth century poetry as well as its renewal in the sixteenth century. The latter will involve considering continuities between historical poetry and the plays of Marlowe and Shakespeare. The second part will concentrate on early modern drama that represents 'foreign' or remote areas of the past: this will include examining theatre concerned with Rome, the 'oriental' past and biblical drama. The course will consider the ways in which political crisis is depicted in tragic writing and its capacity to draw on a variety of political ideas, traditions and conceptions of the state.

Entry Requirements

? This course is only available to part year visiting students.

? This course is a variant of the following course : U01982

? Special Arrangements for Entry : Students require the approval of EITHER the Visiting Undergraduate Admissions Office OR the head of English Literature before enrolling.

? Costs : Essential course texts

Subject Areas

Home subject area

English Literature, (School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, Schedule G)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 3rd year

? Delivery Period : Semester 1 (Blocks 1-2)

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

? Other Required Attendance : 1 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Tuesday	11:10	13:00	Central

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

Students who complete the course successfully will have explored how a variety of tragic writing uses the past to examine where the power of the state should be vested. Through a range of late medieval and early modern texts they will learn how tragic writing explores the nature of authority, who possesses it and who is entitled to it. Students will have learned to engage with key issues in the literature of the period: the representation of monarchy, the role of counsel, obedience and resistance, legitimacy, courts and courtiership, aristocratic and popular revolt.