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2021/2022

English Literature from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment

Code: 100249 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2500245 English Studies OB 3 2
2501902 English and Catalan OT 3 0
2501902 English and Catalan OT 4 0
2501907 English and Classics OT 3 0
2501907 English and Classics OT 4 0
2501910 English and Spanish OT 3 0
2501910 English and Spanish OT 4 0
2501913 English and French OT 3 0
2501913 English and French OT 4 0
The proposed teaching and assessment methodology that appear in the guide may be subject to changes as a result of the restrictions to face-to-face class attendance imposed by the health authorities.

Contact

Name:
Jordi Coral Escola
Email:
Jordi.Coral@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
english (eng)
Some groups entirely in English:
Yes
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
No
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Teachers

Joan Curbet Soler
Jordi Coral Escola

Prerequisites

‘Orígens de la Literatura Anglesa’ (100245)  

‘Història i Cultura de les Illes Britàniques’ (100217)

The course requires an initial level of English between C1 (Advanced) and C2 (Proficiency) (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment). Students with C1 can understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognise implicit meaning; they can express themselves fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions; they can use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes; they can produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, showing controlled use of organisational patterns, connectors and cohesive devices. With C2 students can understand almost everything they read or hear without effort; they can summarise information from different oral and written sources, reconstruct facts and arguments and present them in a coherent way; they can express themselves spontaneously, with fluency and precision, distinguishing subtle nuances of meaning even in the most complex situations.

Objectives and Contextualisation

 

  • This course provides an introduction to the principal authors of early modern English literature (16c. to 18c.) through the critical reading of some of the most representative poetic, dramatic and narrative texts.
  • This subject is indispensable to complete the undergraduate literary curriculum. 
  • The successful completion of this course will allow students to improve their academic, critical and linguistic skills by means of the following exercises: textual commentary, class presentations, use of library resources, and debates and class discussion. 

Competences

    English Studies
  • Critically assessing the scientific, literary and cultural production in the English language.
  • Demonstrate a comprehension of the relationship between factors, processes and phenomena of linguistics, literature, history and culture, and explaining it.
  • Demonstrate they know a wide variety of texts in English language of any mean (oral, written, audiovisual) and recognising implicit meanings.
  • Distinguish and contrast the various theoretical and methodological models applied to the study of the English language, its literature and its culture.
  • Identify the main literary, cultural and historical currents in the English language.
  • Produce clear and well structured and detailed texts in English about complex topics, displaying a correct use of the organisation, connection and cohesion of the text.
  • Rewrite and organize information and arguments coming from several sources in English and presenting them in a coherent and summarised way.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
    English and Catalan
  • Critically assessing the scientific, literary and cultural production in the English language.
  • Demonstrate a comprehension of the relationship between factors, processes and phenomena of linguistics, literature, history and culture, and explaining it.
  • Demonstrate they know a wide variety of texts in English language of any mean (oral, written, audiovisual) and recognising implicit meanings.
  • Distinguish and contrast the various theoretical and methodological models applied to the study of the English language, its literature and its culture.
  • Identify the main literary, cultural and historical currents in the English language.
  • Produce clear and well structured and detailed texts in English about complex topics, displaying a correct use of the organisation, connection and cohesion of the text.
  • Rewrite and organize information and arguments coming from several sources in English and presenting them in a coherent and summarised way.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
    English and Classics
  • Critically assessing the scientific, literary and cultural production in the English language.
  • Demonstrate a comprehension of the relationship between factors, processes and phenomena of linguistics, literature, history and culture, and explaining it.
  • Demonstrate they know a wide variety of texts in English language of any mean (oral, written, audiovisual) and recognising implicit meanings.
  • Distinguish and contrast the various theoretical and methodological models applied to the study of the English language, its literature and its culture.
  • Identify the main literary, cultural and historical currents in the English language.
  • Produce clear and well structured and detailed texts in English about complex topics, displaying a correct use of the organisation, connection and cohesion of the text.
  • Rewrite and organize information and arguments coming from several sources in English and presenting them in a coherent and summarised way.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
    English and Spanish
  • Critically assessing the scientific, literary and cultural production in the English language.
  • Demonstrate a comprehension of the relationship between factors, processes and phenomena of linguistics, literature, history and culture, and explaining it.
  • Demonstrate they know a wide variety of texts in English language of any mean (oral, written, audiovisual) and recognising implicit meanings.
  • Distinguish and contrast the various theoretical and methodological models applied to the study of the English language, its literature and its culture.
  • Identify the main literary, cultural and historical currents in the English language.
  • Produce clear and well structured and detailed texts in English about complex topics, displaying a correct use of the organisation, connection and cohesion of the text.
  • Rewrite and organize information and arguments coming from several sources in English and presenting them in a coherent and summarised way.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
    English and French
  • Critically assessing the scientific, literary and cultural production in the English language.
  • Demonstrate a comprehension of the relationship between factors, processes and phenomena of linguistics, literature, history and culture, and explaining it.
  • Demonstrate they know a wide variety of texts in English language of any mean (oral, written, audiovisual) and recognising implicit meanings.
  • Distinguish and contrast the various theoretical and methodological models applied to the study of the English language, its literature and its culture.
  • Identify the main literary, cultural and historical currents in the English language.
  • Produce clear and well structured and detailed texts in English about complex topics, displaying a correct use of the organisation, connection and cohesion of the text.
  • Rewrite and organize information and arguments coming from several sources in English and presenting them in a coherent and summarised way.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analysing and interpreting in a basic level literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  2. Analysing and interpreting texts in a medium level about the literary genres and literary criticism in English.
  3. Appropriately place literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era in their corresponding linguistic context.
  4. Appropriately placing literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era in their corresponding historical and cultural context.
  5. Appropriately placing literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era in their corresponding linguistic context.
  6. Carry out oral presentations in English about topics related to literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  7. Carrying out oral presentations in English about topics related to literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  8. Communicating in the studied language in oral and written form, properly using vocabulary and grammar.
  9. Compare in a medium level the methodologies of literary criticism in English.
  10. Comparing in a medium level the methodologies of literary criticism in English.
  11. Contextualize literary texts in contemporary times before in its corresponding English language environment.
  12. Demonstrating a sound knowledge about the topics related to the study of literature and culture.
  13. Describing the historical and thematic evolution of the literary text in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  14. Distinguish the main ideas from the secondary ones and summarising the contents of contemporary literary texts in English.
  15. Distinguishing the main ideas from the secondary ones and summarising the contents of literary texts of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  16. Distinguishing the main ideas from the secondary ones and summarising the contents of primary and secondary texts related to the English literature of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  17. Draw up brief argumentative essays or text comments in English about topics related to literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  18. Drawing up brief argumentative essays or text comments in English about topics related to literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  19. Effectively communicating and applying the argumentative and textual processes to formal and scientific texts.
  20. Identifying the main currents, authors, genres and texts of the main literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  21. Localise secondary academic sources in the library or on the Internet related to the English literature of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  22. Localising secondary academic sources in the library or on the Internet related to the English literature of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  23. Make judgements of value in relation to the literary criticism in English associated with the English literature of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  24. Making judgements of value in relation to the literary criticism in English associated with the English literature of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  25. Participating in face-to-face and virtual debates in English about topics related to literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  26. Summarise the content of primary and secondary academic sources related to the English literature of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  27. Summarising the content of primary and secondary academic sources related to the English literature of periods preceding the contemporary era.

Content

Syllabus

Unit 1: The works of William Shakespeare: a) poetry: "The Sonnets" and the Petrarchan tradition; b) drama: "The Merchant of Venice" and the early modern stage. 
Unit 2: Metaphysical poetry: selected poems by John Donne, George Herbert, Andrew Marvell.
Unit 3: John Milton: "Paradise Lost" (a selection). 
Unit 4: The Rise of the Novel: Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels".

Methodology

The teaching methodology will be based on:

  • Directed activities (30%, 1.8 cr)
  • Supervised activities (15%, 0.9 cr)
  • Autonomous activities  (50%, 3 cr)
  • Assessment activities (5%, 0.3 cr)

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Practice classes: reading and debates 20 0.8 1, 10, 24, 7, 25
Theory classes 30 1.2 13, 20, 27
Type: Supervised      
Assignments 25 1 1, 22, 18, 27
Type: Autonomous      
Reading 15 0.6 2, 13, 15, 20
Study 35 1.4 15, 16, 20, 27

Assessment

The teaching methodology and the evaluation proposed in the guide may undergo some modification subject to the onsite teaching restrictions imposed by health authorities.

Assessment for this course is based on the following criteria:

  • Exam 1 (45%)
  • Exam 2  (45%) 
  • Participation in group discussion and debates (10%)

 

PLEASE NOTE:

  • Continuous assessment applies to this subject. This means that all exercises are compulsory and submission of one of the two exams automatically excludes the possibility of obtaining “No avaluable” as a final grade. The minimum mark for any exercise or exam to be considered for the average final mark is 5. The minimum average pass mark for the whole subject is 5.
  • The student’s command of English will be taken into account when marking all exercises and for the final mark. It will count as 25% of this mark for all the exercises and will be assessed on the basis of the following criteria:
    • Grammar (morphology and syntax)
    • Vocabulary (accuracy and variety)
    • Cohesion (among sentences and paragraphs)
    • Organization (sound argumentation of ideas)
    • Style (expression and register)
    • Spelling

 

  • Reviewing procedure: Students have a right to review their exercises with the teacher in a personal tutorial, on the set dates, never later than 2 weeks after the marks have been made available. The student loses this right if s/he fails to collect the exercise/exam within the period announced by the teacher.

 

i) On carrying out each assessment activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.

ii) In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.

iii) In the event that tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on Teams, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.

 

Item-by-Item Reassessment

a)     Students who fail both exams are not eligible for re-assessment; those who have failed one of the two exams are eligible provided that its mark is higher than 3.5. Students who have failed one of the two exams must opt for re-assessment even if the provisional average mark of the course were 5 or higher.

b)    Students whose re-assessment is successful will get, in all cases, a final grade of 5. Students who have passed both exams cannot opt for re-assessment in order to upgrade their average mark. 

 

"Not Assessed" Final Grades 

Students will obtain a “Not assessed/Not submitted” course grade unless they have submitted more than 30% of the assessment items.

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Exam 1 45% 2.5 0.1 1, 2, 10, 9, 11, 4, 3, 5, 12, 13, 15, 16, 14, 24, 23, 19, 8, 7, 20, 22, 21, 18, 17, 27, 26
Exam 2 45% 2.5 0.1 1, 2, 10, 9, 11, 4, 3, 5, 12, 13, 15, 16, 14, 24, 23, 19, 8, 7, 20, 22, 21, 18, 17, 27, 26
Participation in class discussion and debates 10% 20 0.8 1, 2, 10, 4, 5, 13, 15, 16, 24, 19, 8, 7, 6, 20, 22, 25, 18, 27

Bibliography

BIBLIOGRAPHY (A more detailed bibliography will be provided in class)

UNIT 1

Set reading:

  • William Shakespeare’s "Sonnets" (1609)
  • "The Merchant of Venice" (ed. Jay L. Halio, Oxford Shakespeare, OUP, 1993).

Optional reading:

  • Tempest (1610-11)
  • Romeo and Juliet (1596)
  • Hamlet (1601)

UNIT 2

Set readings:

  • Metaphysical poetry: John Donne, George Herbert, Andrew Marvell.
  • Henry Vaughan, Selected poetry (1650s)
  • Francis Bacon, "Essays" (1597)

UNIT 3

Set readings:

  • "Paradise Lost" by John Milton (1645)

Optional readings:

  • "Paradise Regained", John Milton 
  • "Samson Agonistes", John Milton 

UNIT 4
Set reading:

  • "Gulliver's Travels" (1726) de Jonathan Swift


Optional readings:

  • "Robinson Crusoe", 1719, Daniel Defoe.
  • Political Writings, 1720, Mary Astell.
  • "Love Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister" (1684), Aphra Behn.

Websites:

Please note:
For each unit at least one academic article will be read (see Campus Virtual).

Other recomended texts:

Levi, Anthony. "Renaissance and Reformation: Intellectual Genesis". New Haven: Yale University Press,2002.

MacCulloch, Diarmaid. "Reformation: Europe’s House Divided". London: Penguin Books, 2003.

Kermode, Frank, "Shakespeare's Language". Hardmondsworth: Penguin Books, 2000.

Milton, John (Scott Elledge ed.). "Paradise Lost: an Authoritative Text Backgrounds and Sources". New York: Norton, 1993.

Norbrook, David (ed.) "The Penguin Book of Renaissance Verse". London: Penguin, 2005.

Patterson, Annabel. "John Milton". London: Longman, 1991.

Smith, Emma, "This is Shakespeare", London, Random House, 2020. 

Van Doren, Mark: "Shakespeare". New York: New York Review of Books, 2005.

Zwicker, Steven N. "The Cambridge Companion to English Literature 1650:1740". Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

 

 

Software

Not used in this subject.