Good working knowledge of English language and culture.

A desire to read!

Acquisition of a good knowledge of the history of English literature and culture in the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods as well as skills needed for a deep historical-cultural understanding and critical analysis of the literary phenomena of this period.. The student will be expected to develop his/her ability to handle a range of methodologies of analysis, critical-literary and philological research, by studying the formal, thematic, intertextual, and intercultural aspects of the prescribed texts .Students should also acquire an understanding of current theoretical-methodological approaches and be able to argue critically about he themes and issues under discussion.

English literature, Shakespeare, theatre, sonnets, Elizabethan period, Jacobean period

The course, through an analytical reading of the works on the programme, will introduce students to the historical-cultural panorama of the Elizabethan and Jacobean Ages, focusing in particular on Shakespeare's theatre and on a significant selection of poets of the English Renaissance.

Adopted Texts (Course 9 cfu)

1. William Shakespeare: Hamlet, Arden edition

2. William Shakespeare: Macbeth, Arden edition

4. A selection of sonnets will be available in pdf for all students. Specifically, students must read

Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542): "Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind...", "I find no peace, and all my war is done...", "A Renouncing of Love", "The long love that in my thought doth harbor".

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517-1547): "Love, that doth reign and live within my thought.", "The fancy of a wearied lover".

Edmund Spenser (c.1552-1599): Amoretti LXXV: One Day I Wrote her Name Amoretti LXVIII: Most Glorious Lord of Life;

Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586): Sonnets 48 and 81 from "Astrophel and Stella!"

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Sonnets 1, 6, 18, 29, 55, 73, 116, 119, 130.

Ben Jonson (1572-1637): "On Poet-Ape" A Sonnet to the Noble Lady, the Lady Mary Wroth

Lady Mary Wroth (1587-1651): Sonnet 1 "When night's black mantle could most darkness prove"

John Donne (1572-1631): "Batter my heart, three person'd God", "Death be not proud, though some have called thee"

(The definitive list of sonnets will be supplied during the course)

Adopted Texts (6 cfu Course)

1. William Shakespeare: Hamlet, Arden edition

2. William Shakespeare: Macbeth, Arden edition

3. A selection of Shakespearean sonnets will be available in pdf format. Specifically, students must read William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Sonnets 1, 6, 18, 29, 55, 73, 116, 119, 130.

Students who only take 6 cfu are not expected to read Macbeth or the poems by Donne.

A selection of critical essays will be provided during the lessons in pdf format.

Other information / additional materials

The texts are the same for all students (attending and non-attending).

Lessons are held in English.

Non-attending students can find information by connecting to the Teams group (English Literature and Culture ii) that will be created for the course and for the dissemination of materials.

Through Teams, or by email (johnfrancis.mccourt@unimc.it) students can get in touch with the professor.

• Lectures in English - with some seminar style discussion

  Use of slides (Power Point)

• The exam consists of an oral test. The student will be asked to discuss the texts on the sylabbus and the critical bibliography provided during the lessons. The final grade will be awarded in the following way: 60% for the discussion of the two theatrical texts; the remaining 40% will focus on the sonnets.

  Indicators: critical analysis of the texts, knowledge of the historical and cultural contexts of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras-

The course will be taught in English.

English