Poetry, Piety and Patronage in the Renaissance
By approaching the work of many of the key poets of the Renaissance, this module seeks to read and interpret the poetry of the period by concentrating on relationships between poetic practice (print/manuscript, miscellanies, reception and circulation, poetic apprenticeship, imitation, ornament, rhetorical training) and cultural meaning (political intervention, gender ideologies, sexuality, religious ideologies, the court). By exploring a variety of sub-genres (sonnet sequences, pastoral, elegy) we will examine how these forms were inaugurated (imitation), how they were produced, and how they signified in the complex interpretive systems of the early modern period. In addition to detailed readings of primary texts, students will be expected to develop their own interests, researching a poet and/or form not covered directly in the module. It is hoped that the module will include a library visit and a gallery visit.