Shakespeare's London UCL

Overview

The Shakespeare's London course from UCL Summer School is designed to introduce you to the historical and cultural milieu of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century London through a variety of genres, including drama, prose, verse and broadside ballads. Historical accounts, artefacts and maps will provide context to the rich material for critical reading offered by these texts.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students will have:

• Identified the unique features of early modern literature that focusses upon London and Londoners as its topic or setting.

• Explained how we can recover the cultural and historical import of such features by using robust research methodologies.

• Identified the stylistic, formal and rhetorical properties of texts, and explained how these contribute to meaning.

• Identified nuances of the English language unique to the Shakespearean period.

• Synthesised analytical reading skills with an appreciation of the theoretical frameworks that allow us to appreciate literature from a variety of viewpoints.

• Explained how culture, language, technology, and economics affect how, where and by whom texts were produced and received in the early modern period.

• Examined processes of composition and production, histories of reception, and forms of dissemination, including print and performance.

• Debated critically and constructively.

• Delivered arguments orally and in writing.

• Worked collaboratively on in-class exercises.