Shakespeare and Renaissance Literary Culture MLitt

The modules in this programme have varying methods of delivery and assessment. For more details of each module, including weekly contact hours, teaching methods and assessment, please see the latest module catalogue which is for the 2018–2019 academic year; some elements may be subject to change for 2019 entry.

Complusory

• Literary Research: Skills and Resources: trains in English Studies; it also provides preparation for the MLitt dissertation.

and at least three of:

• The Continental Renaissance: investigates the relationship between English and European writing of the period.
• Learned Culture: Rhetoric, Politics and Identity: explores the influence of Renaissance humanism and the implications of its distinctive interest in rhetoric for 16th and 17th-century culture.
• Renaissance Popular Culture: looks at the popular culture of the period: popular festivity, clowning, jestbooks, ballads, romances and grotesquerie.
• Shakespeare and Textual Culture: considers the material contexts of Renaissance literary production, including manuscript, print, speech and the editing of Renaissance texts.

Students will choose either one or two optional modules out of the following three choices:

• Special Topic in English Studies: a directed reading programme which allows students to explore topics in greater depth than is possible in compulsory modules.
• a compulsory module from another English MLitt (see module catalogue)
• an approved postgraduate-level module outwith the School of English (arranged independently with another school such as Classics, Modern Languages, Divinity or Philosophical, Anthropological and Film Studies).

Optional modules are subject to change each year and require a minimum number of participants to be offered; some may only allow limited numbers of students

Dissertation

Student dissertations will be supervised by members of the teaching staff who will advise on the choice of subject and provide guidance throughout the research process. The completed dissertation of not more than 15,000 words must be submitted by a date specified in August.

If students choose not to complete the dissertation requirement for the MLitt, there is an exit award available that allows suitably qualified candidates to receive a Postgraduate Diploma. By choosing an exit award, you will finish your degree at the end of the second semester of study and receive a PGDip instead of an MLitt.