• Ghose Indira

• Ghose Indira

In this seminar we will be looking at the sequence of sonnets by Shakespeare that appeared in 1609. Shakespeare's sonnets radically broke the mould of Petrarchism in Renaissance poetry. In this course we will try to discover what made his sonnets so different from those of his peers. We will look at the entire sequence, its literary context and its reception up to the present.

Credit requirements are regular attendance, active participation, class presentations, and an end of term paper of 4000 words.

On successful completion of the course, students will have acquired in-depth knowledge of the major collection of Shakespeare's lyric poetry. They will have gained an insight into Shakespeare's contribution to the Renaissance tradition of Petrarchism. They will have applied their analytical skills in close reading of the poems in class. They will have learned to critically evaluate the poems, presenting their work in research papers, and to use both textual evidence and secondary sources in developing scholarly arguments.

Students are expected to acquire the Arden edition of the sonnets:

Shakespeare's Sonnets, ed. Katharine Duncan-Jones, The Arden Shakespeare (London: Methuen, 2010).